원스 어폰 어 타임 is an adventure story set in the Japan-occupied Korea. There’s a diamond which the Japanese army is trying to take out of Korea while the Korean Independence Army struggles to keep it in their country, preserving the precious part of Korean history.

I really enjoyed the movie; it shows the dedication of the Koreans to keep their culture alive. It has some great humor thrown in between the many action sequences. The ending is awesome; the main bad guy gets some ironic justice. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting to see an adventure flick along the lines of Indiana Jones.

Trailer

Culture Notes

1. Japan treated Koreans pretty bad (all countries are guilty of this though, even Korea). Japan tried to eradicate the Korean history, language and culture. You can see this theme throughout the movie (one sign says ‘Koreans and dogs not allowed’, multiple times people talk about Koreans who work for Japan being lower than the Japanese, etc.). Because of that, you do see some hostility towards Japan from Koreans that has passed on to the younger generation. In the end of the movie, the same sign from the beginning says ‘Japanese and dogs not allowed’. Once they actually meet each other the prejudice goes away fairly fast.

2. Yes, like 20% of Koreans have the last name, 이. So how can they tell who is close to their family? In addition to their last name, they usually know the town which their family originated from. That way they can tell who is really part of their family and who is not. If two people meet who have the same last name they will often ask what city their name is from.