"Secret Forest", like "Secret Meeting," revolutionized the narrative tradition of Korean dramas. It's got a very special perspective, with important characters hidden deep within, only to appear quietly after several episodes. Huang Shimu stepped into the middle of the story with one foot, so he just started to go round and round, to no avail.
The truth is arguably brutal: because there are hardly any real bad guys in the whole thing. Or the real bad guys have been staying out of the way with ease. What is terrifying is the incompetence and degeneration of the entire system.
The feeling of powerlessness in the face of the system may be an unavoidable feeling for everyone. However, Koreans have written tragic and bloody stories, and the consciousness contained in them is respectable.
There is a touch of affection between the male and female protagonists, but in the end there is no such thing. Because the two are more sympathetic to each other. What the screenwriter wants to create are two perfect representations of the system: as a prosecutor, Huang Shimu almost completely eliminated his feelings in handling the case. And Han Ruzhen is an ideal figure in the police system: she has a firm belief in justice, sympathy for people, not afraid of her boss, and friendly to her colleagues. She never wavered.
When President Lee Yoon-beom was arrested, his defense sounded familiar: "I am responsible for 30 percent of the GDP of the Republic of Korea and feed tens of thousands of people. If something goes wrong with me, what will happen to their lives?" He said: "I am When it's over, South Korea is over." Huang Shimu listened, but said lightly, "No way."
Yes, it won't.
What made me a little sad: Han Ruzhen was very strict with Chief Yoon until the end.
When they met in the prison, she asked him, "During the special investigation team, you thought we were all stupid, and the murderer was by my side."
He said: "During the special investigation team, it was the only time I felt in the past two years. While he is breathing."
His son died innocently, his marriage disintegrated, and he lived in a rudimentary garbage heap, just wanting revenge. Being with your friends may be the only time you feel alive. I had expected her to at least show some understanding, if only a little soothing. But she still blamed him quite severely.
Of course, I understand that the screenwriter is to create such a person, and she has a very persistent pursuit of "what is true justice". So until the last episode, even though she had such a tacit understanding with Huang Shimu, when Li Changjun fell from the building, she quickly took out the gun and pointed at Huang Shimu, the only possible suspect present, and asked if he did it.
Lynching is not a way to pursue justice. Perhaps it was because of the suspicion of misleading the audience, because the audience was full of sympathy for Section Chief Yin, so the screenwriter kept trying to correct it. As a result, he was too strict with Section Chief Yin.
As a defender of the system, Han Ruzhen firmly believes that she can defend justice and fairness, and does not want individuals to replace the system to judge others. However, just like Section Chief Yin's rhetorical question to Huang Shimu, when Huang Shimu asked him: "Are you qualified to judge others?" He replied: "So what are qualified people doing?"
Because there was no hope, he chose to take revenge. Once the system fails, the individual loses control and becomes very dangerous. I think this is probably a question that every system will be afraid of, so the play has to repeatedly emphasize that this is wrong.
It is easy for us to see stories of individuals overriding the system in European and American dramas, and they are not afraid of condoning individual problems at all. All I can say is: maybe it's because they have enough confidence in their system.
The character Lee Chang-joon is so awesome that it's unlikely to exist. Although Huang Shimu and Han Ruzhen are great, Li Changjun obviously broke through the so-called "correct" category, and it is not "ideal" that can be summed up. He goes beyond human limitations. Using his own blood to awaken greater loyalty, this kind of self-sacrifice, is a character that has almost been forgotten.
From a very simple dialogue in the penultimate episode, we can know that he was just a prosecutor with ideals. In the case against the son of the president of the Han Dynasty group, he refused to be bribed, but instead won the princess of the Han Dynasty group. Favor, fall in love, get married, get tied up by interest groups. However, he has never been able to truly give up the beliefs he once held. How moving is this belief. A true patriot. And this kind of feeling for the country can't be adapted. It seems to be derived from the consistent national character of Koreans, and it will be a bit strange to put it on people from other countries. Korea is falling. He's going to save it all. To have that belief is simply ridiculous in this day and age. But the writers have slowly achieved this sense of credibility through rather restrained and minimal means.
As he sat in the car, he watched the garbage collectors walk across the zebra crossing. "You can't earn a cup of coffee after a hard day. Some people are worth trillions in one word."
He sat in the midst of feasting and feasting in pain, unable to forget the face of the poor in his mind. If it is idealism, this is true idealism. There is no cynicism, no self-conviction, to face this pain and dedicate yourself to it.
(barely recognizable as the same person)
Cho Seung Woo was a real surprise, and of course Bae Doo Na was pretty good too. During the interval between "Secret Forest", I watched Cao Chengyou's last drama "14 Days of God's Gift" starring Cao Chengyou out of curiosity.
I heard that Cao Chengyou has mainly been acting in musicals and stage plays in recent years, which is very good training for actors, so that he controls his eyes and micro-expressions precisely like a textbook in TV dramas.
Pei Douna is also great. In recent years, she has performed more internationally, and when she returned to China, she supported the shooting of some literary and artistic films. She lived a relaxed and free life. I think she is also the kind of actress who can play very old. In the play, she doesn't mind showing her slightly aging face, and the clothes are also very nice.
With the strengthening and upgrading of the Korean literature and art industry, the actors in it also have more choices. This freedom of choice, the competition of constantly tempering acting skills, and the satisfaction brought by self-improvement are probably irreplaceable by money.
No matter how good a show is, it always ends. I don't watch too many Korean dramas, and the number one is always "Secret Meeting". (The review of "Secret Meeting" was written a long time ago, and I put the link in "Reading the original text", if you are interested, you can click it.)
The feelings and even the world view in "Secret Meeting" are more complicated, and only real adults can understand it. 's drama. And "Secret Forest" is a fairy tale about society, and it's so "correct" that everyone can understand it.
It's cool to watch, because the screenwriter uses a very powerful technique, which is unusual in Korean dramas: non-stop transitions, non-stop thinking, thinking that the audience must keep up. Compared with those dramas that treat the audience as fools and keep explaining, this drama can be said to default to the audience's IQ.
Screenwriter Lee Soo-yeon has been writing movie scripts and directing. Born in 1970, she is nearly 50 years old, and she still has such a solid and vigorous creativity, which is admirable.
However, the strange thing is: it is not a drama that makes people worry about it, and you can finish it after watching it.
I thought it would be empty after watching it, or think about it, but in fact it didn't happen.
I think it's because we have to accept a reality: in the world we live in, there is neither Huang Shimu nor Han Ruzhen nor Li Changjun. This reality made us quickly get away from us after the episode ended.
What we have is only a little bit of our own conscience, and how to keep our pure part in the difficult world is probably the most important thing.
Finally, I would like to share one of my favorite dialogues in the whole play.
Also very cute policeman Zhang Jian said to Han Ruzhen: "Hey, there is no way, we ordinary people can only follow the trend."
Han Ruzhen: "If you always follow the trend, and one day you don't know where you are, what should you do?"
"We ordinary people can only go with the flow", this is probably the voice of many people. However, if things go on like this, if you lose the belief in self-existence, you will fall into the confusion of not knowing where you are, let alone where you are going.
This play is written about how a few people who are not willing to "follow the trend" fight to the end in the trend of the times and fate.
None of us should condone ourselves to be a drifter.
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