Synopsis
The word 'spy' has a particular meaning in Korea. Contrary to the common perception that the spy is a patriotic person working for the benefit of his/her country, the spy in Korea means nothing but a loathsome guerilla whose chief duty is to kill and violate. Unlike other spies who devote themselves for the sake of their mother country, the spy in Korea is a traitor to his/her own country, the back-stabbing 'outlaw' and the 'illegitimate son' who has no nationality. Therefore it was a common understanding that this malignant virus in our society had to be wiped out once spotted. While such idea was the direct product of the anti-communist sentiment sprung from the Cold war, the spy was also regarded as a 'windfall' to the people who lived through economically tough times. The people who contribute to the arrest of the spies had their fortune changed by receiving a huge reward. The strength of the common conception regarding the political spies has been slightly weakened nowadays, but Korea is still the last remnant of the Cold war on earth. Since the concept of the Cold War alone brings tension and hostility to the Korean people, the spy films in the past have been characterized by the excessive solemnity. The context of this film, however, is quite different. Lee Chuljin, a specially trained North Korean spy, is turned into 'an intelligent fool' in South Korea almost instantly, the process made easy by the shrewdness of the Capitalism. At this point, the familiar structure of the evil(spy) versus the good (South Korea) is completely broken down. The Spy throws the long-established conceptions into the state of confusion, and does it with pleasure. It is this innovative imagination that makes this an epoch-making film. (LEE Seong-Wook)