The Attorney (2013)

Wow, that long since I last saw a movie from East Asia? And it doesn't look like I've reviewed any South Korean cinema before. I was thinking of skipping this review, but I'd rather rectify the gap.

In the late '70s and early '80s, Song Woo-suk stands out among attorneys for skipping college, not acting very formal, and taking cases that bring him an unpopular image but good money. He grows less greedy with time and attempts to pay for a dine-and-dash of long ago. Busan restaurateur Park Dong-ho and her high school son, Jin-woo, are friendly toward him, until he has a drunken brawl over politics. His chance to make it up to them comes when Jin-woo and many classmates get arrested on charges of sedition.

The story is inspired by a true event in South Korean history, of which I have little knowledge. It figures that the government would have a strong dread of creeping communism, but for a while at least, it apparently fought communism so hard and dirty that it might as well have been communist. The military had taken over and disregarded much of the constitution. There is no evidence that the teens in question were studying subversive literature. They are captured by plainclothesmen without warrants, authorities make too little if any effort to inform their kin, and they are tortured into confessions. I mean torture worse than Guantanamo Bay's, looking convincing enough to make me eager for a change of scene.

Under such a regime, Song can expect a kangaroo court. This does not stop him from counting on the judge to retain a traditional sense of justice. For his part, the judge does seem impartial, but the new system still presents a major obstacle. Song gets impassioned to a perhaps unprofessional but certainly understandable degree in the courtroom. It's worth noting that other lawyers have been afraid of the consequences of representing the defense; after all, most people have made up their minds that the accused are guilty.

And of course, the mainstream media effectively lie in the government's favor. Before the sedition case, Song refuses to believe a journalist's private claim that all objectors in the field have either been fired or, like him, kept quiet about their true feelings. (Given the modern U.S., I take interest in this sort of thing.)

My one complaint about the film is that it takes a while to get going. To my eyes, Song's life is too ordinary at first. Only when the student protests begin do we have a real sense of plot progression. After that, it doesn't feel so much like 123 minutes.

There is not much happiness to be had in TA. Watch it for a sense of righteous anger and a reminder of what goes on in the world, if you need that.