The King's Letters

Well filmed. Great acting. Excellent narration of the creation of Korean Script or Hangeul.

The drama revolves around the need to help common people become literate when the sounds of their language don't fit the imported Chinese characters. Learned aristocrats & scholars reject granting others the ability to become literate after they spent years & effort learning Chinese Hanza. Literacy threatened their high status.

The drama also portrays the difficulty of developing a phonetic alphabet. Instead of characters representing concepts, characters represent phonetic syllables of how spoken Korean sounds. It was a paradigm shift that allowed the people to become literate easily. Instead of memorizing thousands of characters, there are 10 vowels & 14 consonants. Hangeul is considered a linguistic wonder and among Asian alphabets, the easiest to learn. The movie presents the process of creating this innovative alphabet without having a documentary feel.

An interesting subject well filmed.

Well told story about the above and conflict resolution. On the importance of the written word to preserve and progress. High quality production. Script, acting and directing well done. Entertaining and educational.

This feels like a beautifully made docudrama with top actors. No great battles or zombies for excitement. Some conflicts about Buddhism and Confucianism - for those who don't know like me there was a conflict. Song Kang Ho acts gentle and enlightened as he co-operates with a monk and others to create an alphabet for the Korean people so everyone could read and write. Unlike the words in Chinese and Japanese which have to be memorized. How forward thinking.

Imagine a movie that tells how an alphabet was invented. Very little drama, no real conflict, many scenes showing how the sounds were turned into letters. Fascinating and beautiful, but definitely not for those seeking action.

The acting is excellent throughout. Kang-ho Song in one of his quietest most introspective roles. Hae-il Park as the impetuous monk, and specially Mi-seon Jeon as the queen, who dominates every scene she appears in and leaves a strong influence on the film even when she is absent. This was her last role, before her death, and the movie can be seen as a tribute to this great actress too.

There are many fascinating scenes, in particular those showing the creation of the new script. The cinematography is excellent, the scenery beautiful and the director keeps things interesting, despite the lack of a strong story. Still, it gets long at the end, as there is very little tension and despite a few courtly conflicts, very little drama. The movie is also too respectful of the king's figure, at the end it gets a bit long and the scenes a little repetitive.

I may have missed a few details, as i don't speak and cannot read Korean. Some jokes and many references probably eluded me. Still, it's an interesting and sometimes fascinating movie for those who do not mind the lack of action. A good change of pace from the fight-filled historical typically produced in Seaoul.