Notre héros défiguré

This is a Korean film about a boy from Seoul who transfers to a school in a small town. He discovers that his fifth-grade class is dominated by a tyrannous classroom Monitor named Um, and attempts to liberate his fellow students. Unfortunately, he discovers his students are not only oppressed by the Monitor, but they are willing collaborators, and the teachers are willing to turn a blind eye. The film is set against the background of Korean politics, and indicates that this is the method by which dictatorship is tolerated by the people. However, the film is powerful enough without that extra level, and could as easily be set in a Western culture as in an Asian.

Based on a short novel of the same name by Yi Munyol, this is an excellent adaptation (I also recommend reading the book) and probably the best early-90s film from South Korea that I've seen so far. Just as his experiences with Seok-dae leave a lasting impression on Byeong-tae, so will this film stay with you long after you've finished watching it. The sad thing about Korean cinema before the mid-nineties is that most of the movies have not been widely seen or discussed internationally. Even though this movie won some awards and prizes at film festivals like Montreal, etc, it still does not seem to have garnered the attention or recognition it deserves. Fortunately, the Korea Film Archive recently remastered this film and have put it up on YouTube for free with optional English subtitles. I highly recommend you give it a try if you have even a slight curiosity about Korean films before the so-called "Korean wave" came around. Just a small note: you may get more out of this story if you know at least a little about the Korean education system, modern Korean history and especially the role of dictatorships and protests in its development towards democracy, but even if you don't care about this, you can still enjoy the movie for its face value. And look out for a teacher played by Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) in a key early role.