All fans of post-apocalyptic thrillers should pay attention to the South Korean picture of 2013 through snow. Reviews about the film were mostly positive. The picture was awarded a number of prestigious awards. It certainly deserves attention. What attracts this tape of viewers, we will tell further.
Filming
In August 2013, the premiere of "Through the Snow" was held. Reviews of the film immediately began to collect enthusiastic. The consensus of most representatives of the press, writing about modern cinema.
When the picture went on official rental, it happened already in 2014, it was recognized as one of the most successful.
The shooting itself took place in Prague. Many scenes are created by computer graphics.
Narrative thread
According to the plot of the film "Through the Snow" events unfold in 2014. Pundits are launching a large-scale process whose goal is to stop global warming.
However, everything is getting out of hand. A new Ice Age begins on the planet.
17 years pass. The world is completely shrouded in ice and snow. All this time, an express train rushed non-stop along the railway, which was launched by tycoon Wilford during the disaster. This is a kind of Noah's ark, on which several hundred people found salvation.
Life on the train
As in the rest of the world, people are divided into social classes. Closer to the locomotive, rich people and politicians go. They are well served, fed and entertained.
In the tail of the poor, they only have access to protein plates, which are obtained from insects.
There are uprisings on the train, but each time they are brutally crushed by the military, who serve Wilford. However, the poor do not intend to give up.
In the center of the story are a young guy Curtis and old man Gilliam. Following the negotiations of the train crew, they conclude that the soldiers ran out of ammunition. Already the previous rebellion they had to suppress with unloaded weapons.
Insurrection
Soon there is a reason for a new rebellion. The train assistant who rides in the first cars takes several of the poor children.
The father of one boy throws a shoe at her. For this, soldiers immerse his hand in a special hole in which it turns into an icicle. After the arm is deliberately broken with a hammer.
Curtis decides to act. During the next distribution of food, he provokes one of the soldiers to start shooting at him. At this point, everyone understands that there are no more cartridges left on the train. The riot begins.
Curtis leads the rebellion. From a stranger, he receives information about where the security specialist is located. His name is Namgun Min Su, he is able to open any door on the train.
The rebels decide to release him. To do this, head towards the locomotive. First they need to grab the engine. In the prison cell, they release Namgun and his daughter Yuna. In exchange for a crane, which acts like a drug, the dependent Namgun helps the rebels open the next door.
The uprising is developing successfully. One of the bosses on the train, Mason (played by Tilda Swinton), is even captured by the rebels. But soon luck turns away from them.
It turns out that the composition still has firearms. Police sent by Wilford, shoot the rebels from machine guns. Curtis still leads the rioters forward. Only three get to the locomotive. This is Curtis, Namgun and Yunu himself.
Denouement
The Korean offers the protagonist not to enter the private compartment where Wilford is located. His suggestion is to blow up the door that leads to the street. According to the scientist, every year the frost recedes, snow becomes less and less. Therefore, it will be possible to survive on Earth by starting all over again.
At the time of their argument, an armed assistant to Wilford appears. She invites Curtis to the tycoon for dinner. He is ready for negotiations.
Wilford tells how in reality everything is arranged in this train. It turns out that he himself planned all the uprisings along with Gilliam, who was his close ally and friend. They did this so that the rich and poor would kill each other. In this way, they controlled the population of the train. Notes from a stranger who helped Curtis were sent by the tycoon himself, who seemed to be a mysterious well-wisher.
The main character was the first of the rioters who got to the locomotive. Now, Wilford offers to become his partner, since Gilliam died. He needs to be replaced by someone. In the future, Curtis can count on and completely become his successor.
In fact, the head of the rebels succumbs to these persuasions. At this time, Namgun and his daughter attach a bomb to the outer door. Yunu runs to Curtis for the last match he had left to power the explosives.
Curtis refuses. He is broken by a sudden offer and the truth that he recognized. Yuna, who has the gift of foresight, tells him about the young children who are in the main devices of the composition. This removes him from a state of stupor. Wilford admits that some parts of the train are already so worn out that they have to be replaced with the help of children.
Curtis beats the tycoon, frees one of the children who were taken away at the beginning of the riot, and gives a match to Jun. Everything is not going according to plan. Due to a breakdown, they are unable to close the door to the compartment. Therefore, from the explosion, Curtis and Namgun cover Timmy and Yuna with their bodies.
At this moment, the train passes by the mountains. The explosion provokes an avalanche that collapses on the cars, causing the train to go off the rails. After the disaster, only Timmy and Yoonu survive.
Pong Joon Ho
The director of the film Through Snow is Korean Pong Joon Ho. He made his film debut as a screenwriter in 1999 in the film Submarine Ghost, and in 2000 he shot his first film, Barking Dogs Never Bite.
International success and recognition came to him in 2003, when he released the detective "Memoirs of a murder," based on real events.
It described two stupid policemen from the provinces trying to find a dangerous maniac who rapes and kills women.
An experienced investigator comes from the capital to lead the case, but this does not bring results. In the end, he turns into one of his provincial colleagues.
Among his other works, before the film Through the Snow in 2013, one can single out the fantastic drama The Dinosaur Invasion, the drama Tokyo!, The thriller Mother.
Pok Joon Hot continues to work actively. Now he is 49 years old.
In 2017, the main program of the Cannes Film Festival included his adventure drama "Okcha" about a little girl who has lived in the South Korean mountains for many years with a shy monster.
In 2019, his new film, Parasites, is due to be released.
"The first Avenger"
The main role of the rebel Curtis went to the popular American actor Chris Evans. Through Snow became one of the films for him that made him popular.
In the movie, this actor began acting in 2000. He played small roles in the films "Opposite Sex" and "New Arrivals".
Recognition came to him after the superhero militants. In particular, "Hell", "Not a child's movie." "Scott Pilgrim Against Everyone."
From time to time, the actor participates in arthouse paintings that receive high marks from critics. For example, in 2017, Mark Webb’s “Gifted” drama was released.
In it, Evans plays Frank Adler, who alone raises his niece Mary. The girl is incredibly gifted, but he wants her to have a normal and calm life, and not the fate of the genius, because of which her mother died.
Plans are violated when her grandmother finds out about the abilities of the child. She has her own ideas about the future of her granddaughter. She is actively getting down to business.
Korean artists
Not surprisingly, there are many Korean actors in the film. "Through the Snow" was still shot by a director from this country. Including they are in the lead roles.
The learned Namgun is played by Song Kang Ho. This is not his first collaboration with Pong Joon Ho. Previously, he had already starred in his tapes “Memoirs of a Murder” and “Dinosaur Invasion”. The role of his daughter Yuna went to Ko A Son. This was her first serious work in a big movie. So far the only one.
The fate of Song Kang Ho is amazing. He never studied acting. He came to the cinema from amateur performances, playing in a social theater.
On the big screen, he first appeared in 1996 in the film "The day the pig fell into the well." His popularity came to him in 2000 after he played Sergeant General O Genpheil from North Korea in the military drama United Security Zone.
Among the most striking of his works, it should also be noted the criminal drama by Pak Chan Uk “Compassion for Mr. Revenge”. He plays the father of a young girl, Yu Sung Ryu, who is abducted by a factory worker to raise money for his sister’s operation.
In 2009, the fantasy drama "Thirst" was released. Here, the actor creates the image of a Catholic priest who travels to Africa to help study the deadly virus. An epidemic rages on the Black Continent, but it is the only survivor.
Returning to Korea, he realizes that the disease is returning again. It turns out that the only remedy capable of stopping it is human blood. In Africa, the priest accidentally received the blood of a vampire, so he remained alive. Now he has to deal with new temptations that appear in him.
Jamie Bell
The role of Edgar went to the British actor. In the film Through Snow, Jamie Bell plays one of the participants in the uprising.
His career immediately began with a big movie. In 2000, he played the title role in Stephen Daldry’s drama Billy Elliot. The ability to dance allowed him to get the role of a boy from a mining town, which is fond of ballet.
For the first role in his career, he received several prestigious international awards.
Then in his career appears the family drama "Low Tide", the antiwar thriller "Death Watch". The year 2005 is successful for Bell, when he plays the main roles in the films Chamscrabber and Dear Wendy.
Reviews
Most often, viewers and critics left positive reviews for the 2013 film Through Snow.
They emphasize that the picture turned out to be a little arthouse, which makes it only more interesting. It is important that the key place in it is occupied by abstract, but not fantastic images.
For some, the picture was a real revelation. In this train, the director demonstrated a reduced model of our world with all its shortcomings and vices.
At the same time, the director demonstrates the conclusion, though sad. It turns out that nothing can be fixed. The only solution is to start all over again. The creators of the film "Through the Snow" come to this. In the reviews, the audience admitted that the tape made them think a lot.
Negative
There were those who did not like the movie. They criticized the drama Through Snow. In the reviews, these viewers noted that the model of the world itself, built by the director, does not withstand any criticism.
There are too many dubious moments in the story, because of which there is a lasting impression that the plot of the picture is not fully worked out. This spoils the overall impression. Therefore, some people give negative feedback to the tape.