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Escape from Mogadishu review – Koreans bolt through Somali war-zone chaos
Diplomats from North and South Korea join forces to escape the Somalian capital in 1991, in film version of an amazing true story
This political drama from South Korea tells the amazing true story of a daring escape by North and South Korean diplomats from Somalia in the early 1990s as all hell breaks loose. It was South Korea’s entry for best international feature at the Oscars and has that highly polished, top-quality solid-weight feel (there are echoes here of Ben Affleck’s best picture winning Argo). What makes it worth the price of a download is a muscle-clenchingly thrilling third act, finishing with an action movie car chase through war-zone chaos.
It’s 1991. Diplomats from North and South Korea in Mogadishu have been competing for Somalia’s vote to decide whether South Korea joins the United Nations. Attempts by South Korean ambassador Han (Kim Yoon-seok) to woo Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre have been repeatedly foiled by his opposite number at the North Korean embassy, wily veteran Rim (Huh Joon-ho). Then Barre is overthrown, the capital descends into anarchy, and the North Koreans come knocking at the South Koreans’ door for sanctuary. An incident as they walk through the capital’s streets confirms something I’ve heard war reporters say: that nothing is scarier than a small child with a loaded gun.
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