Secretly, Greatly is a Korean foreign language film and comedy which follows the story of Won Ryoo-hwan, a North Korean spy living as a "village idiot" in a South Korean town.
The film, which was produced in 2013, follows Won Ryoo-hwan as he goes about his days living the perfect cover and wondering how long his mission will last.
Secretly, Greatly touches on many themes relating to Korean unification attempts, North/South hostilities and North Korean Espionage.
Synopsis
Secretly, Greatly's main character Won Ryoo-hwan has been undercover for two years now. He has kept his cover up perfectly over the entire course of his mission. He is so talented at what he does no one expects a thing.
But, the only problem is that his cover isn't anything to really be proud of. As his mission is to be the village idiot.
Even so, Won Ryoo-hwan never strays away from his mission. His cover even involves him to defecate in the middle of streets, falling down flights of stairs every single day and getting hit by cyclists. He keeps up his cover flawlessly, day after day no matter how humiliating or insufferable as it is.
Won Ryoo-hwan is a soldier through and through, but overtime he gets to know his neighbour (who is also his boss) very well.
She is very kind to him and her son also helps out Won Ryoo-hwan when ever he can.
So when an abrupt regime change happens in Pyongyang, all of their abroad spies are given orders to either kill themselves, each other and those who are close to them.
Seeing as how close Won Ryoo-hwan has got with his neighbours, he finds himself with an impossible decision to make.
The remainder of the film follows Won Ryoo-hwan as he is stuck between following orders or if he should he ignore said orders from a state that has largely forgotten about him.
Important Themes
Secretly, Greatly may be a comedy, but like many other films in Asian cinema the film is full of drama, thrills, emotion and character development. The second half of the film really packs a punch of emotion and carries the film forward in a great way.
The film also touches on themes revolving around North Korean espionage and Korean unification efforts.
Historically, the Korean war was a very bloody and brutal war. Not only did the war lead to both of the Koreas splitting into two, but there was immense bloodshed.
Koreans (on both sides) saw massive casualties with estimates holding that 1.6 million Korean civilians and 600,000 soldiers died in conflict.
Furthermore in North America and the rest of the Western world, the Korean War is popularly termed as the "Forgotten War". However, this in itself is inexcusable. The war saw huge losses all over the Korean region as both China and the United States sought to back their horses in the hopes of establishing their own political systems.
The war saw an equal death rate seen in the Second World War, which is staggering. A whole region suffered at the hands of countries who wanted to control land that wasn't theirs. And yet we still call the war the "Forgotten War" because it doesn't have much direct relevance to our lives here in North America.
Turning the page to the present day, tensions are now rising to Cold War levels as the United States and North Korea are almost at a stand still.
With the threat of nuclear strikes being the most talked about topic. We have our stereotypes about how life may be like in North Korea and how their systems run but it is important not to simply believe it.
North Korea is at this time still a big international player and over the years the country has done much to increase it's communication with many countries and international organizations.
The Korean contingency may not have a robust military like the United States or China, but they do have a strict military led government, special military units and the means to finance another potential war.
Conclusion
Altogether, Secretly, Greatly is a great film. It is funny, dramatic, entertaining and even has some thrills.
The film has many moments of laughter, some of grief and even some of regret. It is a film that transcends genres and can even be called an action film.
There is much to like about Secretly, Greatly. It touches on a relevant worldly theme and talks about the different aspects of Korea from the different characters seen in the film.
Secretly, Greatly is definitely a film that you should consider watching. It'll have you going through your emotions as you watch a very interesting story.
