Sandglass, here I come...
I have just discovered Sandglass, a 24-episode Korean drama that I am dying to get.
Made in 1995, this would be the oldest kdrama I have watched but I simply must have it. Final episodes of it apparently averaged over 60% rating (!!!) and it put SBS (the station) on the map. It also stars the Super Evil Villain from The Legend as one of the three protagonists, which is something else...
The story is fairly straightforward in the outline: set in the 1960s-1980s, it follows three individuals and through them, the Korean political events of the times. Tae-Soo (Choi Min Soo), who grows up as a school trouble-maker, temporarily attempts to mend his ways with the friendship of the studious, regime-oriented Woo-Suk (Park Sang Won), but seeing that he is the son of a Communist guerilla, college and any promising legitimate occupation is closed to him, and he eventually becomes a rising member of the mob. Woo-Suk, of course, ends up studying and eventually rising high as a prosecutor, a bit too incorruptible for the regime around them. The third protagonist in the story is Hye-Rin (Ko Hyun Jung), a wealthy, disaffected daughter of a casino owner who becomes a student activist, and is involved with both men.
What really interests me is not the love story (which is apparently satisfying but strictly secondary) but the fact that it deals with a whole bunch of contemporary hot topic political issues of the time (totalitarian rule, mistreatment of activist, class issues), including, most famously, the Gwangju Massacre.
I mean, how could I not DIE to watch a drama about which the UCLA review states "Perhaps no other drama has ever represented the intertwining of the personal, political, and social so clearly and movingly. Using the stories of Tae-soo, Woo-shik, and Hye-ran to illustrate the intertwining of business, politics, and crime, Sandglass examines Korean society as a place beset with corruption and oppression, and really gives voice to a society crying out for justice. Its effectiveness for reminding Koreans of their recent history has even been credited in part for helping lead to the arrest of the former dictator Jeon Do-hwan."
!!!!!
The reviews are all crazy raves: one here, another one here, another here, and a fourth here.
If it's a third as good as the reviews make it sound, I am going to love it.
Made in 1995, this would be the oldest kdrama I have watched but I simply must have it. Final episodes of it apparently averaged over 60% rating (!!!) and it put SBS (the station) on the map. It also stars the Super Evil Villain from The Legend as one of the three protagonists, which is something else...
The story is fairly straightforward in the outline: set in the 1960s-1980s, it follows three individuals and through them, the Korean political events of the times. Tae-Soo (Choi Min Soo), who grows up as a school trouble-maker, temporarily attempts to mend his ways with the friendship of the studious, regime-oriented Woo-Suk (Park Sang Won), but seeing that he is the son of a Communist guerilla, college and any promising legitimate occupation is closed to him, and he eventually becomes a rising member of the mob. Woo-Suk, of course, ends up studying and eventually rising high as a prosecutor, a bit too incorruptible for the regime around them. The third protagonist in the story is Hye-Rin (Ko Hyun Jung), a wealthy, disaffected daughter of a casino owner who becomes a student activist, and is involved with both men.
What really interests me is not the love story (which is apparently satisfying but strictly secondary) but the fact that it deals with a whole bunch of contemporary hot topic political issues of the time (totalitarian rule, mistreatment of activist, class issues), including, most famously, the Gwangju Massacre.
I mean, how could I not DIE to watch a drama about which the UCLA review states "Perhaps no other drama has ever represented the intertwining of the personal, political, and social so clearly and movingly. Using the stories of Tae-soo, Woo-shik, and Hye-ran to illustrate the intertwining of business, politics, and crime, Sandglass examines Korean society as a place beset with corruption and oppression, and really gives voice to a society crying out for justice. Its effectiveness for reminding Koreans of their recent history has even been credited in part for helping lead to the arrest of the former dictator Jeon Do-hwan."
!!!!!
The reviews are all crazy raves: one here, another one here, another here, and a fourth here.
If it's a third as good as the reviews make it sound, I am going to love it.