The Anarchists (2000) Poster

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6/10
Korean group of anarchists in Shanghai
Atavisten6 April 2007
fighting with all the means they can get their hands on against the Japanese colonialists. Its very interesting to see a movie about this particular theme, and it was fairly well executed also. Not so much a movie about anarchists, this is about a particular group in Shanghai that went to quite drastic means in order to fight off against the Japanese. A strong point of this movies is that it doesn't judge their actions and makes the characters one-dimensional. Instead we get a feel about what they're fighting for and understand the conflicts amongst themselves. Anarchism is a gentle wind blowing from a wonderful place only to meet the harsh realities it is said in the movie. Here we see this collapse of the dream.

It has a good script and has nice style, what I think takes away from the experience is overacting and silly editing in the action sequences. Apart from that it's fine.
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8/10
Thought provoking
///-22 July 2003
Set in the 1920s in Shanghai, this movie follows a group of Korean Anarchists who set off on a terrorism campaign to pressure the Japanese Imperial Government to give up Korea.

The action sequences in this movie is a bit overacted in my opinion, but the thought given to the philosophical development of each characters in the movie is quite well done. People, despite sharing the same ideals, may not always share the same views on everything.

The movie also shows how ideals and reality are sometimes at odds with each other and how it sometimes forces one to compromise and in the movie, you will find bits and pieces of the philosophy of anarchism as well as the differences between it from another left-wing ideal, Socialism.
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8/10
Definitely excellent!
k_yohanes10 April 2002
This is the first Korean title in my movie collection. Although I wasn't sure when buying the VCD, I finally found out that I didn't make a wrong choice. This film has everything an entertainment needs: strong and cool characters (triad style!), excellent location, costumes, setting, dialogues, story, and action scenes (gunfight: John Woo style, super cool!). Interesting point in shooting scenes, where Seregay charged the enemy's house with automatic pistol, reminding me of Chow Yun Fat in Woo's film. The good thing is, he also ran out of bullets! Drama, action, historical setting mixed excellently by director You Yung Sik, makes this China-Korea movie a good time, also for art film viewers. Highly recommended! Boy, those Koreans sure know how to make good movie!
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10/10
Best movie of all time
satanicfktoy4 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Really enjoyed this flick. In the opening scene the protagonist begins to reminisce about his youth and remembers the day he was saved from execution in a raid performed by the anarchist cell he would later join. After reaching a safe house the group begins to teach him the tricks of their trade. He later takes part in several missions, though he continues to have difficulty throughout the film with the violence of his new job.

Eventually a string of tragic events strike the team. One of their members is fatally betrayed during a mission, leading to their covers being blown during the next. Now wanted by the Japanese and Chinese authorities, their funders turn away from them and instead choose to support socialist electoral politics to further their cause. This angers the group, and they leave the larger organization, attempting to survive on their own by earning money through gambling and bank robbery. Over time the group becomes agitated with simply scraping by and several voice a desire to return to their old ways of clandestine warfare. They collectively decide to strike at the Japanese government in a high-profile attack, leading up to a dramatic finale.
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