User Reviews

Ugly cried for 10 mins after this show ended. It's gut wrenching and beautiful and really well made. The fact that it's a true story is what I couldn't handle. Won't ever watch it again- it's been years since something on my TV made me bawl like this.

I am writing a review due to the low score this movie got when it deserves better. Based on a true story, this movie showcases the tragic reality of pressures society and family can do to star-crossed lovers. The directing, soundtrack, and cast themselves were all high quality in delivering an emotional film. The only reason I deducted some points were for the main lead actor. While his acting as a son feeling "suffocated" by his father was amazing, his longing for his lover was not as convincing. Especially in comparison to the female actress however, I guess one could debate it was because she loved him more. Also there is a review who gave the movie such a low rating simply due to their ethnocentrism. You recognize that the acting was good yet cannot understand that at that time period and in Asian culture, the difficulties of rebelling against family and family. "In the West we do not believe..." I do not understand how close-minded someone must be to patronize the situation of these characters with the standards of the West. In Asian culture, honour and family are considered to be part of a person's social identity and family is a central institution of society. There is no individual freedom like you wanted, especially in those times. SOO to sum up, if you want a historically/culturally incorrect film that has a happy ending with rainbows and unicorns then follow that user's advice. Avoid wasting three hours of your life for this "depressing drip."

I really enjoyed. Although it refers on a "black period" of history and it carries a sad atmosphere, at the end it brings you feel nice because you see that there is a real love. The actors played amazingly and.they managed to carry their emotions to our screen, ever they shared only one kiss! It is amazing seeing their glances and feel their sadness of their heart-break. The suits of clothes and the scenes were perfect too.

I also believe that it was better that it splitted on 3 episodes rather than a movie because you could enjoy it more! Bravo!

Lee Jongsuk perfectly express this character pain,turmoil,helplessness,loneliness,desires,hopelessness ,happiness,love and patriotism. He looks so classy and calming. I felt so sad after watching this drama cause it's a real life incident . Villain in writer life his father and villain in singer life her poverty and corrupted army ....I wish every lover get their love ,no one live a forceful marriage life .

As I write this review, I am listening to "Only My Heart Knows" by Sohyang-the greatest female singer on the planet--which is the most eloquent way and expression that I can think of to captivate what I'm feeling after finishing this extraordinary series. Sohyang does for "Hymn of Death" what Celine Dion did for "Titanic."

Romeo and Juliet is considered one of the best romances ever written. Of course, it was also a work of fiction. Jack and Rose were also considered a great romance, but they were fictional characters in a historical event. Yun Shim-Deok and Kim Woo Jin is about real people back in the mid-1920s whose lives abruptly ended when they committed suicide together by jumping off a passenger ship. Now, to some, this may seem to be a tragic romance. As with so many things in this world, it really does depend upon your perspective.

What happens when oppression and suffering become so great that they make a person feel trapped? Let me point out that those who commit suicide or consider it an option are feeling trapped. They feel that there is no other way out of whatever situation they are in. Whether or not you agree with the act doesn't matter. It's what they are feeling. How do I know? Because it was something I attempted once myself.

Yun Shim-Deok was a woman well ahead of her time. She was outspoken and wasn't afraid of being bold and going against a system she didn't agree with. For the 1920s, this was more of a rarity than most people realize. Coming from a poor family, she was essentially the family's sole means of making money. She was also given the responsibility-albeit unfairly-to also make enough money to pay for the education of her siblings. But, at what price?

Kim Woo Jin is a writer from one of the richest families in Korea. His father expects him to forsake the foolishness of being a writer and run the family business while being married to a woman who is more about duty and doing what his father wants than being a supportive, loving wife.

Both show incredible talent in their respective fields. Kim Woo Jin is a gifted writer of poems, plays, and criticism-not to mention his love letters to Yun Shim-Deok. Yun Shim Deok is able to captivate audiences with her beautiful voice. And yet neither is allowed to pursue their passion. Kim Woo Jin's father won't allow his son to write, and the Japanese attempt to use Yun Shim Deok for their own, sick and demented reasons, caring nothing for her singing talent.

It's been said by many that there are few things sadder than wasted talent. What does it do to a person to not pursue the life they want? What does it do to twist someone's talent to the point where it's no longer what it is supposed to be?

Whether you are simply using your son or daughter to carry on family obligations, such as running a family business and having them marry whom YOU want them to, or using your son or daughter by holding them hostage under the "family obligation," for financial reasons, the result is the same: you are using your children. You are treating them as property, and children are not property. And if you are unable to support your children in helping them pursue their own passions, then you are not fit to be a parent. No, it's worse than that. You have no right to even call yourself a parent, any more than the parent who is indifferent and neglects his/her children.

This series is powerful and eloquent in depicting two souls who loved each other so much that they refused to leave each other. Not even in death, as they left this life together. It's beautifully done with incredible performances by Lee Jong Suk and Shin Hye Sun. They have incredible chemistry, which is obviously necessary in order to make this series work. My only very small complaint is that I wish a singer had helped Shin Hye Sun train as a singer. Even if it wasn't actually going to be her singing, she doesn't open and move her mouth as a singer would.

The series is short at only six episodes (three via Netlfix as they combined each episode into pairs), but it's not a series that is easily forgotten. It stays with you from the opening moment of the first episode when you see the two pairs of shoes on the deck of the ship to the moment when Kim Woo Jin and Yun Shim Deok are dancing and then slowly begin to walk to the deck's edge. And I can't help but think that the real Kim Woo Jin and Yun Shim Deok are smiling somewhere together.

Most people look upon death as horrible and tragic. That isn't always the case. And I can't feel that way about Kim Woo Jin and Yun Shim Deok. If nothing else, I hope this series makes people stop and think, especially parents and how they treat their children. No one has the right to take away another person's passion and happiness. Those who do so-those who attempt to live vicariously through their children-are the vilest and most selfish people I can think of. Therefore, love and support your children in whatever endeavors they choose. Just remember, that their lives are not yours. Their lives are theirs! And for better or worse, they have the same right as you do to live it as they see fit. Every human on earth was given the same, greatest gift: the freedom of choice. The very nature of "Hymn of Death" cries for freedom! Freedom to live and to love.

I like the actors, especially the leading roles. I believe that they are beautiful and charismatic. The setting was nice, the costumes and it was an interesting period drama.

Now the downers. The love story was too stretched. And the whole thing started with the guy being dishonest in the first place!!! Why nobody from all the other reviews stated that?!? I guess it's a cultural thing. Different background. Well, the guy is married- yes, arranged marriage, but still a marriage! So, he's having his wife back home in Korea and he is leading on a young college student who is a bit too pushy and naive for her own good. The guy is playing like all nice with restraint - a guy that woman will love but most guys will punch him in his face. He's a weak male character full of himself and full of pity for his situation . "Poor " guy he's rich and misunderstood. He will not write because... it's all in his head. Meanwhile the college student female character falls in love with him and he's not telling her anything. He just waits for her to be invited to his luxurious house then come face to face with his wife! And he's still playing the misunderstood guy, all lovable and full of sentiment.

Duh! 🙄 So I let them be without watching the actual suicide. Anyway the whole idea with the suicide is totally wrong . It leads people to believe wrong things.

I think this movie is a really good example of good kdrama acting, it represent a lot of sorrow, loneliness and the depth of love without many words. We can see it through their eyes, and about lots of people saying it's a sad ending, it's happy endng for me. Because if they both kept on living with their life, they would've felt worse than dying.

This show really is a beautiful thing to watch: the costumes, the settings, the very actors! The story is based on the real love affair and double suicide of a soprano singer and a lover, doomed by rigid societal norms and economical hardships. I strongly suspect that a lot of stuff was heavily dramatised tho (not that if matters).

The first episode is great but the quality of steadily declines and the script in general is a little bit formulaic. I still appreciated it and k-drama fans will surely love it

Yes, the acting is well done, but from a Western point of view this is a hopeless and depressing drip.

While I realize this is based on a true story, this is about an impossible love that has no hope to go anywhere, drug out in three hours of depression, gloom, and nowhere to go but death. I realize the culture of honor in Asia is very important, but in the West we do not believe in having to live someone else's life nor have them dictate to us what to think, who to marry, what interests us nor what we will do with our lives. They get to live their life and make their choices and we get to do the same. Each of us gets one life, so we get to make our own choices and choose to live our own life according to our own interests and desires. This was a waste of three hours of my life. I only watched it because I really liked the leading man in W.