Loosely based on the attempted hijack of Korean Air F27 airliner in 1971, Hijack 1971 marks the directorial debut of Kim Sung-han-I, telling a thrilling story of societal fears towards North Korea. Director Kim Sung-han-I delivers a nerve-racking experience to the audience even when the outcome of the event is already public knowledge, balancing out tension of an aircraft hijacking with proper pacing and character development.
Veteran actor Ha Jung-woo leads the movie as Tae-in, first officer of the targeted civilian airliner for hijacking after his dismissal as a military pilot for his failure to stop a previous airliner being hijacked by North Korea. Ha Jung-woo delivers a phenomenal performance as a man riddled with guilt of his own failure while maintaining the upmost desire to protect the passengers on the airline. The sheer emotion of suppressing own fear to make rational decisions under immense pressure was perfectly encapsulated by Ha Jung-woo.
Actor Yeo Jin-goo portrays Yong-dae, a troubled young man with a traumatic past attempting to defect to North Korea while taking out his frustration at the prejudice directed towards him from the Korean society at the height of their fear towards North Korea. While Yong-dae is based on the actual perpetrator of the incident, Yeo Jin-goo recreated the character showcasing the tragedies that led towards Yong-dae’s decision to take such drastic actions.
Despite having a simple premise familiar to the genre, Hijack 1971 managed to go above and beyond in its storytelling and educate its audience on the overwhelming level of warranted fear from South Korean’s society towards communism and more importantly North Korea in the following years after the division of Korean Peninsula that has largely diminished over time. Coupled with clever direction and realistic acting, Hijack 1971 conveys the weight of the situation perfectly to its audiences.
