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film review: masquerade

[This is a spoiler-free review.]

Masquerade, or Gwanghee: The Man Who Became King is not a film I had anticipated becoming one of my all-time favourites after only a single viewing. I, being a history major in college, was certainly intrigued by the summary and decided to just unwind and try it out. I wasn’t expecting to be so swept up in the characters and the rapid plotline and the mystery.

The summary wasn’t anything groundbreaking. On Dramafever, where I viewed the film, all it said was: “ A lowly street performer resembling the King takes over his duties in order to cover up his death.” That and the 4.7 star-rating was more than enough to hook me. I started watching, and that world became my world for roughly two hours and eleven minutes. The mystery was the real King himself, why he was fearing for his life, what suddenly happened to him, they were all questions that weren’t answered until the near end of the film.

Then, there is our jester Ha Sun appeared. With his lewd imitations of the king (to whom he had an uncanny resemblance, which was why he was approached by the King’s closest advisors), he was brought to the palace and ordered to perform as the king. In the beginning, it was simple (requesting late-night snacks and assuring his officials that he was well), until King Gwanghee legitimately disappeared, which left Ha Sun to rule the entire kingdom.

In real life, Gwanghee obviously had no body-double deciding whatever he pleased but is actually considered a very wise, sensible ruler. He enforced a uniform land tax law (mentioned in the film) which eliminated discrimination for landowners. Ha Sun, as Gwanghee, says at one point that it should be equal everywhere. If one person has ten rice patties, they can give ten bags of rice. If another person only has one, they give one bag of rice. It was only truly fair that way. Another real-life tidbit that they included was Gwanghee’s foreign affairs. The Ming and the Manchus were fighting their own battles (in which Korea was pressured to aid Ming at times), and Japan even invaded Korea (which was not mentioned specifically in the film). He diplomatically settled many of these issues, even with his weaker military and status. He even managed to smooth out Korea and Japan’s relationship for a time, reopening trade and opening conversation between ambassadors.

So, these accomplishments were definitely an inspiration for the filmmakers to make a misunderstood king’s story retold in a more attractive light. It feels to me that they wanted to show us that while no ruler is perfect, they have good intentions and most of them want to help their people. Most of them love their people, which is something else that Ha Sun got into closer to the end of the film. He gave a powerful monologue about why he and his officials should love and care for his people, that they are not simply numbers in a military troop or a small village, they are individuals and families and deserve attention.

Overall, without giving any further spoilers (I don’t believe I spoiled any of the actual story, since I mentioned things that legitimately happened in real life), I couldn’t recommend this film enough. From a historical viewpoint, it was fascinating and certainly inspired further research. From an entertainment perspective, it had touching characters, eloquent dialogue, plenty of laughs, and an exceptionally talented cast and crew. Lee Byung Hun, especially. He was our King Gwanghee and Jester Ha Sun. The way he portrayed the two characters, even when they were in the same room as each other, was such a magnificent thing to watch. With the same face, he could give such vastly different personalities and attitudes. They looked identical, but they were so different that I never confused them. It really made the film for me.

My final rating would definitely be 5/5. Watch this when you can, you won’t reject it. It’ll make you feel a lot, and maybe even cry, but it’s such a good experience all in all.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to check out my blog here for more Korean entertainment content!

Watch on KissAsian: [here]

Watch it on DramaFever: [here]*

Watch/Order on Amazon: [here]**

* requires DramaFever Premium

** requires Amazon Prime