When Korean filmmakers are thinking about the virus crisis again...

Which Korean movie makes you never get tired of watching it?

Are we the parties, or are we bystanders?

R said

"We are all alone in the world.

Everyone is imprisoned in an iron tower,

can only

and these symbols have no common value,

so their meanings are vague and uncertain.

We are so pitiful that we want to transmit the wealth of our hearts to others,

but They don't have the ability to accept this wealth.

So we walk alone,

physically attached but not together,

neither knows nor is known to others. "

pennies”)



Since the outbreak of the new crown , it is the first time that modern human society has experienced a huge almost global impact. It not only deeply affects the social relations of human society, the medical system, and even economic activities, and even many things at the bottom of human nature.


Therefore, although the recently released Korean film "Extraordinary Manifesto" is based on a biochemical terrorist attack on a commercial plane, it seems to be an air crash and a suspenseful work, but in the second half of the film, it focuses almost entirely on human nature and When society faces major risks, it makes various bottom-level conflicts and decisions. Although


is South Korea's first commercial disaster film in the aviation category (as defined by Song Kanghao in his own interview with ), the film is quite excellent in terms of photography and rhythm control, especially the cabin photography of the flight out of control. It is a very good paragraph in the performance of the air crash movie so far. However, in Mr. R's perception, the disaster is obviously just a face used by the director, and the film spends a lot of ink in the middle and later stages to show the psychological changes of the passengers in the sky in the face of the disaster, as well as the underground decision-making The difficult decision-making process the team made in the face of various difficulties is the core of what the director wants to express through the entire film.


Even, Mr. R believes that director Han Zailin is obviously using this film to insinuate the various global epidemic prevention policies caused by the new crown in the past three years...



Of course, as an air crash film with a terrorist attack, the attack itself Some of it does have some details and logic problems. For example, the madman virologist played by the handsome Ren Shiwan can pass the security check so easily with an armpit method; and the speed of virus transmission on the plane is obviously biased. , several leading actors have mild symptoms until the last moment; and the policeman played by Song Kanghao has made rapid progress in just a few hours, and even in the end, in order to prove that the vaccine is effective, the progress is too rapid...


So, As a disaster film with a crime-solving nature, these deliberate arrangements have virtually lowered the credibility of the work itself, resulting in a low score for this work. After all, this is not the American drama "24 Hours", and there are full 24 hours to detail each detail itself.


And Mr. R believes that compared with the first-class disaster films in Korea such as " Travel to Busan ", "Influenza", " Han River Monster ", this work is ultimately too much pursuit of a sunny ending is superfluous. In fact, if the film ends with the sacrifice of the ego as the ending of the whole film, I am afraid the shock will be far greater than the present itself. Just like the "United Flight 93" in the United States, which depicts the 911 issueIn the meantime, all the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 chose to fight and die with the terrorists in order to prevent the terrorists from flying again and causing casualties. This is not only a real story, but also an immortal spiritual chapter in human history.


Even so, Mr. R still thinks that the flaws do not hide the flaws. Among the recent commercial blockbusters, this "Very Manifesto" still has a very exciting rhythm, story and core, which is far more worth watching than the recent Hollywood blockbusters.. ......


The "Trolley Problem" in Reality

There are 10 major problems in human philosophy, the first of which is the famous "The Trolley Problem". The title itself is too familiar to everyone, so we won't go into details. The picture above is enough to say it all.

This question is so classic that in the " Professor Michael Sandel talks about justice" in the Harvard University open class so far, the first lesson is to discuss this philosophy problem. (There is a full course video at station B)

This problem was originally proposed in 1967 by the philosopher Philippa Foot in the paper "The Abortion Problem and the Double Influence of Dogma". In raising such a question, his main goal is to criticize the main theories in ethical philosophy, especially the utilitarian theory, whose main point is that most moral decisions are based on the principle of "providing the greatest benefit for the greatest number of people".

In fact, the trolley problem is almost unsolvable because it is such a difficult choice in itself. Because no matter what you choose, you will be charged with certain crimes. The most troublesome thing is that the time for being forced to make a choice is very short, and once such a choice is made, it is almost unavoidable whether it is a moral judgment or even other reckoning after the fact.

Leaving aside the terrorist attack in the first half of "Extraordinary Manifesto", the second half of the movie is almost a realistic version of the trolley problem.


When the plane is already full of deadly viruses, should the plane be allowed to make an emergency landing to rescue the survivors? However, once the plane is allowed to land, if the virus is released and leaked, how much greater risk and harm will it bring? For a difficult problem like

, people from different positions and angles must expect different answers. For example: the family members of the passengers on the plane, and even some government officials who are responsible and sympathetic, must be inclined to rescue; however, unrelated people, even their own citizens, will tend not to let this risk land, not to mention foreign countries. The government has...

Realistically speaking, whether they are inclined to bailout or give up, these people's views are not wrong. It is the basic instinct of living things to seek good luck and avoid evil, not to mention more intelligent human beings with higher civilizations. The interest relationship is one of the most important factors affecting any decision. It's pretty unrealistic to expect someone you have nothing to do to risk your life for you with no benefit.

So, how to solve such a problem?

Actually, the solution to the trolley problem is never in the options themselves.

For example, why can't the tram stop before it causes a problem? And one or both of the options are suddenly free to escape (or choose to sacrifice), so the dilemma does not exist? In the


movie, the passengers decided to give up the landing together, which is actually the most sublimated part of the whole movie. "I don't want to hurt my friends" is definitely the best line. This is truly the noblest representation of the collective consciousness and dedication of humanity.

As in United Flight 93, learn that 911 After the WTO crash, all passengers fought desperately with terrorists with a mortal heart, and finally prevented Flight 93 from becoming a new terrorist attack. These passengers must, like in the "Extraordinary Declaration", want to understand the spirit of human civilization.

Some people would say that they actually made their own choices for the trolley problem.

Yes, that's right. But as parties, they have the right to choose their own destiny. Compared with having to hand over these painful choices to others, they obviously have more rights.

In fact, the choice of these heroic passengers and Iron Man finally snapped his fingers independently, and there is no difference in essence. This is the embodiment of responsibility, courage and heroism.

Although the director still gave the film a perfect ending with a bit of sympathy, we should all think deeply about how we should choose when we face the dilemma of trams in reality. Can



rules be trusted?


In addition to the discussion of the predicament of the tram, this work also makes a very interesting in-depth attack and reflection on some social rules.

For example, the title of the movie "Extraordinary Manifesto". The

movie just opened, it shows that in the aviation world, if the plane encounters an emergency, you can use the "extraordinary declaration" as the ultimate help message. And once this "extraordinary declaration" is used, usually the target airport will stop all other actions to ensure that the flight is given the highest priority for a safe landing.

But what about the reality in the movies? Even though

made an "extraordinary declaration", the flight was refused to land whether in American territory, Japanese territory, or even in South Korea's own territory, and was even bombarded by fighter planes, threatened, and prevented them from forcibly landing.

So, the so-called universal rules don't work in certain situations?


Looking back, this is actually the norm in the world. Most of the laws and rules of

are used to protect the interests of the top players and the existing classes by establishing order, and there is no so-called absoluteness. Especially when the personal situation is in serious conflict with the interests of some groups, it is basically too naive to place the hope of redemption on absolute rules.

If you watch the movie, the police represented by Song Kangho and the government represented by Jeon Doyeon and are also very representative of their struggles with multinational pharmaceutical companies. When there is no clear evidence, multinational pharmaceutical companies will do everything in their power to resist and confront, using various legal rules to refuse to cooperate, but you have absolutely no way, because all government manipulation requires legal compliance. At this time, the so-called sense of mission and responsibility that "people's lives depend on the sky" suddenly disappeared in the pharmaceutical companies that took the responsibility of saving the world?

The ultimate cooperation in everything happens when pharmaceutical companies discover that the truth cannot be concealed, and confrontation will only cause greater risks. They suddenly change and become "excellent conscience" companies that actively cooperate with the government...


So Harvard's public class talks about justice. In fact, there is never a clear conclusion, no clear standard, and no clear rules. Some are just phenomena, cases, thinking, analysis....

And the most important thing is to force each of us to think, when you can rely on the rules, and when you should understand that the rules cannot be relied on .

In fact, Mr. R thinks that "Extraordinary Declaration" can be regarded as a Korean movie with a very good core. Song Kanghao, Jeon Doyeon, , Lee Byung-hun, , these heavyweight actors, can also reflect from the side that the movie is not onlyis the goal of a commercial disaster movie.

Although the ending of the movie is superfluous, it lowers the pattern of the whole work, and even seems a bit out of tune with the atmosphere of the whole film, but maybe this is a choice made by the director for some reason.

At this extraordinary stage of human society, let's think about the "Extraordinary Declaration" again. Are we passengers on the plane? Or a spectator standing on the ground who can comment freely?


R Jun, September 12, 2022, in Shanghai.

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