An action-packed, character-driven Western set against the backdrop of the 1920s Japanese imperial rule? Enter Song of the Bandits, which dramatizes the century-ago Joseonian (Korean) uprising against Japan as a classic good guys vs. bad guys Western — with plenty of twists. Amid the Japanese occupation of Korea and the historic dispute over Gando (a region between China and Korea), it’s not always easy to tell the good from the bad. In Song of the Bandits, the intricate lives of the characters are caught up in the big-picture conflicts of the times — and the intrigue is as thick as the sandstorms that sweep over the hotly contested borderlands.
Co-created by Han Jung-hoon (My Fellow Citizens) and director Hwang Jun-hyuk (Black Dog), Song of the Bandits stars Bad Guys actor Kim Nam-gil in the role of an enslaved person turned soldier turned resistance leader. “It’s a historical drama that combines a Western genre action [story] with an Asian hero to deliver a new kind of catharsis,” director Hwang said recently in Seoul.
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Check it out at the top of this article.
• Kim Nam-gil (Those Who Read the Hearts of Evil, The Fiery Priest) as Lee Yoon, who becomes a Japanese soldier after his emancipation (he was enslaved by Gwang-il’s family) and who’s secretly in love with Hee-shin
• Seohyun (Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Love and Leashes) as Nam Hee-shin, a pro-Japanese railroad bureau employee who’s actually an independence fighter
• Yoo Jae-myung (Stranger, Itaewon Class) as Choi Choong-soo, who immigrated to Gando after the Japanese military killed his entire family, and joins forces with Yoon as the leader of the bandits to protect the townspeople of Gando
• Lee Hyun-wook (#Alive, Search) as Lee Gwang-il, who formerly enslaved Lee Yoon and convinced him to become a Japanese soldier just as he is (Gwang-il serves under the name Miura Shohei)
• Lee Ho-jung (Midnight Runners, Hostage: Missing Celebrity) as Some Girl, an anonymous young woman who shows up in town after her family has been killed
• Cha Chung-hwa (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Mr. Queen) as Kim Seong-bok, a former cohort of Yoon’s, who beckons him to Gando
In the ’20s, Gyeongseong (present-day Seoul) is occupied by Japan; meanwhile, further north it’s a different story. “But here in Gando, everyone’s gloating over the land with no clear owner in sight. The territory belongs to the Chinese, Japan is spending money here, and the people here are from Joseon. Among the three of them, who do you think will take over the land?” Seon-bok (Cha Chung-hwa) tells Yoon (Kim Nam-gil) as they bounce through the wild western landscape in a stagecoach.
Yoon has just arrived after receiving Seon-bok’s letter: She’s an old friend of his, now secretly selling firearms, and she’s summoned him to the area with news of the whereabouts of Chong-soo (Yoo Jae-myung). Yoon, formerly enslaved by Gwang-il (Lee Hyun-wook), had joined his former master in becoming a soldier for Japan. But he was haunted by the things he did, and he defies Gwang-il, fleeing to Gando and joining forces with Chong-soo, whose entire family was killed by the Japanese military. Together they lead the emerging ragtag resistance.
“He wasn’t the leader from the start,” Kim, who plays Yoon, told The Korea Times about his character. “But as he reflects on his mistakes and finds a life that will help pay repentance, he joins the group of bandits. He is dedicated to protecting the life he currently has and his loved ones.”
As they set out to fight those in power, Yoon and Chong-soo are swept up in a web of conflicting characters, each with their own agenda. There’s Gwang-il, Yoon’s former “owner” who serves in the Japanese military, thus targeting the independence fighters from his own country — but doesn’t realize his own fiancée is one of them. That would be Hee-shin (Seohyun), who dates Gwang-il, but has an ulterior motive (and to complicate things further, Yoon’s also in love with her). And then there’s Some Girl (Lee Ho-jung) — no one knows her real name — whose family has also been wiped out, and who turns out to be a skilled killer for hire herself.
“The series unfolds a complex story about the pain from history and other stories that are rooted in that pain. There have been several stories about the 1920s era, but I’ve never seen a work that adopted the western genre, which appealed to me,” Kim said. “It focuses on the characters who fiercely live their lives to protect their livelihood and loved ones.”
No, it’s not based on a book.
No, Song of the Bandits is not based on a true story. It does, however, draw on some of the actual history of Korean uprising against Japanese colonization during the ’20s.
It takes place primarily in a historic border region in present-day northeastern China that has a large population of ethnic Koreans. Known as Gando in Korean and Jiandao in Chinese, the region has long been an area of territorial dispute between Korea and China. Throughout Song of the Bandits, the characters refer to it as Gando.
