A Flower in Hell

A Flower in Hell (Korean: 지옥화; Hanja: 地獄花; RR: Jiokhwa) is a 1958 South Korean film directed by Shin Sang-ok.[3] For her performance in the film, Shin's wife, Choi Eun-hee was given the Best Actress award at the 2nd Buil Film Awards.[4] During the Korean War, director Shin Sang-ok had shared an apartment with a prostitute in order to live more comfortably rather than sharing a one-room evacuation apartment with several families, giving him insight in the subject of the film.

A Flower in Hell
Poster for A Flower in Hell (1958)
Hangul지옥화
Hanja地獄花
Revised RomanizationJiokhwa
McCune–ReischauerChiok'wa
Directed byShin Sang-ok[note 1]
Produced byShin Sang-ok
Written byLee Jeong-seon
StarringChoi Eun-hee
Kim Hak
Music bySon Mok-in
CinematographyGang Beom-gu
Edited byKim Yeong-hui
Distributed bySeoul Films Co., Ltd.
Release date
  • April 20, 1958 (1958-04-20)
Running time
86 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean

Plot

Two weeks after leaving the army, Dong-shik (Cho Hae-won), arrives in post-Korean War Seoul in search of his brother, Yeong-shik (Kim Hak-a), hoping to bring him back home to take care of their mother. The city is destitute, with few jobs, high crime, a huge American military presence, and a thriving black market economy.

The next day, Dong-shik finds Yeong-shik at the market and chases him through the streets. He only catches up when Yeong-shik stops to flirt with his girlfriend, Sonya, an in demand prostitute. Later at the river, Dong-shik meets Sonya's friend Julie, who speaks about the tribulations of being a prostitute and jokingly offers to marry him. When Yeong-shik comes back from his date, Dong-shik tries to convince makes his case for them to leave the city but Yeong-shik insists on staying. Yeong-shik tries to leave him with some money before being called out to work.

Later that night, Yeong-shik and his gang sneaks onto the American base during a party to steal supplies, employing prostitutes to distract the guards. Dong-shik arrives at Sonya's residence to try to convince her to stop seeing his brother. Instead, Sonya seduces Dong-shik and his family photograph drops out of his pockets as he lays with her. They later go on a date by the river, which Yeong-shik eventually finds out about and beats Dong-shik for.

Dong-shik, having failed to retrieve his brother and unable to pursue his relationship with Sonya, prepares to head back home. At the crossroad, he sees Sonya greeting Yeong-shik goodbye. Before Dong-shik leaves, he has one final lunch with her.

Sonya offers to leave Yeong-shik for good and suggest that they could move to Hong Kong. She even reports Yeong-shik's heist so that she could runaway with Dong-shik with no strings attached. When Dong-shik finds out, he leaves immediately to find his brother. Sonya follows shortly after.

With the tip, the military police easily prevents the gang's activities. Yeong-shik and others are slowly killed one after another as they attempt to escape from the police's pursuit. Yeong-shik eventually gets shot himself and crashes into the river.

Dong-shik finally catches up to Yeong-shik and retrieves him from the river bank. When Sonya arrives, she tries to convince Dong-shik not to leave her. He ignores her pleas and leaves to retrieve his truck. Yeong-shik overhears her confessions and slowly chases Sonya further into the river. Deterred by the mud and failing to beg for mercy, Sonya eventually succumbs to Yeong-shik's approach and dies by his knife. Yeong-shik then dies by his own injuries.

With his brother and lover dead, Dong-shik prepares to head home. Julie sees him off and returns his family photograph. Dong-shik proposes to Julie and they both head back to the countryside.

Cast

Notes
  1. Infobox data from [1] and [2]
  2. Cast listing based on [1]
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References
  1. "The Flower in Hell (Ji-oghwa) (1958)". Korean Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  2. Flower in Hell, IMDb
  3. Bergan, Ronald (2006-04-19). "Obituary: Shin Sang-Ok". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  4. Paquet, Darcy. "A Flower in Hell (1958)". koreanfilm.org. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-15.

Bibliography

Jiokhwa (1958) on IMDb

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