Train to Busan (2016)

These days, the internet is a decent barometer to judge a movie’s worldwide buzz or level of interest. Such is the case with a Korean film that has created enough noise from all the suitable quarters to indicate something a little bit special. With recent news filtering through that Train to Busan has just become the highest money earner in Korean film history, the buzz wasn’t just based on a lot of trendy hot air, bloated reputations, and egos. That said, Film Festival audiences, in general, are somewhat desperate to find the next “big thing” to get excited about and sometimes the hype generated out of this need to uncover the next obscure classic; such is the nature of the beast.

It didn’t come as much of a shock that initial shows had all sold out and several extra screenings arranged to accommodate the growing numbers of the curious.

The theatre jam-packed to the rafters as the little intro from the director was unspooled. Refreshingly free of the kind of ego and self-importance many Hollywood directors tend to display.

The action starts with a van driven from near the demilitarized zone. There is news filtering through about some contamination or the other. Most border guards are alerted to take measures to ensure things remain safe and the contamination controlled. Moments later, an animal struck down dead by the van miraculously springs to life and darts off, an ominous sign, to say the very least.

We meet a cutthroat business executive in charge of making ruthless deals. He has a broken marriage and a little young daughter to care for. Still, it appears as though his business deals are his primary concern and his relationship with both his wife and his daughter fractured beyond repair. The next day is the young girls birthday, and she pines for her mother instead of her father, who fobs her off with a shiny new present for her birthday, the same one he has already gotten her before! The kid insists on being with her mother for her birthday and insists on taking the train. She must travel on her own, as her father is reluctant to take her there himself. Eventually, he has to give in and accompany her. The next day, they board the train together, but strange events are brewing, and as the train departs, a very sick looking young woman climbs on board, clearly very, very ill.

It’s not long before the girls contorted body swivels into shape and acquires a new force of afterlife as she mutates into a zombie biting her first victim in the neck and rapidly setting off a chain of infection that spreads through the moving train like wildfire. Soon a large majority of the passengers are infected and hurtling through the train, savaging anything that they can hear and see move.

Now, for the first time in his life, perhaps, he learns about compassion, helplessness, suffering and alienation and indeed the pain of his own beautiful and innocent young daughter. His transformation from a cold, calculated money machine is hastened by the heroic deeds of some of his fellow passengers. Slowly but surely, he starts to redeem himself in the eyes of his child, and a seemingly destroyed relationship beyond repair slowly begins to rekindle in a purely human way.

Later his daughter tells him why earlier she had stopped singing at her school function and failed to complete her song as he didn’t bother to show up, but now she finds him morphing into someone with a soul and with a heart. Very poignantly and with admirable restraint and subtlety, the father-daughter relationship is reborn, and these emotions are at the core of the overt zombie romp of the film. Still, there is more than meets the eye to this thoughtful and intelligently delivered film.

There are other moments of heroism and sacrifice, and time and again, the resounding message is of tolerance, compassion, and kindness to those in desperate need. Not too far removed from the horrors faced by the millions of refugees in today’s ugly world. Those who have been treated as pariahs by millions clinging to their riches and refusing to share anything.

There have always been parallels to a materialistic and callous human society in zombie movies that mirror the rich and powerful value system and Train to Busan. This sentiment comes through resoundingly and strikingly but never without some restraint. While there is a wave of emotion running through this very moving film, an element of comedy strikes a balance between message and pure pulp entertainment, and it works beautifully.

Surprisingly, there is very little graphic gore for a zombie movie with people being munched and chowed down upon at a relentless rate. We never see actual necks chewed or limbs bitten into or anything too graphic at all. The imagination fills in the blanks that the audience doesn’t see, leaving the graphic horrors to the viewer’s vision which is almost always far more effective than showing every graphic, gruesome detail.

The film moves along at a cracking tempo most of the way through and hurtles – train like – to its gut-wrenching and emotionally power-packed conclusion. There are some genuinely terrific scenes and some weighty emotion as the film draws to its climax, and indeed it seems that many in our audience were busy wiping away the tears as the film draws to a memorable close.

Clapping and cheering audiences who had been on the edge of their seats through most of the movie were testament to how the director of the film evoked entertainment and drama and much comic relief quite seamlessly to deliver a film that is immensely satisfying on all counts.

To discover recently that this film has become the biggest money-spinner in Korean cinema history doesn’t come as a surprise. It contains elements for audiences out for a zombie film and an audience that appreciates serious drama and relevant social, political, and human issues. Zombie films tend to be reasonably light in the cerebral department if your name is George A Romero, but this movie contains a potent mix of the three and does so with a deft touch that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

A film that is involving, thought-provoking and expertly crafted. Zombie films generally don’t come much better than this one. Definitely one to recommend on several different levels.