Non-Koreans who watch a lot of Korean cinema are likely to have been surprised at one time or another at the depictions of violence in schools. From Whispering Corridors to Friend and Bungee Jumping of Their Own, we have seen teachers beating students (sometimes with sticks or bats), students beating other students, parents bursting into classrooms and beating teachers... just about every combination imaginable. Surely Korean schools aren’t really like that, are they?
Director Yoo Ha (Marriage Is a Crazy Thing) asserts in interviews that it is indeed this bad, if not worse - at least it was in the 1970s, when he attended high school. Once Upon a Time in High School takes us back to these days when Korean society had reached the height of its authoritarianism and the country was rapidly modernizing. Young boys at the time were obsessed by the image of Bruce Lee, and Yoo depicts in this movie both how difficult life was for high school boys in those days, and how Bruce Lee served as a model and inspiration years after his death.
The film focuses on three main characters: the soft-spoken Hyun-soo, played by rising star Kwon Sang-woo (My Tutor Friend); an intimidating fighter Woo-sik, played by Lee Jung-jin (Bet on My Disco); and Eun-ju from a neighboring girls’ high school, played by debut actress Han Ga-in. When Hyun-soo transfers in as a new student he becomes friends with Woo-sik, and later the two of them meet Eun-ju on the bus. Initially the fights and troubles around them cause the three to become quite close, but as time goes by, divisions flare up and they begin facing their battles alone.
A major hit in Korea, Once Upon a Time in High School is an impassioned depiction of a generation growing up amidst violence and chaos.
Darcy Paquet