There’s an island called “Battleship Island”, where many Koreans were forcibly drafted into serving the Japanese imperial army and mining coal, where they were treated miserably. Director Ryoo Seungwan cinematized the island’s tragic history. The imagined part of the film has parallels to the conceptual critique Bong Joon Ho makes in Snowpiercer. Just as leaders in the tail carriage must cooperate with the head carriage to make the train roll onwards, Korean collaborators are essential in Battleship Island’s mines. The film seriously brings up the pro-Japanese issue, the stain in the history of modern Korea. Ryoo Seungwan accuses pro-Japanese groups for the wicked deeds they did. In the director’s full version, 19 minutes longer, the scene in which the pro-Japanese are eradicated is noticeable. The segment in which Mu-young (starred by Song Joongki) executes a traitor who sold Koreans out to Battleship Island, makes the consciousness of this film much more clear. He said Director’s Cut, which is the original version, is his answer to the controversies arisen at the time of release. (NAM Dong-chul)