Fighter in the Wind is about a young Korean man, Choi Bae-dal, who during World War II, joins the Japanese army with dreams of becoming a pilot. However, the Korean pilots are assigned to kamikaze missions and Choi, along with a few other Koreans, refuses. After being tied up to be shot, he has his chance to fight a Japanese general hand-to-hand for his life. He suffers a crushing defeat but manages to survive to live in post-war Japan as a civilian, where he suffers another humiliating defeat. So, when chance reunites him with his old fighting teacher, Bun-soo, you can pretty much guess what he wants to do.
A stylized and commercial biography of Masutatsu Oyama—otherwise known by his Korean name, Choi Baedal— Fighter in the Wind seeks to reconcile Choi to his Korean heritage at the peril of slightly skewing his story and twisting some facts. Director Yang Yun-ho’s task is a tricky one no doubt, as over the years, Choi’s legend has come to be more associated with Japan with his name change, his use of Karate, his Japanese citizenship, a Japanese manga based on his life (the source for this film), and the legendary Sonny Chiba’s portrayal of him in three films. But this is all discarded, as the film takes a staunchly nationalistic angle that even seems to portray Choi as a man somewhat motivated by anti-Japanese tendencies.
But regardless of the complications between the real account and this one’s fictionalized approach, as a pure piece of movie entertainment, Fighter is a far more simple, yet glorious experience.
At the start of his training, Choi is given The Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto, which becomes a direct parallel to his life soon thereafter. While the film is given the typical structure and themes of any martial arts training film, particularly focusing on honor, persistence and retribution, Choi’s drama is no less inspiring for the viewer. Mirroring Miyamoto’s legend and the Samurai trilogy, Choi, suffers embarrassment early in his life and is motivated by his inadequacies to train incessantly, become the strongest fighter in the world and travel about Japan to find other masters to defeat. He even falls in love with a geisha, Yoko—played by the sweet Aya Hirayama who becomes this film’s Otsu equivalent in her concern for his life and well-being more than his success.
Yang Dong-kun also does a wonderful job of filling Choi’s shoes--he truly grows as a character and in terms of sheer presence, from a pathetic amateur with tears in his eyes to a determined towering fighter who takes most of his opponents out in one punch.
The film also captures the action sequences well with precise cutting and slow motion along with Jung Doo-hong’s choreography to make for a nice experience. The visuals are not as clean and static as we might get from a Tony Jaa film because Yang is not a martial artist, but the editing finds a healthy medium to fool us, but without rapid cutting between shots an insufferable amount and disorienting the audience with the Jason Bourne approach to action.
At a packed in two hours, the film rarely leaves its audience bored. While there is a short list of minor flaws—the lack of resolution to a sub-plot and the glaringly incongruous rock music with gothic undertones playing in a 1940’s period piece, the film is still well worth the time. Though audiences these days tend to bemoan films that aren’t complex enough, Fighter is a well-made, straight-faced story that rouses simple emotions and hardly disappoints. Oftentimes, that’s all we really need.
Reviewed by Tarun
