Has anyone else seen this movie? If so, what are your thoughts?
While looking for good AH movies, I managed to come across this movie. It's a South Korean film released in 2002, and it's one of the few films I've seen that take a truly serious stab at creating an alternate history universe.
The POD is 1909, when then-Japanese Resident-General of Korea Ito Hirobumi survives his assassination by Korean nationalist An Jung-guen. From then on, the Japanese Empire continues to tighten its hold on its Asian colonies, most prominently (for the story's purpose) Korea. Japan also avoids the conflicts that would lead to its downfall, allying with the United States during WWII, while still expanding its empire. By the war's end, Imperial Japan has remained a major world military power, with an empire spread throughout Asia. The story itself is set in Seoul in ATL 2009, where indigenous Korean culture has been all but extinguished, and the entire peninsula has essentially been Japanized.
See the movie's intro timeline and opening scene for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--GdDrkp6IE
Personally, I mostly enjoyed the film, because I think it's nice to see an attempt at serious alternate history in major movies. There were some flaws: I would think that a Japanese society that was never defeated in World War II and retained its imperialistic culture would look just a little bit different from the OTL-style cute cartoon advertisements and bilingual Japanese/English street signs that you can see in the opening scene.
But aside from that, it's a nice story. It's also, on its own, a pretty interesting examination on how South Koreans still view their own grudges against Japan. It gave me the impression that not all is water under the bridge yet, to say the least.
While looking for good AH movies, I managed to come across this movie. It's a South Korean film released in 2002, and it's one of the few films I've seen that take a truly serious stab at creating an alternate history universe.
The POD is 1909, when then-Japanese Resident-General of Korea Ito Hirobumi survives his assassination by Korean nationalist An Jung-guen. From then on, the Japanese Empire continues to tighten its hold on its Asian colonies, most prominently (for the story's purpose) Korea. Japan also avoids the conflicts that would lead to its downfall, allying with the United States during WWII, while still expanding its empire. By the war's end, Imperial Japan has remained a major world military power, with an empire spread throughout Asia. The story itself is set in Seoul in ATL 2009, where indigenous Korean culture has been all but extinguished, and the entire peninsula has essentially been Japanized.
See the movie's intro timeline and opening scene for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--GdDrkp6IE
Personally, I mostly enjoyed the film, because I think it's nice to see an attempt at serious alternate history in major movies. There were some flaws: I would think that a Japanese society that was never defeated in World War II and retained its imperialistic culture would look just a little bit different from the OTL-style cute cartoon advertisements and bilingual Japanese/English street signs that you can see in the opening scene.
But aside from that, it's a nice story. It's also, on its own, a pretty interesting examination on how South Koreans still view their own grudges against Japan. It gave me the impression that not all is water under the bridge yet, to say the least.