Secretly, Greatly (2013) ~ A Sleeper Spy Wakes Up to a Nightmare

“Secretly Greatly” is a Korean movie released in 2013, based on the webcomic “Covertness”, and even though it is categorized as Action and Comedy, the storyline is not funny at all. The only comical part was when one of the main characters acted like the village idiot. Everything else in the film was serious and dramatic.

• Fans of Kim Soo-Hyun (“Queen of Tears”, “The Moon Embracing the Sun”) will want to watch this 2013 K-drama film. He won the Best New Actor Award twice. First, at the 2013 (50th) Daejong Film Awards; and again at the 2014 (50th) BaekSang Arts Awards.

♦ What’s More Important? Your Mother or Your Country?

In “Secretly, Greatly”, Ryu-hwan is a secret agent from North Korea sent to infiltrate a small town in South Korea. His mission was to play the village idiot named Bang Dong-Gu, until he received further orders. His commanding officer told him to go and become a legend, a hero of North Korea.

But he spent two (2) years acting like an idiot and began wondering if his comrades back home had forgotten about him. Two more spies showed up in the same town: Lee Hae-Rang, a spy posing as a wanna-be rock star, and another spy, Ri Hae-jin, posing as a high school student. These three (3) knew each other because they had trained together in North Korea. They were part of an elite squad of soldiers, the 5446 Corps, a Special Forces Team.

While they were away from home, living in South Korea, secretly serving their country as loyal patriots, and patiently waiting for orders to carry out a mission, the politics changed in North Korea. There were those in power who never wanted the Special Forces Team to be established. Now that the political leadership had shifted, they wanted the Team disbanded. However several spies from the 5446 Corps had already been deployed and were living secretly in South Korea.

How were they going to be brought back home to North Korea? Go back home? They did not receive orders to abort the mission and return home. Instead, they were told to kill each other and then whoever was still alive should commit suicide. If they came back to North Korea, they would be branded as traitors and executed.

Several NK spies had been sent to South Korea. But only three spies remained who were still alive. Ryu-hwan, Lee Hae-Rang, and Ri Hae-jin were the three spies who finally received their mission. Kill each other! But were they going to obey that order?

Main Characters:

• Won Ryu-Hwan / Bang Dong-Gu (played by Kim Soo-Hyun)
• Lee Hae-Rang (played by Park Ki-Woong, “My Man is Cupid”, “Pandora: Beneath the Paradise”)
• Ri Hae-Jin (played by Lee Hyun-Woo, “Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 6.8 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.3 out of 10 stars
• Letterboxd: 3.2 out of 5 stars
• Rotten Tomatoes: 4.5 out of 5 stars
• Amazon customers rated this movie: 4.2 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is 9 out of 10 stars.

In “Secretly, Greatly”, Kim Soo-Hyun, Park Ki-Woong, and Lee Hyun-Woo acted well together. They were spies, they were comrades, they were brothers in arms, and they were friends. Had they been allowed to carry out a mission in service to their country, no doubt they would have given their all. Why? Because they believed that the loved ones they left back home in North Korea were worth their blood and sweat. If they died in the line of duty, so be it.

But “What If” their patriotic service, their love for country AND family, meant nothing at all because their political leaders in their homeland, whom they trusted, decided to change horses in the middle of the stream? “What If” their existence as spies in a foreign land became “inconvenient” and they needed to be “eliminated”.

Aren’t those UGLY “What If” scenarios?

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• Film Review: ‘Secretly, Greatly’ … a tale of sleeper North Korean agents waiting to be called for their mission | Variety
• Secretly, Greatly: A Movie That You Never Saw Coming | Kdrama Nerd
• Review: Secretly, Greatly | Daydreaming Since 1985 …

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

International Film Festival Rotterdam. “Secretly Greatly – Trailer.” YouTube Video. YouTube, January 15, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq8k4SMzRRQ.

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