Mr Sunshine: Review

Apart from the magnificent acting, grand scenery and cinematography, what is most compelling about Mr Sunshine is the interweaving of a grand love story with so many dimensions of little known historical fact. It’s a story the world should know: how Korea became dominated and overrun by a hostile nation for half a century because the world’s major powers agreed to let it happen.

When Joseon sought the help from the Hague and the US, to prevent their subjugation by Japan, they were ignored or blocked by Japan, for reasons I have yet to understand completely. The only people who rose to Joseon’s defense were Korean Americans, mainly in the San Francisco area and elsewhere in California. They gave generously to the effort of Joseon to remain an independent nation. They may have left Joseon for a better life, but Joseon never left their hearts.

The love of three men of similar yet disparate backgrounds for one woman inspired their heroism to fight not only for her but her cause: a free and independent Korea. Plus one more woman who loved both Joseon, becoming both a spy and freedom fighter for the Crown, and the men she learned to love and appreciate as their loyalty towards Joseon grew.

There is no way anyone watching this drama cannot be moved by the magnificent script and direction by Kim Eun-Sook and Lee Eung-Bok of Descendants of the Sun fame. But this drama far exceeds Descendants in both script and acting. It is simultaneously joyful and heart rending as we watch history unfold in ways we, the audience, wish we could go back and change.

We see through this drama step by step, Japanese soldiers and ministers intrude further and further into Joseon, offering only death to those who refuse to submit until Gojong’s Court becomes dominated and controlled by Japan and their Korean allies…and until finally he is forced to abdicate to prevent further massacres of his people.

Aside from the horrendous murder of Koreans in their fight to remain free, the plight of the deposed Emperor Gojong and his guardians, the freedom fighters among Gunnar’s troops, forever leaves a lasting impression. Freedom means more than life itself.

Told through the eyes of those who suffered so much injustice at the hands of the Japanese invaders and before, there is both poignancy and a keen sense of love that binds the characters of all different classes together to save something more than own lives: Freedom and Independence.