Save the Green Planet is an intelligent but incredibly bizarre film charting the escapades of a Lee Byeong-Gu who’s dressed up like a Christmas tree, and seemingly belongs in the corner with those weirdos you met at school that wore tin foil hats on their heads to keep out “the voices”.
Having planned for many moons on how to capture the CEO Kang Man-Shik of a chemical company he believes to be an alien from another planet, our protagonist tries his best to beat knock out the CEO using a mix of weak punches, chloroform and mace. Having failed and let the CEO escape, he feels dejected until he sees a similarly dressed Christmas tree holding the Kang with a cloth of chloroform held over his face. Say hello to our protagonists not so hot ballerina girlfriend Su-Ni, with a mind of a child (she loves her Barbie dolls) and the body of the Michelin man.
As films go, this manages to perhaps win the Oscar for most genres in one film, using elements of horror, melodrama, sci-fi, comedy, thriller, and action. There are several dashes of comedy throughout; the concept of alien abductions and experiments is obviously sci-fi; the horror elements elude to the Lee’s psychotic and deluded behaviour of inflicting as much pain as possible; the melodrama stems from his impoverished upbringing and comatose mother; with the thriller and action elements falling in when the proverbial dung hits the fan and the cops are let loose.
Lee’s belief that Kang is an alien is not the first; having captured, maimed and killed several others who he believed to be aliens. Whether they were, you’ll find out later in the film. Kang is shaved, and stripped leaving him locked to a metal chair with only his bright, sparkly Y-fronts remaining. Lee’s literature consists of geeky sci-fi books, as well as books by crackpots who have written about recognising aliens.
Having compiled all the information together, Lee puts much of it into practice, such as shaving Kang’s head so he can’t telepathically communicate with his alien buddies, rubbing him with menthol rub on exposed skin as a way to destroy his immune system, using electrodes at 200 volts because aliens can handle more. To say Lee is determined is no understatement; to say he’s a psychopath is a borderline statement, until you finish watching the film.
This is a very, very colourful film with some incredibly eccentric and weird characters. Lee himself is bullied, but in his head he’s always beating the bullies. His girlfriend is someone he doesn’t love, but he does care about her, and she herself isn’t the most normal of people. Kang himself is a bit mysterious and boisterous in his defiance that he is not an alien, the fact that he survives the torture so often is quite astonishing, though it’s obvious he suffers like no man. Heck even Jesus probably an easier time of it compared to Kang’s suffering.
In parallel, the police are investigating Kang’s disappearance, and a detective now relegated to gutting fish is interested in cracking the case with a rookie from the Violence Crimes Division. The two manage to find and locate Lee, however, with only detective Chu (the current fish gutter) able to go incognito. Posing as a detective looking for poachers, Chu is soon to discover a gruesome reality that Lee has managed to keep hidden.
This is one of those films that you will either love or hate. It frighteningly manages to put all these genres together in a cohesive manner, and as a viewer you’re in two minds as to whether Lee is actually better off in a mental institution, or if he really is the saviour of Earth and that everyone else is deluded by the subtle, devious ways in which the aliens have invaded Earth.
The torture scenes have to be seen to be believed. It’s both funny and scary simultaneously, as you watch the two nut cases scrub Kang’s skin away and rub menthol rub into the bleeding wound. They’re convinced it’s working, but as a viewer, you’ll probably hold on to your feet or curl them knowing that if that happened to anyone they’d react. Of course that’s the simplest form of torture they use, and the extremities to which Lee goes to are absolutely insane. It makes Takashi Miike’s torture scenes in Audtion seem like child’s play by comparison. Lee is pretty damned vicious to say the least. Lubricated steaming dildo anyone?
Performances all round were very enjoyable. Lee’s switch from quiet and timid victim of bullying, to turning into a sadistically crazed torturer was particularly fun to watch. Kang’s hilarious pleas for help, and the on-going chase between himself and Lee when trying to escape is very funny. I enjoyed the use of limited CGI at seemingly random points to express a certain condition or point. It’s cleverly done and very well integrated. There’s plenty of things in here to test on your friends to find out if they may be aliens, so as an encyclopaedia piece to protecting yourself from crazy bug-eyed monsters with telepathic powers, this film is invaluable (do not try any of this stuff at home you crazy bastards!).
The film seems to be two different worlds collided into one, where Lee’s world is completely abstract and separate from that of Kang’s or detective Chu’s. It’s fascinating deviation from the norm, and provides another level of film entertainment that is both highly original and intoxicating fun. The ending may confuse or irritate a lot of people; I personally found it very, very funny and it reverts back to some of the stuff that happens at the start. Even the lack of Lee’s mother has some relevance as it is the propagator for his actions. There’s little about this film that actually make sense, or is real, however, it all gels together to make sense. It doesn’t leave you questioning or wondering about plot holes, because all of it fits and makes sense.
I thought The Quiet Family and the Happiness of the Katakuri’s was as odd as comedy became, but Save the Green Planet creates a whole new level of whacky and strange comedy that certainly eclipses both of them, while winning itself a unique accolade. Although a commercial failure (it was promoted as a romantic comedy for crying out loud!), it has been an underground cult hit and it’s no surprise to see why.
Certainly, it ranks with the strange weirdness of Peter Jackson’s early low-budget works such as Braindead, amongst other cult comic horrors. This film itself is a début feature from the director, and smartly manages to include themes that are actually much deeper than this review suggests. Discussing social degradation, corruption, and the mental torture of bereavement. It’s subtle, but the elegance and intelligence with which themes are integrated are certainly a credit to the director and writer of the film.
The DVD cover suggest a comedy suitable for the family, but this anything but; the torture scenes alone may be enough to put people off, but they’re done in such a dead pan comic way that the sting is mostly taken out, even if the visuals hurt to some degree causing you to wince now and again. It’s a cracking film, and certainly one I would recommend for the open minded amongst you, and those interested in a slightly abstract take on the alien invader genre. I love this film.
A fun ride and a worthy addition to your Korean collection. A sci-fi film unlike any sci-fi film before it, and possibly none like it after.
Verdict: With more genres than you can shake a stick at, Save the Green Planet is as wicked with its sadistic violence, as it is humourous with its slapstick comedy