The Attorney (2013)

Directed by: Yang Woo-seok
Country: South Korea

Movie Review: Newcomer film director Yang Woo-seok brings us a courtroom drama inspired on the early life of Roh Moo-Hyun, the ninth president of South Korea, then turned into an activist, and his ‘Burim case’ dated of 1981. Guided by the motto ‘never give up’, Song Woo-seok, even without a college degree becomes a voracious attorney, getting the life he always wanted. Professional success, lots of money and a beautiful family, makes him boasting around and expose himself as a wealthy man. But Woo-seok shows to have a good heart too, when he returns to a restaurant he used to go as a student in order to pay an old debt to the owner, a lady whose teenager son will be illegally arrested, tortured and forced to confess he is a leftist. The man who carries out these unacceptable operations is the highly patriotic police officer, Cha Dong-yeong. Disturbed by this injustice Woo-seok will radically change his life to free an innocent from the corruption of the Korean system and improper use of public power. Even if a bit melodramatic in the final moments and stepping familiar territories, “The Attorney” combined humor, drama, and a raging courtroom battle, in an appealing way. I would say that the aggressive performance by Song Kang-ho, along with the cynical one by Kwak Do-won, were able to maintain the film well alive, regardless of the director’s gullible attempts to draw some tears, especially in the end. Fortunately, this wasn’t enough to turn down the magnificent work from these two respectable actors.