Harbin (film)

Harbin
Harbin
	Teaser poster
Hangul	하얼빈
Revised Romanization	Haeolbin
McCune–Reischauer	Haŏlbin
Directed by	Woo Min-ho
Written by	Woo Min-ho; Kim Min-seong;
Produced by	Kim Won-guk
Starring	Hyun Bin; Park Jeong-min; Jo Woo-jin; Jeon Yeo-been; Park Hoon; Yoo Jae-myung; Lee Dong-wook;
Cinematography	Hong Kyung-pyo
Music by	Jo Yeong-wook
Production; companies	Hive Media Corp; Keystone Films; Film Angels Studio;
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release dates	September 8, 2024 (TIFF); December 25, 2024 (South Korea);
Running time	108 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean

Harbin (Korean: 하얼빈) is a 2024 biographical period drama film directed by Woo Min-ho and starring Hyun Bin as Ahn Jung-geun, the Korean independence activist who in 1909 assassinated Itō Hirobumi, the first Prime Minister of Japan.^[2]

The film had its world premiere in the Gala program of the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2024.^[3]

Plot

In 1909, Ahn Jung-geun, a resistance fighter opposing Korea's subjugation by Japan, struggles across the frozen Tumen River. Meanwhile, his fellow resistance fighters question his whereabouts and loyalty. Ahn returns but has his leadership challenged because most of the fighters under him had died in a recent successful attack against the Japanese. Ahn had refused to commit war crimes by executing prisoners of war, including officer Tatsuo Mori, and freed them. Mori tracked down Ahn's group and slaughtered them with cannon.

Ahn decides that he will redeem himself by assassinating Itō Hirobumi, the Prime Minister of Japan and former Resident General of Korea. Itō is currently travelling by train from China to Russian-controlled Harbin to hold meetings with Vladimir Kokovtsov, the Russian Finance Minister, in which the future of Korea will be discussed.

Ahn leads a team that includes Woo Deok-sun and Kim Sang-hyun by train to Vladivostok. The conductor alerts Japanese soldiers after overhearing them speaking Korean in a first-class carriage. Kim is knocked out the window in the ensuing brawl and Ahn escapes. Ahn reaches the safehouse in Vladivostok, where the team regroups along with reinforcements from Korea who usurp Ahn's leadership, with Woo being the last to arrive. Meanwhile, Itō is briefed about the assassination ploy but refuses to give in and cancel the public reception at Harbin railway station.

The team reaches out to Ms. Gong, a former associate of theirs in the independence struggle who is now an arms smuggler, for explosives to blow up Itō's train carriage. Unable to procure them in Vladivostok quickly enough, Gong instead gets them from her brother-in-law and former Korean independence fighter-turned bandit in Jilin.

With this delay, it is now too late to assassinate Itō in Changchun. As the team sets out for China, they are ambushed outside their safe house by Russian and Japanese troops led by Mori and the explosives are destroyed. The team suspects they have been infiltrated by a mole. On the train to Harbin, they carry out a sting operation using false information that Ahn's team will strike at a railway station where Itō is scheduled to switch trains before reaching Harbin. The sting reveals that Kim is the traitor.

Woo and Kim arrive at the change station, where Japanese troops led by Mori lie in wait. Woo confronts Kim about his betrayal, who breaks down before Woo can shoot him. A flashback shows that Kim was captured and tortured by Mori using gas. Mori breaks into the room and brutally interrogates the two about Ahn, before realizing that he must be in Harbin.

At Harbin railway station, Ahn is briefed about the situation by Gong. After the meeting is over, the dignitaries leave the train carriage and Ahn stalks them through the crowd as they cross the platform. Mori tries to catch Ahn but is knocked down by Gong, allowing Ahn to shoot Itō repeatedly while shouting "Long live Korea!" in Russian before being detained.

News of Itō's assassination spreads and Ahn is hanged in March 1910. Later, Mori meets with Kim to get him to infiltrate Kim Ku's independence movement, but Kim stabs him to death and rejoins Gong and a recently released Woo. A flashback reveals that Ahn had ordered Woo to give Kim a second chance. The film returns to Ahn on the frozen Tumen River thinking about the need to keep fighting for Korean independence no matter how bleak the outlook.