Bogota: City of the Lost 2025 Movie Review
In the rapidly changing and dramatic society of Korea, it seems that few people truly remember the national emergency of 1997. That year, South Korea faced the “IMF crisis.” To put it simply, in the midst of a chaotic and confused state, the country found itself in a financial crisis, accepting the IMF’s bailout loan and having to undergo fundamental restructuring to fix the economy. Many people, who fell into despair, were driven to suicide, while some even left the country in search of a new life. Among them was the family of Guk-hee. This is the story portrayed in Kim Sung-je’s film ‘Bogotá’, which was released on the 31st of last month. The family heads to Bogotá, Colombia.
19-year-old Guk-hee (Song Joong-ki), hit hard by the IMF crisis and now with a bankrupt father (Kim Jong-soo), arrives in Bogotá, leaving Korea behind. From the very airport, they are met with a chaotic reality, and Guk-hee’s father says, “We’re going to America. This is just a tollgate on the way.” The person they rely on in this foreign land is Park Byeong-jang (Kwon Hae-hyo), a former comrade from the Vietnam War who had settled in Bogotá years ago. He has built his business by smuggling lingerie through the Dongdaemun market in Korea. Under Park Byeong-jang, Guk-hee learns how to survive-how to earn money, protect his turf, and navigate the corrupt system and chaotic market of Colombia, all while interacting with the odd connections between Koreans. Of course, he learns the best ways to gain trust, when to betray someone, and how to survive backstabbing. After all, this is Colombia, the land of coffee and Márquez.
The film does not dramatize the tragic aspects of the IMF crisis in Korea. It is assumed that Guk-hee’s family, like many others, faced the same harsh realities. That’s why they left Korea in the dead of night, and why the mother (Kim Ho-jung) appears so powerless, just like the father. Rather than focusing on the “shadow of Korea,” the film begins by showing the harsh reality of Bogotá. From protests and violence at the airport to police and guns, the scene highlights just how disorderly and dangerous the place is for newcomers. The situation quickly escalates to a taxi robbery, turning the “dream of El Dorado” into a nightmare.
Yet, Bogotá slowly becomes “the land of hope” for them-the “last land of hope.” In this land, there are fellow Koreans, and where there are Koreans, there are naturally helping hands. But along with help come the inevitable struggles of jealousy, infighting, and power struggles. In the land of Pablo Escobar, they don’t fight over drugs but instead over lingerie and down jackets.
Song Joong-ki, who played the fixer in the drama Reborn Rich, presents a stunning transformation from a green immigrant to an indomitable tycoon. His usually pristine image actually challenges the authenticity of the character. However, veteran supporting actors solidify the reality of survival in Bogotá and strengthen the immigrant narrative.
At the heart of this film lies the frontier spirit of Daewoo’s Kim Woo-choong. The motto, “It’s a Big World and There’s Lots to be Done” was the credo of trade businessmen back in the day and reflected the spirit of Korea’s youth at the time. Choosing lingerie instead of drugs in Pablo Escobar’s land was a wise business move. The idea of down jackets as an alternative to the norm was similarly a brilliant commercial instinct. Based on this, they shaped markets and expanded the influence of K-production. The “Korean Dream” may have collapsed, and the “American Dream” may have been closed off, but they continue to chase after the “El Dorado Dream,” much like the Koreans in Suriname on Netflix, albeit in a very different way.
In the surprisingly short runtime of ‘Bogotá: The Land of Last Chances’, we get a glimpse into the lives of Koreans during the 1997 IMF crisis. The film does not linger on side plots but stays focused on Guk-hee’s rise and fall. If there is one thing to criticize about this film, it is that Song Joong-ki’s face is too handsome. If only he had shown a face with more of Bogotá’s heat and despair, the urgent story might have had an even stronger impact, like Al Pacino in ‘Scarface’. (PARK Jae-hwan)
