SQUID GAME; A REVIEW.

 Fill my heart with song

And let me sing forever more

You are all I long for

All I worship and adore

In other words, let the games begin! ▶️

When we hear South Korea, we tend to think of a haven of small-eyed good-looking Asians wearing turtlenecks and singing to BTS or Black Pink 🎙️

Red light! ❤️

Green light. 💚

We were surprised when Squid Game presented a South Korea much different from what we know or are made to know.

Red light! ❤️

Green light. 💚

What if South Korea isn't a paradise? What if it's a country infested with debtors willing to stake their lives for wealth, and sponsors willing to stake a bet for fun?

Red light! 

Seong Gi-hun is an unfortunate man. He's a gambler living off the income of his mother. His wife left him for another man and took Ga-Yeong, their daughter with her.

The streets of South Korea offer no comfort as the streets are haunted by blood thirsty loan sharks. What's worse, Gi-hun is a debtor.

Robbed, beaten and hopeless, Gi-hun finds his ray of hope in a most unusual person; a man in a neat suit.

The man asks Gi-hun to play a game of Ddakji with him in exchange for two tokens; money (if he wins) or slaps (if he loses).

Gi-hun loses continuously (and gets slapped several times) until his luck strikes at the final round of the game.The man in the suit congratulates him and gives him a card; an invitation to the Squid Game.

Gi-hun, on accepting the invitation, is smuggled to a remote island. There are hundreds of other people just like him. He even meets his friend, Sang-woo, who he thought was better off due to his "assumed" high status.

The 456 players are instructed to participate in a couple of children's games. The survivor gets a huge cash prize. The others get... Eliminated!

“무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다”
"mugunghwa kkochi piotsseumnida"  “The Hibiscus flower has bloomed.”

One season, nine episodes, 456 players, six games and one winner.

Squid Game was set in South Korea, in the lonely island of Seongapdo. It was released on the 17th day of September, 2021. It instantly became a hit and put all Netflix users in a frenzy of horror and excitement.

The movie's fame spread far and wide, exceeding the shores of Asia to the countries in Europe and Africa.

Squid Game enjoys a large fan base who applaud the director's masterpiece and anticipate the release of a season 2, come 2024.

The director, Hwang Dong Hyuk spent a total of twelve years developing the plot of Squid Game. He exploited the theme of capitalism, class division and status-based segregation. Squid Game is not the first Korean movie to reflect this theme. The award winning Korean movie "Parasite" also portrayed the ills and injustice of capitalism against the poor who are the major victims.

In Squid Game, we witnessed the cold terror of death and the vileness of man in a most unlikely setting; a children's playground.There are many other paradoxes in the movie, but this proves to be the scariest of all.

Well crafted, perfectly acted and loaded with secret symbolisms and hidden clues, Squid Game was no doubt Hwang Dong Hyuk's breaking.

Hwang: This is a story about people who used to play this game as children and return to play it as adults.

Going further, Director Hwang explains that the movie is also a reflection of his childhood where the children's game called squid game was his favourite. He wondered what it would be like to play the game again now that he was grown.

Through his characters, Hwang entered the child's world of games again, but this time, the glory of victory was higher, and the cost of losing was graver.

As the game progresses, the audience are forced to part with some characters whom they have grown to adore. One of such characters was Abdul Ali (Anupam Tripathi). He's an immigrant from Pakistan. He's also a father and a husband. Racism and poverty prevents him from fulfilling his duties to his family. Thus, he sees the Squid Game as an opportunity.

His self sacrifice and loyalty to his friends in the game are evidences of his fatherly heart.

He is the strongest in the team. He is the kindest as well, having saved Gi-hun's life in the first game. He's a good man, but all his goodness does not save him in the game. Sadly, he is eliminated. 😔

His betrayer, Sang-woo cannot be blamed for his deeds. Everyone wants to live; no one is willing to die. That doesn't mean that Sang-woo had no feeling towards his friends. He cared for them, but he cared for himself more.

Despite Sang-woo's villainous deeds, the audience agree that Sang-woo's determination for victory and survival qualify him for the final round of the game.

Sang-woo: You won't get caught if you hide behind someone.

Oh Il Nam: I no longer have faith in humanity.

Oh Il-nam (meaning, number one man) is player 001. He is an old man suffering from a brain tumour. He is Gi-hun's friend and, according to some theories, his father. He is killed in the fourth game (Gganbu) or so we thought until we see him later in the movie, having a conversation with Gi-hun on his deathbed.

What was once pity turns to hate for we discover that the old man was the creator of the game. He was among the inhuman VIPs that pooled his vast wealth to create a game where people are killed like chickens, for fun! 😡What is his reason?

Il Nam: If you have too much money... everything gets boring in the end.

The old man complains that the poor and the rich have one thing in common; "Living is no fun for them." The game is an opportunity for him to have fun and enjoy himself again, like a child.

Il-nam participates in the game. We wonder at this because why would he put his life on the line even for fun's sake?

On closer observation, we find out that the old man was insured all along. In the "Red light, green light" game, the camera never highlighted him like the other players. Also, in the tug of war, if you look closely, you'll discover that the old man's hand bounds we're not padlocked like the others. So if they had lost, he could have easily slipped away.

Down to his final game. We can assume that Il Nam let Gi-hun cheat on purpose. He had taken a liking for him and he wasn't worried about losing, because the owner of the game never loses the game.

The Front Man: Here, the players get to play a fair game under the same conditions. These people suffered with inequality and discrimination out in the world.

Hwang Jun-Ho filled his role as detective to perfection. He single-handed infiltrated the 33rd Squid Game and unravelled many mysteries while trying to find out what became of his brother.His efforts were ill-rewarded and his investigation stopped by the very brother he risked his life to save.

The painful exit of Jun-Ho from the scene is yet to be explained. 😔 It is one of the things we anticipate in season 2. In fact, we have a theory that Jun-Ho is not dead, and we'll see more of him come 2024. 😌

The curtains must close, but not before we explore the characters of Kang Sae-Byeok (Louis Vuitton model, Jung Ho-Yeon) and Ji Yeong ( actor, "All of Us are Dead" Lee Yoo-Mi).

Seo-byeok is originally from North Korea. She is an illegal emigrant who is trying to care for her family. She entered the game with the hope that she would give her mother and brother a better life with the money.

Ji Yeong on the other hand is a character we discover near the end of the movie, at the tug of war game. She is initially nonchalant about everything and to everyone. She later warms up to Seo-byeok who she tells, "You have a reason to leave this place, but I don't."

The death of Ji-yeong at the end of the Gganbu marble game is a heart breaking scene. Her self sacrifice changes Seo-byeok's self centeredness, and in the face of death, Seo-byeok told Gi-hun, "Don't do it. That isn't you. You're a good person at heart."

With these words, she saved the life of the very man that killed her; Sang-woo. 😭

The words are endless. The mysteries are numerous. The sensations of anger, of pain, of hate and of love are still imprinted in our memories.

All in all, Squid Game is a classic that will be remembered for generations not just for its touching storyline, but for its valuable lessons.