The Fortress

"The fate of the nation is in their hands"

2017 2h 20m KO

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 168

WarDramaHistoryAction

Synopsis

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Ancient Korea, 17th century. The powerful Khan of the Jurchen tribe of Manchuria, who fights the Ming dinasty to gain China, becomes the first ruler of the Qing dinasty and demands from King In-jo of Joseon to bow before him; but he refuses, being loyal to the Mings. On December 14th, 1636, the Qing horde invades Joseon, so King In-jo and his court shelter in the mountain fortress of Namhan and prepare to defend the kingdom.

“The fate of the nation is in their hands”

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Cast

Lee Byung-hun
Choe Myeong-gil
Kim Yoon-seok
Kim Sang-heon
Park Hae-il
King In-jo
Go Soo
Seo Nal-soe
Park Hee-soon
Lee Si-baek
Song Young-chang
Kim Ryu
Jo Woo-jin
Jeong Myeong-su
David Lee
Chil-bok

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Writers: Lim Sun-ae, Hwang Dong-hyuk
Languages: Korean
Countries: South Korea

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 9 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, shot by Kim Ji-yong. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Nam Na-young shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Lee Byung-hun and Kim Yoon-seok and Park Hae-il carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The fate of the nation is in their hands".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt7160176 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hwang Dong-hyuk directs. Kim Ji-yong behind the camera. Ryuichi Sakamoto scores. Nam Na-young cuts. Produced in South Korea. Dialogue in Korean.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 9 years ago.
2Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, shot by Kim Ji-yong. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Nam Na-young shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Lee Byung-hun and Kim Yoon-seok and Park Hae-il carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "The fate of the nation is in their hands".
7IMDB entry: tt7160176 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 8 themes, including "based on novel or book", "based on true story", "17th century", "joseon dynasty (1392–1910)".

The technical file

Cinematography: Kim Ji-yong
Original score: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Editing: Nam Na-young
Production design: Chae Kyoung-sun
Costume design: Cho Sang-kyung
Makeup / hair: Yoon Hwang-jik
Sound: Gang Hye-yeong
Runtime: 140 min · 2h 20m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $28,645,448
Original language: KO
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Fortress (2017)

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Hwang Dong-hyuk

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-12-26
★ 7/10
Based on real events from the early 17th century, this enthralling drama tells the story of the efforts made by the last king of independent Joseon (modern day Korea) to keep his kingdom and his people from the encroaching Qing who conquer all before them. Facing overwhelming odds, he must retreat to a remote mountain fortress and rely on it's inaccessibility and the fierceness of the winter to keep them safe until the spring, when hopefully his southern armies will be able to reinforce him. They are determined to sit it out, even if food was is in short supply for the 13,000-odd mouths they had to feed, and to a certain extent are helped by their foe who would rather the king (Park Hae-il) came out and publicly swore fealty to the Khan (Kim Pub-Lae). As you might expect, his advisors consist of those hawkish and those pragmatic, and he has to try and reconcile the increasingly fractious advice of his council. Meantime, getting a message to his troops is no mean feat, either, and he has to be aware that even if their wily blacksmith messenger does get through the enemy lines his soldiers might decide to keep their powder dry many miles away. The film looks great with authentic looking and especially frigid scenarios bringing a shiver to your spine as the occupants of the mountain refuge face the constant snow and freezing temperatures with only some straw cushions to insulate them from the cold. It does drag a little at times, but there are some entertaining combat scenes with plenty of bows, arrows and cannons to compensate. It's an history so like that other hilltop siege story "Masada", there's no actual jeopardy - but it's still a classy looking production that marries the needs of the state with the needs of the little people quite effectively for a couple of hours of honour amongst warring parties.

Production companies