Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Escape from Mogadishu Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 10, 2022

In the annals of international conflicts that have contributed to the decimation of forests due to required amounts of newsprint and/or clogged "internet tubes" (a joking reference to the late Alaskan senator Ted Stevens) due to online coverage, the "situation" between North and South Korea has been one of the more recurrent. Escape from Mogadishu rather incredibly views that longstanding conflict from an unexpectedly unusual perspective, namely the civil war that erupted in Somalia in the 1990s (and which at least tangentially has provided grist for the cinematic mill via such films as Black Hawk Down). While it may be arguable that North Korea has been more in the forefront of the news over the past few years than South Korea has, and therefore the long simmering conflict between the nations may have seemed to fade into the background in some way, nevertheless one of the fascinating historical footnotes Escape from Mogadishu explores is how both nations were lobbying furiously and simultaneously to gain acceptance into the United Nations in the early nineties. Kind of incredibly, as a bilingual text crawl which opens this film discloses, that ended up involving a rather large number of African nations, since evidently that continent held the most voting members for possible membership. Escape from Mogadishu explores the efforts of delegations from both North Korea and South Korea to gain favor with Somalia's President Barre, plans that become moot once a revolution breaks out. In some kind of analog to "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", the North Koreans and South Koreans who find themselves more or less abandoned in a war torn Mogadishu end up having to work together to make it out alive.

Now the underlying premise that perceived "enemies" need to work together sometime for a common good (not to mention "mere" survival) is certainly one of the hoariest of clichés that lazy screenwriters can rely on to provide a suitable framework for plot dynamics, but what makes Escape from Mogadishu so viscerally compelling is its really unusual context. The whole political scrambling that opens the film gives an immediate window into the lives of the diplomats in both the South Korean delegation, led by Han Shing-sung (Kim Yoon-seok), and North Korean delegation, led by Rim Yong- su (Huh Joon-ho), though rather fascinatingly, one of the background data points the film offers, if somewhat discursively, is that the North Koreans have been at this "game" of wooing African nations far longer than the South has.

There are a number of well drawn characters and interrelationships in the film, which ultimately thrusts the North Koreans together with the South Koreans after the first daring escape in the film, when the delegation from North Korea desperately seeks refuge with their South Korean counterparts, in direct contravention to the ridiculous laws barring any such interaction. But what is playing out in the background in an almost internecine manner between the two delegations is outright suspicion on the part of some of the military intelligence types, despite the seemingly obvious issue that Han and Rim realize, namely that no one is going to get out of Mogadishu alive unless they manage to develop a common strategy.

That strategy has to contend with the increasingly paranoid (but perhaps understandable) fears by the Koreans who are more or less being held captive in a scenario that is at least a little reminiscent of events in Argo . But once a patently insane gamble is agreed upon, the assembled Koreans try to get out of harm's way in some almost comically "Rube Goldberg" adorned cars, leading to an extended chase sequence that is one of the film's highlights.

Some of the context of this piece might have been a bit better developed, and a few presentational aspects, like having slogans appear on screen in both Korean and English as hostilities break out, might not have been strictly necessary. There are also at least a couple of passing attempts at comedy, kind of unbelievably given the overall tenor of the piece, which may strike some as tonally odd. But watching the interplay between the two Korean delegations as they face a common threat provides this film with some surprising immediacy. It's interesting to note that South Korea evidently has one of those aforementioned silly laws that reportedly forbids "glamorizing" North Korea in any way, shape or form, but what is commendable about Escape from Mogadishu, and something that may have helped the film do considerable box office in its country of production, is that its doesn't shirk from humanizing all of the Koreans, no matter what their "geographic" status may be.

Escape from Mogadishu Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Escape from Mogadishu is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I've long been on record as stating that I personally prefer digital capture by Red cameras over Arri Alexas, but this Red shot feature may be a slight exception to my rule, though despite some of my curmudgeonly qualms the overall presentation here is nicely detailed and well saturated. In the "qualm department", I've also been on record as stating I often find Alexa captures to suffer from what I call "Alexa murk", and some of the heavily graded yellow sequences in this in particular film look surprisingly similar in that regard, with an at least marginal diminution of fine detail and an overall haziness that can keep clarity at bay. These same deficits are probably also noticeable in some equally heavily graded scenes in blue, though some of the blue scenes have some kind of odd artifacts, with near pixellation and what almost look like stripes running down the frame. Some of the most heavily graded material can also look a bit on noisy. On the plus side, in normal lighting conditions this presentation pops extremely well, and detail levels are generally more than secure. Fine detail is often excellent in the many close-ups. Some of the CGI is not especially convincing.

Escape from Mogadishu Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Escape from Mogadishu features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks ostensibly in either Korean or English, though even the "Korean" language track is littered with at least occasional English that can come up interstitially, and sometimes as even just part of some dialogue scenes. Both tracks offer very similar (and I'd frankly say identical) mixes in terms of overall amplitude and effects levels. The surround channels get a number of nice workouts as hostilities increase, and some of the literally explosive scenes offer good LFE and well placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Escape from Mogadishu Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Production Documentary

  Motive (HD; 1:53)

  
  

  Mogadishu (HD; 1:43)

  
  

  Actors (HD; 2:04)

• Making Of

  Car Chase (HD; 00:51)

  ,br>

  Interview / Military Consultant (HD; 2:59)

• Teaser (HD; 00:34


• Trailer 1 (HD; 1:36)


• Trailer 2
(HD; 1:58)

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored so that supplements follow one another automatically (so that clicking on Motive under the Production Documentary submenu is essentially a Play All button. The disc is also authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the Trailer 2 for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Escape from Mogadishu Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The history of North and South Korea is obviously hugely contentious, but for those interested I might recommend both JSA: Joint Security Area and (however weird this may seem) the animated film A Dog's Courage (this latter film also released on Blu- ray by Well Go USA) for two more insights into the relationship between the two countries. Escape from Mogadishu manages to take a pretty rote idea of perceived nemeses having to bond to effect a mutually desired outcome and give it surprisingly visceral energy due to the actual history (however dramatized it may be) involved. Technical merits are generally solid, and Escape from Mogadishu comes Recommended.