Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2000: Song Kang-ho in Joint Security Area

Song Kang-ho did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sgt. Oh Kyung-pil in Joint Security Area. 

2000 seemed just a year where Korean cinema was beginning to reveal so many of its great talents burgeoning with so many of their, now, most essential directors making their start, or continuing their start, and so many of the actors starting to make their name. One such actor was Song Kang-ho who, despite earlier wrongheaded comments on my part, deserves to be mentioned right along with Byung-hun Lee and Choi Min-sik, as the three best Korean actors currently working, and really three of the best working actors of their generation regardless of country. Song in 2000 actually had a particularly great opportunity to explore his range this with his two performances, one in the comedy, with a bit of drama, in Foul King, directed almost paradoxically by Kim Jee-woon, where he got to be a failed banker who becomes a wacky wrestler. The same year though he worked with another of the Korean trio in Park Chan-wook, with the excellent Joint Security Area, about the unlikely friendship between border soldiers from South and North Korea. Where Byung-hun Lee played the senior soldier on the south side, Song plays the senior officer on the North side. And in turn we get a dynamic between the two great actors that helps greatly towards the immense success of this film. 

Now with Song we get a completely different seeming actor from his other work in 2000 frankly as we see his earliest, chronological scene, where we get this calm, frankly powerful, presence of the soldier of a dictatorship. There's just this sort of innate no nonsense strength within Song's work that is remarkable in itself compared to his "silly" work in Foul King, Song here exudes a man who has this innate power of self and is wholly convincing as this career soldier. Although what is fascinating though is in his first chronological scene we get that presence, however we also get a brilliant subversion of it within his performance. This as he stands as the presence of the North at the border, however a visitor losing their hat, the Sergeant hands it back over, and just the slightly facial movement of a near smile suggests powerfully yet so subtly the man within the soldier. This is each of these earliest flashback scenes where Song brings the sort of command of such a soldier, yet what is so essential is the way he does these minor little indications to the real nature of the man. Even a moment of a threat to Sergeant Lee, as they both are at their post, Song delivers the threat with a quietly comical sentiment that makes the threat a true joke, and shows the man enjoying the potential connection with his sworn enemy. 

Song is expectedly wonderful then in crafting the chemistry with Lee, and the two actors with the privates who also join the other two in their border friendship. This as Song just crafts the chemistry with just showing the indication of the nice man beneath it all, openly with these moments of sincere and sweet conversations of the men bonding together. Song is great by playing these scenes really without reservations in terms of the humanity of the character. Even his physical manner delivers this way of the man being embracing and supportive. Song reinforces in every way of his performance just the loving man beneath the soldier ready and willing to get out. The man indicated by the earlier brief moments completely exposed for the joy of life seeking man beneath it all. Song does great work by showing really the confidence within this manner, and showing that as a soldier it isn't even exactly a repression, just a requirement as there is no hesitation in the man when given the chance. One small moment I love is Song playing with this speaking with a sharp determination to speak of his hopes for North Korea to develop proper sweets, though again Song showing really the Sergeant himself actively subverting the expectation of the type of soldier he is. 

Despite the camaraderie we follow as their nations' differences enforce themselves upon the group's conversation, and I love the way that in a way Song shows his Sergeant as the wisest of the group, and clearly the man who has seen the most. This as in each of his deliveries there is a blunt sense of experience and understanding the Sergeant. Song showing a man who knows really the truth of the situation at every point. This including the climatic moment, which the film slowly unwraps, where a North Korean soldier, who is not part of the group, comes in leading to a bloodbath. Song is fantastic throughout the scene as again showing the man who is consistently calm within the conflict, but also trying to be persuasive towards the others for calmness. There is such a palatable sense of empathy in every word that Song brings in his words, but also just in his manner throughout. He never loses that sense of decency even as guns are fired, and his expression of shock at the actions of the others are truly powerful in showing the one man whose decency cannot be shook by anything that occurs. This making just his moment of looking at the shooter of the scene with horror, Song is heartbreaking in granting the real sense of loss by showing the man who despite the circumstance never forgets that they are friends. This as even as the Sergeant takes action to help the men, who have killed his comrades and almost him, Song performs every moment with this intensity but also certainty of a man trying desperately to help his friends despite all that has transpired. This nature is even reinforced in the scenes that take place beyond the incident, such as early one where investigators meet him when he is unwilling to cooperate. Song shows the man putting on the tough soldier in displaying his battle scars, and just trying to ignore the situation. When they bring the two sergeants together again, Song is excellent in showing the subtle sense of recognition of the past so subtly, and then properly is all bluster when frankly putting on the facade of the angry North Korean soldier filled with hate. This is in stark contrast to his final major scene, which is a quiet yet powerful moment. This as Song speaks with a sense of regret for what happened, yet it is still filled with this incredible empathy. An empathy that Song wholly earns by always showing throughout that this is but the innate nature of the man. That as imperfect as the situation is, Song shows the good man who was only seeking friendship throughout. Although less overtly as expressive as Lee's powerful work, Song's contribution is essential in showing a man perhaps more equipped for what their unique situation, but only due to the unshakable nature of his humanity.