The film ‘The Man Who Lives with a King’ is a historical drama that cinematically reconstructs the relationship between young former king Danjong and village headman Eom Heung-do.
SBS scheduled this work as a Chuseok special film at 9:30 p.m. on the night of the 26th.
If Yeongwol’s Cheongnyeongpo, which served as the film’s setting, and the actual set location are regarded as the same place, it becomes difficult to understand both the work and the history together.
3-Line Summary
1. ‘The Man Who Lives with a King’ is a film that reconstructs Danjong’s exile
2. Cheongnyeongpo and the Yeongwol set site are different places
3. Distinguish between filming locations and historical sites
Cinematic Imagination Added to the Records of Danjong and Eom Heung-do
‘The Man Who Lives with a King’ tells the story of Eom Heung-do, a village headman who seeks to bring an exile to the village to save it, and Danjong Yi Hong-wi, a young former king who was driven from the throne and exiled. It was directed by Jang Hang-jun, with Yoo Hae-jin playing Eom Heung-do and Park Ji-hoon playing Danjong.
The film’s starting point is a brief record stating that after Danjong was killed by King Sejo at the place of exile in Yeongwol, Gangwon-do, when he was 16 years old, a man named Eom Heung-do took custody of his body. Based on this record, the work newly constructed the story of Danjong’s years in exile.
In the film, Eom Heung-do tries to welcome an exile because he believes the exile of a high-ranking official could bring abundance to the village. But the person who comes to the village is Yi Hong-wi, a young king driven out after a power struggle. As Han Myeong-hoe threatens Danjong, the film centers on the process through which Eom Heung-do and the villagers care for him and develop affection for him.
The work was reported to have surpassed 1692 million cumulative viewers, ranking second in the history of Korean cinema in terms of box-office performance. As significant as its box-office record is the premise of telling a historical tragedy through the eyes of the people in one village, which gives audiences a reason to return to the film.
Cheongnyeongpo Is the Actual Place of Exile; the Set Was in Front of Seondol in Yeongwol
Cheongnyeongpo, which appears in the film as Danjong’s place of exile, is an actual historical site. However, when the film was shot, the set was built in an open area in front of Seondol in Yeongwol, where terrain resembling Cheongnyeongpo was found.
The set was dismantled after filming and no longer remains. If you visit the area after watching the film, it is appropriate to distinguish Cheongnyeongpo as Danjong’s actual place of exile and the area around Seondol as the location where the film set stood at the time. This does not mean that the landscapes in the film are automatically the original appearance of the historical site.
The Mungyeongsaejae Open Set in Mungyeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, was also a major filming location. Mungyeong City introduced it as the place where scenes such as those set in Gwangcheongol were filmed. Yeongwol is a backdrop connected to Danjong’s history, while Mungyeong is a filming space where the work’s scenes were created.
Points of Appreciation Left by the Chuseok Special Broadcast
SBS’s 9:30 p.m. broadcast slot on the night of the 26th provides an opportunity to watch at home a work that achieved major success in theaters. However, this film is not a historical documentary that reproduces the records concerning Danjong and Eom Heung-do exactly as they were; it is a historical drama that adds the stories of its characters and village onto a brief record.
Therefore, the most interesting contrast when watching the work does not lie simply in determining whether a particular scene is factually accurate. By distinguishing the respective roles of the actual place of exile, Cheongnyeongpo; the dismantled Yeongwol set; and Mungyeong’s open set, viewers can see more clearly how the spaces created by the film intersect with Danjong’s history.
References
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