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Korean Film "Roaring Currents", Samurai and Turtle Ships!

Thagarr

Thagarr

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I am fast becoming a fan of Korean movies simply based on the recent trailers I have seen. I just happened to run across another trailer today of a Korean film that releases on July 30'th in Korea. It's called “Roaring Currents” and is also set in the Joseon era. This time set during the Japanese invasion of Korea(1592-1598.) The film tells the story of of the historical Battle of Myeongryang in which Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin used strategy to destroy an overwhelming number of Japanese warships with only 12 ships under his command. These weren't ordinary ships, they were Korean Turtle Ships, and it's great to see them on film!


While it is quite probable they have been portrayed in films before, this is the first time I have ever seen them in action. I remember them giving me quite a headache when I was playing Age of Empires II! These ships were designed by Admiral Yi, the ships carried 5 different types of cannon, could shoot fire from the dragons head on the prow, and had a covered deck to stop arrow fire. They were floating defensive fortresses. This one just became number one on my movies to see list!
 

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Wow another one to watch.
I really wish more Asian movies would see a dvd release over here in the Netherlands.
From all the Korean movies I watched I only ever managed to find a couple on dvd with Dutch subtitles.

But wasn't it 13 turtle ships instead of 12?
Still he managed to defeat the Japanese fleet which had over 300 ships.
Yi Sun-sin (saw a movie about him once before) really did something amazing at that battle.
 
I was quoting the original article I found for the film from the Korean Herald for the number of turtle ships. I am not that familiar with Korean history and hadn't yet red through all of the Wikipedia articles I mentioned above. According to the one on the Japanese invasion, there were only 6 Turtle Ship in Admiral Yi's fleet. There were also 24 Panokseons, some of which may have been converted in to the Turtle Ships, and 15 other smaller vessels.

After watching the trailer more, I think most of the Korean ships we are seeing are Panokseon, and I cant really pick out any actual covered Turtle Ships. I am just not that familiar with Korean ship designs. Regardless, Admiral Yi faced and defeated an overwhelming Japanese force, 133 ships according the the Korean Herald article.
 
And it looks like a properly serious movie.. I must confess i did'nt had a high steem for Korean movies.. but this one seems more than respectable..
 
This film does look quite good! What surprises me is the budget for this movie was only 17 million! You couldn't even get decent special effects in Hollywood for a movie of this scope for that kind of money any more, not to mention the ridicules amounts of money they pay actors.
 
I don't know much about korean ships either just what I saw in previous movies, but i'm pretty sure the Japanese had a fleet of over 300 ships just only 130 of those were actually war ships.
Another reason to watch this movie.
 
From what I know, a year prior to this battle in the film, Admiral Yi was arrested, tortured, and demoted to the rank of common foot soldier because of some boneheaded political intrigue within the Korean court. Another admiral took charge in his stead and engaged the Japanese armada, only to have the entire Korean fleet of 160 battle ships (along with all turtle ships) completely decimated.. 12 ships escaped the carnage just before the engagement, and that's the tiny fleet that Admiral Yi ends up with when he gets reinstated after the Korean court completely freaks out about the loss of the entire fleet.
So, basically, no turtle ships for this specific battle depicted in the film. I'm curious to see if they are going to show any prior battles that involved turtle ships at all.
 
Not yet mate, I am gonna wait for the Blu-ray.
 
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