Review of The Throne

This film is an interesting portrayal of the relationship between a narcissistic king and his son. I think its mostly well done. The film as an interesting regal tone to it that's really well implemented. Its also interesting to see a korean period drama... I mostly saw chinese and japanese period drama, so its nice to see something different. My main disappointment was how the character of Sado was treated. The film put much emphasis on how the relationship with his father affected him... and how the pressure made him turn violent. However, from what I read, it seems historian are of the opinion that Sado had actual mental illness. The guy killed and raped tons of his servants. It would have added another dimension to the film to actually talk about this and the fact that the film put much efforts in showing him as a victim makes me a little bit unconfortable. It may be because of the taboo around mental illness in korea.

Anyway, even then, this is a very good film. If you like asian period drama, film about royalties or simply about relationships, I recommend it.