A Confessional Scene In Netflix's Badland Hunters Was Supposed To Be Longer
In Um Tae-hwa's 'Concrete Utopia," an earthquake of great magnitude grips Seoul, leading every structure to collapse. The only exception is the Imperial Palace Apartments, which becomes a site of hope and violence as survivors flock to the site, but are barred from entering by the residents within. Although the building remains unbreached, petty and serious conflicts escalate among the territorial residents, who symbolize the worst of humanity even amid a devastating natural disaster. "Badland Hunters" is the spiritual sequel to this sharp, darkly comic story, as it picks up in the aftermath of the earthquake, where everyone has turned rabid for survival, with no limits to what they are willing to do to best their fellow men.
Nam-san (Ma Dong-seok of "Train to Busan" and "The Eternals" fame), a wasteland hunter, has worked closely with trusted ally Choi Ji-wan (Lee Jun-Young) to survive the blasted ruins of the city so far, and the duo seems unstoppable, even when surrounded by danger. While Nam-san is content with hunting and beating troublemakers during the apocalypse, things get complicated when a young girl named Su-na (Roh Jeong-eui) gets kidnapped, which exposes a hidden world of twisted experiments on unwitting survivors who are lured with false promises of safety.
Although Nam-san is known for his uncompromising brutality throughout the film, the disappearance of Su-na reveals tender aspects of his personality that are hidden beneath layers of muscle and survivalist discipline. A pivotal confession scene in "Badland Hunters" hints at Nam-san's past, along with why he is so willing to put his life on the life to save an innocent teen from being exploited by unethical scientists.
A brief, yet revealing confession
Nam-san's younger partner, Ji-Wan has a crush on Su-na before her kidnapping, and her sudden disappearance leads him to urge Nam-san to bring her to justice while rescuing her from her kidnappers. As Nam-san already considers Su-na his daughter in spirit, he agrees and joins forces with special agent Seargent Eun-ho (An Ji-hye), who also wishes to help catch the perpetrators. A deranged scientist named Dr. Yang seems to be at the center of this chaos, and he believes that conducting horrific experiments on teens can help save humanity, his twisted beliefs quickly garnering a cult following.
In a bonfire scene with Eun-ho (and a sleeping Ji-wan), Nam-san confesses that he is "not a good person" and that he has blood on his hands. This confession is prompted after Eun-ho says that she couldn't have gotten to the bottom of the Su-na disappearance without his help, and Nam-san responds by acknowledging his brutal past while still expressing affection for Su-na. In an interview with The Post, Ma Dong-seok talked about this scene and how it provides a glimpse into this complicated character:
"That scene was supposed to be longer, but we edited it. It may not be totally clear, but he has a daughter who died before the movie starts. If there's a sequel, we'll have more time to show his backstory...Characters who have flaws, who have problems, are really important to me. In a movie you don't have much time to learn about a character, so it's important to give them some depth."
A potential sequel could dive deeper into Nam-san's past, and allow us to understand how he became the man he is today. Until then, we will have to stick to the action-packed thrills provided by "Badland Hunters."