Review: Swing Kids (2018)

Kang Hyeongcheol’s Swing Kids has been on my list for some time, and it managed to be exactly what I expected just before swinging harder than I was prepared for—no pun intended. Swing Kids is about a small group trapped in a POW camp during the Korean War who finds family in each other through their shared passion for music and dance. On paper, this sounds pretty hokey, like a feel-good spin on wartime movies where, maybe, the worst isn’t so bad as long as you can do what you love with your unlikely friends. Swing Kids isn’t not that, which is one hell of a way to lull your audience into a—not entirely false—sense of security.

Swing Kids follows Sgt. Jackson (Jared Grimes), a former professional dancer, tasked by his higher-ups with recruiting some prisoners to train for a morale-boosting spectacle of a performance in order to gain the U.S. Army some favorable media attention. Jackson, who gets his fair share of racist undermining among his white peers, is understandably not so interested in this endeavor, but reluctantly agrees (with some blackmail). However, the work of finding a dance troupe is done for him when they bring themselves forward, each with their own reasons for doing so.

Jackson, at a loss as an English-speaker, is approached by Yang Panrae (Park Hyesoo), a non-prisoner looking to make money, to work as his translator. When Byungsam (Oh Jeongse), a man who sees this as an opportunity to break out of the camp and find his wife, and Xiaofang (Kim Minho), a portly Chinese man who just wants to dance his heart out, join the team, Panrae decides to dance as well. These three are eager to get in on the action, but they’re quickly interrupted by the camp’s resident troublemaker, who can’t seem to stay away.

Enter: Ro Gisu (Do Kyungsoo / EXO’s D.O), a dance hobbyist and Communist true believer who rejects any and all Yankee propaganda, with one exception: tap dance. Upon observing Jackson tap dancing in his off-hours, Gisu finds himself unable to think of anything else, and he wants to learn so badly that he’s willing to loosen up his beliefs, if only for that moment.

Together they form a team of passionate dancers with a simple common goal of reaping the rewards of putting on a good show, whatever those may be. Getting paid? Going on tour? Becoming famous? Performing at Carnegie Hall? There are possibilities!

While the setting of Swing Kids is established very clearly with warm lighting and moments of joy as each of them is able to escape, fully immersed in the task at hand, the movie grounds its audience by peppering in the odd act of racist malice and cruelty. While they’ve got something to live for, they’re still prisoners of war. Swing Kids does well to parallel a truly fun, entertaining story of idealism against the harshest of realities, and it makes for an experience both heart-warming and sobering.

Swing Kids features a unique combo of fantastic, seamless editing, rich characters, high-energy dance sequences, and dedication to its anti-war message of Communism vs Capitalism vs “if nobody knew what they were, no one would kill or be killed.” Swing Kids is a story of friendship and love, but if it allows you a moment to forget the somber reality of their circumstances, it takes care to remind you ten-fold.

Edited by Rashelle B.