Harbin 2024

In 1909, Ahn Jung-geun, Hyun Bin, a steadfast resistance fighter opposing Korea’s subjugation by Japan, endures the brutal chill of the Tumen River as he presses toward a bold, dangerous plan. The journey is only the beginning of a larger test of loyalty and strategy, because his comrades in the resistance begin to doubt his whereabouts and his intentions. When Ahn finally returns, his authority is questioned; many of the fighters who once followed him have fallen in a recent, audacious strike against Japanese forces, leaving the group raw and uncertain about its leadership.

Ahn’s most principled stance—his refusal to commit war crimes by executing prisoners of war, including the officer Tatsuo Mori, and his decision to free them—haunts the present danger, and Mori relentlessly tracks the group, closing the circle with a brutal, cannon-blasted defeat. This brutal memory of past choices drives Ahn to seek a form of redemption through action that could shift the balance of power: assassinate Itō Hirobumi, the Prime Minister of Japan and a former Resident General of Korea. Itō is moving toward Harbin, traveling by train from China to Russian-controlled Harbin, where he plans to meet with Vladimir Kokovtsov, the Russian Finance Minister, to discuss Korea’s future in a tense regional balance of power. Here, Ahn’s mission intersects with a larger geopolitical chess game.

The mission rises in complexity as a small, determined team forms around him. Ahn leads a group that includes Woo Deok-soon, and Kim Sang-hyun, toward Vladivostok by train, hoping to intercept Itō before he can reach Harbin. A safety check at a first-class carriage becomes a spark for disaster: a brawl erupts after the conductor overhears their Korean conversation, and Kim is knocked out of the train window while Ahn escapes, setting off a chain of regroupings and relay arrivals at a Vladivostok safehouse. There, the team gathers with reinforcements from Korea, only to see a shift in leadership as new voices push forward, with Woo arriving last to join the renewed group.

The search for explosive devices grows urgent, and the team turns to Ms. Gong, a former associate in the independence movement who has become an arms smuggler. Gong, [Jeon Yeo-been], tries to provide the needed explosives, but the clock runs short; when an expedient is found, Gong secures them from her connections in Jilin through her brother-in-law, a former Korean independence fighter-turned bandit. The delay complicates plans, making it unlikely that Itō’s train carriage can be attacked at Changchun as originally hoped, forcing the operation to shift toward a broader theater in China.

The window to act narrows further as Mori and Japanese troops close in, aided by Russian forces, and the team fears a mole among their ranks. On the train toward Harbin, a sting operation is launched with false information to probe whether Itō would be targeted at a railway station where he would switch trains. The operation exposes a betrayal: Kim Sang-hyun is the traitor.

As the altered plan unfolds, Woo and Kim converge at the change station, only to be met by Mori’s troops. A confrontation erupts, and Kim breaks down under the pressure before Woo can act. A flashback reveals Kim’s capture and torture by Mori, including exposure to gas, and Mori’s relentless interrogation about Ahn’s whereabouts. The pursuit continues, and Mori realigns his focus, realizing that Harbin is now the likely focal point of the conspiracy.

At Harbin’s railway station, Ahn receives a briefing from Gong and then stalks the dignitaries as they move through a crowded platform. Mori closes in, yet Gong interrupts the pursuit by knocking him aside, creating an opening for Ahn. In a decisive moment, Ahn shoots Itō repeatedly, shouting a defiant declaration in Russian—Long live Korea!—before being detained by authorities.

The news of Itō’s assassination reverberates through the region, sealing Ahn’s fate as a martyr of the independence cause by March 1910 when he is hanged. In the aftermath, Mori seeks to use Kim to infiltrate Kim Ku’s independence movement, but Kim defeats him, rejoining Gong and a recently released Woo. A pivotal flashback hints that Ahn had urged Woo to give Kim a second chance, underscoring the complexities of trust and redemption in a struggle marked by sacrifice and hard-won courage.

The film closes with Ahn back on the frozen Tumen River, reflecting on the stubborn, unyielding need to keep fighting for Korea’s freedom, even when the outlook seems bleak. The landscape—white and encasing—echoes a life spent in the margins of larger powers, where acts of resistance must endure across time, space, and the ever-present threat of betrayal and loss.