As a one-year “contract teacher,” So is constantly told to stay out of trouble if she wants to be hired as a permanent faculty member. That means looking the other way when Han Su-kang bullies his fellow students. As she quickly figures out, Han really runs the school, thanks to his powerful and litigious parents. Frankly, So only has her current position (ironically teaching ethics) because Han drove her predecessor to commit suicide.
So tries to look the other way, because she wants a permanent posting. She is deeply in debt due to her deadbeat father, So Young-taek, who was also her coach. However, she cannot ignore the savage bullying of Go Jin-hyung, who is told to take it and like it, or Han and his running mates will kill his street vendor grandmother. So refuses to stomach such injustice, so she dons a cat mask and starts anonymously administering frontier justice when Han tries to torment victims off-campus.
Brave Citizen could breakout in America if marketed correctly. If you believe the premise of a politically-connected bully wouldn’t resonate here, think again. Could Jewish students relate after enduring genocidal threats and harassment on campus, while university administrators did nothing to discipline the bullying “protesters?” How about the owners of small businesses that were looted during the 2020 riots, as the media cheered them on and big city DAs refused to prosecute? As a result, there are a lot of Americans who feel exactly like students at Mooyoung, who will applaud So.
Brave Citizen is physically and emotionally bruising. That is also why it is ultimately satisfying. Park keeps it all suitably gritty and scrupulously grounded. Although screenwriter Yeo Ji-na cannot be accused of ripping off The Substitute, there are some similarities that fans of the late-1990s franchise will appreciate. Highly recommended for fans of old school street justice movies, Brave Cinema had its North American premiere at this year’s Fantasia.
