Swing Kids

In an effort to appease the atmosphere in a prison camp shaken by conflicts between communists and "anti-communists", a US commander in charge of the sprawling Chinese and North Korean prison camp on the southern island of Goeje under the United Nations Command in Korea, commissions an African-American officer from Broadway with a talent for tap dancing to put together a dance team.

The pitch alone promises a fascinating play of contrasts between the explosive political context (recounted in a documentary prologue), the physical violence resulting from fights between prisoners, the choreographed performance of the dancer-percussionists - including the charismatic rebel played by Doh Kyung-soo, famous singer of the South Korean-Chinese boy band EXO - and the situational (even burlesque) comedy that abruptly shifts from one to the other.

The most striking aspect of this meticulously crafted film is the rhythmic work of tap dancing that the characters hear inside them and to which they sometimes add the chanted sounds of everyday life. Beyond the barriers of language and culture, beyond the political divide, the rhythm of the music is designed to bring people together.

Alain Boillat (CEC, Unil)