A Review of the Movie «No Other Choice» / Struggle for Survival or Primacy of Private Profit!
Art Service of Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) – Roya Salimi; Park Chan-wook’s new film, “No Other Choice,” has recently been released. The film is also South Korea’s representative for the upcoming Best International Film category at the 2026 Academy Awards.
Wook’s latest work is a dark comedy adapted from Donald Westlake’s novel “The Ax” and is considered a completely faithful adaptation of the novel in terms of characterization, tone, and overall spirit. However, the director has transformed the idea of working in a paper mill into a flawed cycle where the product becomes more important than the human being. When bodies become seedlings of trees that will enter the production cycle in the near future, many concepts are expressed under its umbrella. From capitalism to environmental concerns and the damage of technology and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, he changed the location of the story from America to South Korea to structure his critique around his country and concerns about South Korea’s future conditions.
Man-soo is laid off after 25 years of work at the paper mill, leading to fundamental changes in all aspects of his life. He, who spent years trying to advance the factory’s position among competitors, now finds his fate irrelevant to the new high-level management policies, becoming another victim of policies aimed at maximum profitability through downsizing. His subsequent challenges to find a suitable job, despite his strong interest in the paper, printing, and publishing industries, yield no results.
The domino effect of misfortunes following his dismissal severely damages his family’s happy life. However, instead of criticizing the system and major management decisions, he turns to his competitors in the new paper company, eliminating them, and committing crimes with determination to achieve his desired job.
Although the novel’s name is “The Ax,” neither in the novel nor the film does the main character use an ax to eliminate competitors. Only in the film’s initial critical speech does he compare the downsizing to an ax that destroys the lives of laid-off employees. At the end of the film, this ax, based on a capitalist system focused solely on private profit, quickly cuts down Korea’s lush forests with specialized equipment. This suggests that the ax itself is no longer sufficient, and in the current technology-driven system, killing individuals seems to be analogized with cutting down trees.
In Wook’s broader perception of capitalism, which he considers rooted in America, these decisions, from minor to major crimes, are influenced by a dominant ideology where everything is subject to achieving major material gains. Meanwhile, the film’s comedic tone, which follows a dark path due to the events, presents a grotesque view of modern human existence. Horrifying images show individuals calmly slaughtering each other to reach their desired position. This tone, in the director’s view, is the trump card that underpins the overall spirit of the work and maintains its narrative function in form and execution.
The phrase “No Other Choice,” which inspired the film’s title, is a refrain spoken multiple times by different characters. They use this phrase in various situations depending on the position and action they intend to take. It’s as if workforce reduction, personnel adjustments, employee layoffs, and subsequently eliminating competitors are the only possible options for individuals’ survival in the film.
Man-soo gradually turns into an indifferent individual devoid of human values, without the slightest doubt about the correctness of his heinous actions. It seems “No Other Choice” serves as a license to perform any act to achieve the desired goal. A smart choice that the director also mocks with his dark comedic tone. Here, he stands neither with the main character nor with the capitalists; he incorporates his manifesto, though perhaps overtly and slogan-like, into the final shots of the film.
Where Man-soo has achieved his goal, the company has hired the desired employee, and now the gigantic machines of the capitalist world are rapidly felling the tall trees of South Korea’s green forests.
The film opens with a beautiful shot of the main character embracing his family of four, set against a dreamy, green background that promises a perfect life. This familiar shot is repeated in the final frames of the film. While the family is together, there is no sign of vibrancy, greenery, or the spirit of a happy life among them. Wook’s gray frame and emphasis on the moral collapse of a middle-class family are evident in just these few shots. The ashes of the crime that have settled on the main character’s life are the smallest price characters pay to remain in the middle class.
Life for this middle-class character seems harder than for the affluent and the destitute segments of society. The film’s middle class can neither approach an affluent life nor endure the poverty of the lower class. His inclination toward either of these classes has significant effects on the broader social structure. When Man-soo loses his savings and his health insurance is cut, his daughter’s music class and son’s Netflix subscription are canceled, and the paths he can choose to reach his goal become narrower and narrower in his eyes.
At this point, he commits crimes without conscience and in complete cold-bloodedness, crimes that evoke no pity. In getting acquainted with other competitors, we realize they also have lives similar to Man-soo, struggling with unemployment and its compounded effects on their inner and outer lives. However, observing these problems does not elicit empathy from the main character, who is only focused on returning to the middle class for which he worked tirelessly for years. Staying in this class at any cost becomes the only meaning of life for the main character. A meaning that goes beyond overcoming economic problems. In such a world, preserving one’s desired social class appears identity-forming and vital.
