Watching the numerous wars and crises on Earth, we often wonder: “How could human civilization have escaped from annihilation? Do we have guardian angels who have protected humanity?” The 2020 American film “The Old Guard” reveals that a clandestine team of immortals has secretly saved human civilization in times of crisis.
In “The Old Guard,” four immortal warriors have appeared at every major historical disaster and protected human lives and civilization from destruction. They are symbolic figures representing different continents, cultures and religions. Their role as saviors of humanity is crucial because the descendants of those they rescue later help save the world from disasters in many ways, such as inventing cures to pandemics or preventing war through skillful diplomacy.
The leader of the team of immortals is Andy, or Andromache of Scythia, who is at least 6,000 years old. Scythia was an ancient region north of the Black Sea, and Scythians were horse-riding nomadic tribes. Their region spanned modern-day Ukraine and Southern Russia, from Eastern Europe to the Altai Mountains in Asia. Thus, Andromache seems to represent Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
In Greek mythology, Andromache is the wife of Hector, whose name means “Fighter of men” or “courage.” She symbolizes the tragic cost of war, especially women’s sufferings and miseries. For example, Achilles killed Andromache’s father and seven brothers, and then her husband Hector, too. After the fall of Troy, the Greek soldiers threw Andromache’s infant son Astyanax from the wall of Troy. Andromache became a prisoner of war and was given to Achilles’ son Neoptolemus as a concubine, with whom she bore several children. Later, she traveled to Asia Minor and died there.
Andy’s team members include Booker, Joe and Nicky. Booker — who is also called Sebastian Le Livre and lives in Paris — may symbolize Western Europe. Joe and Nicky met during the Crusade as enemies. This means one was a Muslim and the other a Christian. Although they were archenemies, they fell in love. Thus, Joe and Nicky may symbolize the hopeful reconciliation of the two mutually antagonistic religions: Islam and Christianity.
Then comes Nile, a female African American marine who later joins the team of immortals. Nile seems to represent black women who must fight not only racial prejudice but also men’s bias. Another immortal called Quynh represents Asian women. During the medieval period, Quynh and Andy were captured and indicted as witches because they were immortals. Andy escaped imminent death, but Quynh was cast into the sea, sealed in an iron maiden. Since he was immortal, she has been continuously drowning and resurrecting for about 500 years.
Andy has not been able to locate Quynh and thus cannot save her. Later, when Quynh’s iron maiden is brought up from the ocean near Rome, she blames Andy for abandoning her, not knowing that Andy has long suffered from guilt for Quynh’s predicament. Later, Quynh realizes that she misunderstood Andy and reconciles with her. This incident seems to symbolize the close but precarious relationship between the East and the West.
We can say that the immortal characters in “The Old Guard” metaphorically reflect complex issues of gender and race, or cultural and religious conflicts that have jeopardized human civilization. The film implies that if we want human civilization to survive and prosper, we should stop war between Christians and Muslims, between races and ethnicities, between men and women, and between the East and the West. In that sense, one of the film’s major themes is how to protect human civilization from its inevitable, imminent annihilation caused by human follies.
As the film concerns the crises of our world, “The Old Guard” is set in various places of the world, such as Paris, London and Rome, Seoul and Jakarta, in addition to South Sudan and Afghanistan. In Seoul, Andy tracks down her old friend, Tuah, who has profound knowledge of immortals. Tuah helps Andy deal with the crisis she is confronting. Interestingly, the sage-immortal Tuah goes into retreat in Seoul, one of the most dynamic cities in the world these days. He came to Seoul perhaps because it is easy to seclude and become inconspicuous in a vibrant city, or perhaps because Korea used to be called a Hermit Kingdom.
The immortals have their own problems. One is that their ability to heal abruptly stops one day without warning. Then they become mortals and can no longer protect human civilization. Before that day comes, we should be alert and ready to save humanity by ourselves. For that purpose, we should discard the “either/or” mentality and embrace the “both/and” construction. For example, we should put an end to the dichotomy of Christianity or Islam, capitalism or socialism, and the East or the West and replace “or” with “and” instead. If we learn to coexist and reconcile, human civilization will prosper and thrive.
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Kim Seong-kon
Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed
khnews@heraldcorp.com
