"Kilimanjaro" is not a movie decorated for the taste of young people of this age. All the characters of the movie are the third-rate people with no place to go, and their hopes have never been realized. Though abuse and the bloody violence constantly fill the screen, that violence is perceived like a sort of shriek of the betrayed rather than like cruelty. Rather than violence itself, the movie conveys the grief and sorrow of those who were thrown under the violent circumstances. The bloody violence in "Kilimanjaro" is brutal, but the sorrow of the characters overshadows it.

The gangsters Jong-doo and "Thunder" go to the top of a mountain covered with permanent snow and die from hunger. All that is left for "Thunder" is the subservience of bending over his head in front of his former subordinate Jong-doo and begging. Even his last dream to own a small raw-fish restaurant turned into bubbles bringing great despair to him. Things that fill such a bloody life are not deliberate happenings, but the shabby routine of "Thunder"'s gang and their emotions. As the movie goes on, rather than unfolding into a drama of events, it constantly portrays the inner world of the outcast characters. It reads out their wriggling emotions. Jong-doo who can't forgive his past of having been betrayed, "Thunder" who has nostalgia for the past days of his youth and "Sergeant" who makes vain efforts to realize his last dream - They all dream of their Kililmanjaro in their hometown "Chumunjin" only to eventually fall into catastrophe. Literally, their lives momentarily disappear like the dew.

The movie starts with a shooting scene, where the gradually accumulated crisis bursts out, and that shooting also concludes the film. The place where Hae-shik and "Thunder" go for the last time as if to cover their spotted lives is the snow-covered mountain. On top of the mountain "Thunder" dies with his red blood on the white snow, and trembles in the cold, while Hae-shik is watching him. That mountain is the place of reconciliation. This is what "Kilimanjaro" is about. Though these men strike a bell of the end of their lives with betrayal and violence, they got a justification more important than life. That justice is the reason of living. Even though "Kilimanjaro" concentrates on the relationship of men and is full of men's emotions, it appeals to everybody because of the affection to the restless and abandoned souls it transmits to the viewers.

One more prominent thing about "Kilimanjaro" is the power of vital characters. Park Shin-yang who has a strong gentle image, made an unimaginable one-person-two-role transformation into a rude and vicious detective and a gangster. Ahn Sung-Ki who has been known as an intellectual persona, presents us a perfect acting of his role of an old gangster, the image of whom matches well the lyrics of the song "The Kilimanjaro panther". Park and Ahn establish a flexible balance between the images of a rude young man and a mean-spirited and decrepit gangster. This film of the desperate lives of "Thunder"'s gang and the identity of a young man appropriately mingles the stories about their comical and naive happenings, and puts a faint light of hope into its gloomy and dark tone. The sharp observation of the tragic and comical sides of reality and their perfect harmony are the results of delicate observation of the director who has written the scenario. "Kilimanjaro", the debut work of director Oh Seung-Wook, has a perfectly balanced structure and vital characters. This commercial film distinguishes itself with its originality and serious attitude.

Two Park Shin-Yangs on One screen:
Park Shin-yang made a challenge to a one-person-two-roles acting. He had to play two characters in the same place under the same conditions. There are only two scenes where these twins meet in the movie, but the filming of those two scenes was twice as difficult as normal scenes, because with every "cut", Park had to change his appearance and manners of speech, and match the eye looks and motions. The filming of the introduction part took five days to the admiration of the production team, as Park's concentration grew with every moment. The parts of Hae-shik and Hae-chul had to be filmed separately, and such things as the location of blood, every subtle motions of the characters and their appearances had to be matched thoroughly when filming the CG scenes. Apart from the introduction scene, it took two whole days to film the scene at the riverside where Hae-shik and Hae-chul quarrel with each other. All in all, it took one month to finish the CG filming, and the result of two Mr. Parks on one screen was perfect.

Ahn Sung-Ki, the forced march of 72 hours, the best eye-look acting:
The most difficult scene of the movie was the shooting scene in the raw-fish restaurant. This scene that lasted for 72 consecutive hours was filmed in a narrow room where the actors had to fire real bullets risking their lives. The eye-look acting of Ahn Sung-Ki who played the role of "Thunder", is the highlight of the scene. All this betrayer "Thunder" wanted to have was family and good friends, and a small raw-fish restaurant. However, when the trifling event turns into a shooting, "Thunder" loses everything. The grief of the old gangster who witnesses his wife killed with a bullet in the blood-filled restaurant, is conveyed by Ahn Sung-Ki's acting which leads to the climax of the movie.

Chumunjin - the place surrounded by the blue sea and snow-covered mountain:
The main background of "Kilimanjaro" is not Africa but Chumunjin near the East Sea of Korean peninsula. 70% of the movie was filmed in Sachunri, Mukho port and Oyeojin port. Chumunjin has a delicate aftereffect from the point that its view simultaneously reveals the wide spreaded sea and the snow-covered mountain. After Hae-shik loses his family and job, he goes to the seashore. Chumunjin is his native town he had abandoned, and he returns there only after he loses Hae-chul. Although "Thunder" comes to make up with Hae-chul whom he had hated so much only after his returning home, and though "Thunder" asks for Hae-chul's forgiveness through Hae-shik, they have no place to go anymore. Chumunjin, the deadlock place with no direction to go, suits the best the emotions of these desperate people.