Sado (The Throne) is a historical drama movie directed by Lee Joon-ik in 2015. It  starred Song Kang-ho and Yoo Ah-in. The movie is about the life and death of Crown Prince Sado in the Joseon Dynasty, the most tragic royal family history in Korean history. Crown Prince Sado was the heir to the throne, but he was disqualified as a king and killed by his own father by being locked in a rice chest for eight days at the age of 27. 

Why did he die like that? He was a young victim abused by a tyrant. Crown Prince Sado was so smart as a child that he could master Cheonjamun or Thousand-Character Classic when he was only 3 years old. His father, King Yeongjo loved him at first but when the Prince was 4, the King’s emotional or mental abuse toward him started. In the meantime, Prince Sado started to have an interest in martial arts and naturally had quite different thoughts or values about life from his father. King Yeongjo didn’t like this. After that, King Yeongjo began to treat him harshly and the Prince himself felt extreme spiritual pressure.

When Prince Sado made a suggestion about something, King Yeongjo was quick to say, “Why do you make it without my opinion?” When he asked the King’s opinion, the King rebuked him, saying, “Why can’t you still make any decision on your own?” King Yeongjo always made Prince Sado shrink or lose heart in front of him and he couldn’t deal with any subjects confidently. He was always under extreme stress.

In this situation, Prince Sado went madder and crazier. Finally, he reached a point of high stress and killed people. One day, he killed his royal concubine Bing-ae whom he loved so much, for refusing to wear a dress, and he threw his young son into a well. His wife, Lady Hyegyeonggung Hong felt intuitively that he could even kill her. So she told the Queen Mother what happened and the Queen Mother, in agony told the King, “Please depose the crown prince.” King Yeongjo ordered his subjects to lock him in the wooden rice chest. Prince Sado had to face a miserable death in a small rice chest on May 21st, 1762 when he was 27. There are many more long stories regarding Crown Prince Sado’s death, and we still remember the unlucky Crown Prince Sado of the Joseon Dynasty.

I watched this movie Sado (The Throne) a few times. Every time I felt how sad it was to everybody concerned and why such unreasonable incidents had to happen in our history. I want to let everyone know about it not to repeat this tragic history again.