This film from 2004, directed by Je-gyu Kang, received lots of good press and I suspect had great resonance in South Korea. It tells the story of two brothers 'drafted' into the South Korean army at the start of the Korean Conflict, Jin-Tse and younger brother, Jin-Seok. There is no end to the melodrama in this film (some of it so bad I actually laughed out loud). This, however, was my own doing as I turned on the english voiceover. With the english voiceover off and the english subtitles restored, the film does improve. Jin-Tse spends the next 2 hours trying to get his brother out of the army by volunteering for many risky missions (with their requisite blood and guts). We see war in this film for what it is: men brutally and cruelly murdering each other. Despite what the Canadian/US military wants us to believe with their advertising, war is hell. But I digress. In the end, Jin-Tse jumps sides and ends up fighting for the North Koreans which, of course, leads to a big moment on the battlefield when the two brothers eventually meet face-to-face. Jin-Tse does not survive this battle, leaving Jin-Seok with a promise his dead brother cannot fulfill.
My rating 5 out of 10.
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