Taegukgi (film)
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| Taegukgi | |
 Movie poster of Taegukgi |
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|---|---|
| Directed by | Kang Je-gyu |
| Produced by | Seong-hun Lee |
| Written by | Kang Je-gyu |
| Starring | Jang Dong-gun Won Bin |
| Music by | Dong-jun Lee |
| Cinematography | Kyung-Pyo Hong |
| Editing by | Kyeong-hie Choi |
| Distributed by | Showbox |
| Release date(s) | February 6, 2004 (South Korea) |
| Running time | 148 min. (longer version) |
| Language | Korean |
| IMDb profile | |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul: | 태극기 휘날리며 |
| Hanja: | 太極旗 휘날리며 |
| Revised Romanization: | Taegeukgi Hwinallimyeo |
| McCune-Reischauer: | T'aegŭkki Hwinallimyŏ |
Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (known simply as Brotherhood in Europe, or 태극기 in Korea or 太極旗 in Hanja) is a 2004 film directed by Kang Je-gyu dealing with the Korean War, a bloody civil war where brothers turn into enemies. The film's title, "Taegukgi" (Flag of the Taeguk), is the name of the prewar Flag of Korea as well as the postwar Flag of South Korea.
Kang Je-gyu had made a name for himself directing Shiri and was able to attract top talent and capital to his new project, eventually spending US$ 12.8 million on production. The film became one of the biggest success in Korean film history, attracting 11.74 million people to the theatre, beating the previous record holder Silmido. This represents almost 25% of South Korea's population. In 2006, The King and the Clown surpassed it, becoming the first ever Korean film to attract 12 million viewers.
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[edit] Synopsis
The story begins with the South Korean Army digging up remains at an old Korean War battlefield, where they were planning to put up a memorial site. An old Korean man is called by the excavation team to come and confirm the skeleton found as his brother. As he prepares, he finds a pair of shoes that make him break down and brings back old memories.
This film delves into the bond between two innocent brothers who are sent into battle against their wills. The elder, Lee Jin-tae (Jang Dong-gun), owns a small shoeshine stand in Seoul before the start of the war. His younger brother, Lee Jin-seok (Won Bin), is a bright young student, the top of his class, who wants to attend college.
The movie then starts in Seoul where Jin-tae is walking around the streets, offering to shine shoes. Jin-seok returns from school playing a prank on Jin-tae in which Jin-tae chases Jin-seok around , and his older brother brings him to a shoe store, where a new pair of Italian shoes had just been brought in. Jin-tae plans to open a shoe store in a few years, after his younger brother is in a university. He presents Jin Seok with the expensive gift of a pen, and buys him ice cream, which Jin-seok insists on sharing. Their mother, who cannot speak, owns a noodle store, where Jin-tae's fiancée works. That night, they set up an altar for their father, who passed away. The family is shown to be very close to one another.
Not long after the North Korean invasion on 25 June 1950, Jin-seok is drafted into the South Korean army while the family was trying to go south to join their uncle. In his attempt to save him, Jin-tae is also drafted into the army as well and sent to the front line. After a surprise attack in which Jin-seok was injured, Jin-tae becomes all the more determined to send his brother home safely. Jin-tae makes a deal with his commanding officer: if he can earn a Taeguk Cordon of the Order of Military Merit — the highest honour for a South Korean soldier, his younger brother (Jin-seok) will be discharged from the army.
To win this medal, Jin-tae willingly volunteers for missions that seem suicidal, including single handedly charging a machine gun nest. His desperation to save his brother earns him the title of a hero for his bravery on the dangerous tasks assigned to him, and he receives recognition. Jin-seok begins to see a change in his brother, who finally earns it by capturing a North Korean commander alive during the battle of Pyongyang, but at the cost of good friend Yong Man's life. Jin-seok, who is not aware of his brother's intentions to save him, starts to question Jin-tae's morality. At the same time, the formerly gentle Jin-tae has become cold-blooded through having killed so many people.
In a bloody hunt for communists undertaken by the South Koreans during the Communist Chinese offensive (similar to the real-life events like the Jeju massacre), Jin-tae's fiancée/girlfriend, Young-shin (played by Lee Eun-ju) is killed and Jin-seok is arrested for holding his interrogator hostage when he was accused a communist. Later, during a Chinese artillery strike, a South Korean commander who detests Jin-tae orders for the place that Jin-seok is imprisoned in to be set on fire. Jin-tae mistakenly believes that his brother was killed in the fire and bricks to death the commander, who had been captured by the Chinese. Several months later, from a decorated model soldier of the South, Jin-tae, apparently driven crazy by his losses at the hands of his own side, becomes a commander in the North Korean army, and senseless killing machine with a hatred for South Koreans.
Jin-seok on the other hand recovers from his wounds and was working in the rear lines when he sees communist propaganda about his brother from a group of intelligence officers, but he dismisses it. Later, Jin-seok reads a letter from Jin-tae who wrote it earlier and decides to look for his brother in the ongoing war at the 38th parallel. Going to the South Korean HQ that was preparing to attack a North Korean controlled hill that Jin-tae was supposed to be commanding, Jin-seok is refused by the commander who tells Jin-seok to broadcast a message to the troops instead. But to the commanders surprise, Jin-seok beats up other broadcasters and runs to North Korean lines in hopes of trying to find Jin-tae. The Americans start an air attack with F4U Corsairs and the South Korean send in their troops. While Jin-seok looks for his brother in the chaotic battlefield, an elite North Korean unit commanded by Jin-tae counterattacks.
The two brothers, separated by war, meet again on the battlefield. Not recognizing his own brother, Jin-tae tries to kill his own brother in a berserk way. As Jin-seok is on the ground begging for his brother to recognize him, Jin-tae regains his senses. As Jin-tae was meanwhile wounded by a bayonet, his brother tries to carry him off the battlefield, but is then wounded himself by a submachine gun fire. Jin-tae convinces Jin-seok to run away by himself and promises to meet Jin-seok again. The movie then depicts Jin-tae's death as he bravely mans a machine gun post to hold off the communists, killing many in the process and allowing Jin-seok to escape, but is inevitably overwhelmed and killed himself, his body curled up, riddled with bullets.
The film ends with an emotional transition from the past to the present from that same position as the younger brother begs for his older brother's remains to speak to him, citing the promises that the two made. The movie then transitions back to happier times, showing Jin-tae putting a package away in a closet before the war and then Jin-seok finds this package that reveals the same pairs of shoes from the beginning of the movie. Then he finds his mother and Young Shins siblings who talk about going back to school which ends the movie.
[edit] Critical and popular reception
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At the 50th Asia Pacific Film Festival, Taegukgi won the "Best Film", while Kang Je-gyu was awarded the "Best Director". [1] It was one of four Korean movies screened at the 2006 International Fajr Film Festival in Iran.
While general reception was positive, some critics have criticized the movie for its lack of empathy in its portrayal of North Korean soldiers. However, others have praised it for also showing the brutality of the South Korean army, especially in attacking supposed communist sympathisers. Others have focused on the fact that the film is visually spectacular but not overly original.
[edit] Cast
- Jin-tae: Jang Dong-gun (장동건, 張東建)
- Jin-seok: Won Bin (원빈, 元斌)
- Young-shin: Lee Eun-ju (이은주, 李恩宙)
- Young man: Gong hyeong jin (공형진)
[edit] See also
- Cinema of Korea
- List of Korea-related topics
- List of films set in or about North Korea
- Contemporary culture of South Korea
- East Asian cinema
