Tae Guk Gi – Brothehood of War
iView Author: Ratnakar Sadasyula (Bhubaneshwar, India)
Email: ratnakar.techie [at] gmail [dot] com
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Tae Guk Gi – Brothehood of War
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My one year sojourn in Korea, gave me a chance to experience Korean culture and movies first hand. Koreans are quite movie crazy, and like to watch any kind of movies, though they have a strong affinity for Hollywood. Though not as famous as Chinese or Japanese movie industry, in recent times Korean movies have started to make a mark on their own. Also the Korean diaspora in US and Canada, has taken an active lead in promoting Korean cinema. Right now Korean TV dramas, are a rage especially in South East Asia, and the Korean TV actors are superstars in their own right in that region. Korean movies have influences from diverse sources, Hollywood blockbusters, European style cinema, Hong Kong action movies and is quite diverse in its range. In recent times Bollywood has started to remake Korean movies too with Zinda( Old Boy), Ugly Aur Pagli( My Sassy Girl) being the more noted ones. One really great Korean movie i had seen was Tae Guk Gi, a movie about 2 brothers in the Korean War.
As a nation, Korea essentially has a very painful history, in the 20th century. At the turn of the century it was annexed by Japan, and was under Japanese occupation till the end of World War II. Coincidentally the Korean independence day is the same as ours, Aug 15. But freedom at a great price, as US and Russia( then the Soviet Union), stepped in to divide the country among themselves, much like the partition of India and Pakistan. And in 1950, the Korean War followed, and for 3 years the entire peninsula was totally devastated by the war. An armistice was signed later, and so we had a communist North Korea supported by China and Soviet Union, while the more capitalist South Korea was supported by the US. South Korea recovered from the devastation of the war and rebuilt its economy with US Aid, but at quite a terrible price, as the country was under a military dictatorship for quite a long time. But of all the events, nothing really pains and saddens ordinary Koreans more than the forced division of their nation, and the Korean war.
Tae Guk Gi, is a movie that narrates the story of 2 brothers who find themselves on the opposite sides during the Korean War. Taking its title from the official name of the South Korean flag,it is narrated in a flashback mode, when a South Korean Army excavation team, while digging up the remains at a Korean War battlefield, come across some unidentified remains and notify one of the survivors of the war. The person drives to the site along with his grand-daughter and then the movie shifts to 1950, Seoul.
Jin Tae Lee( Jang Dong Gun) and Jin Seok( Won Bin), are brothers living in Seoul, along with their mother. Jin Tae Lee drops out of school, and runs a shoeshine stand cum noodle center, to pay for his younger brother’s education( a bit of a Bollywood touch there). Another boy Yong Seok and Jin Tae’s fianc'©e Young Shin( Lee Eun-ju), also assist him in his shop. Their happy life is thrown into chaos, when the North Korean army attacks South Korea , on June 25th, and the nation is thrown into a turmoil. The South Korean Government needing volunteers to fight for the war, begins to conscript young able bodied man, and Jin Seok, along with his brother Jin Tae are forcibly drafted into the army. Jin Tae does not want his brother to be in the army, and he is told by his commanding officer, that if he wins the Taeguk Cordon of Order of Military Merit, which is the Korean equivalent of Param Vir Chakra, his brother could be sent home.
Jin Tae takes this as a challenge, and willingly volunteers for suicidal missions like planting enemy mines right underneath the enemy’s nose, and setting an enemy bunker on fire. Jin Tae is now promoted to Sergeant, but Jin Seok, feels his brother is doing all this just for personal glory. The American forces arrive and succeed in pushing the North Korean forces back,. However the war takes a turn for the worse, as Chinese forces now enter into the picture, and launch a huge attack on the South Korean- American-UN forces, forcing them to retreat. During a retreat, Jin Tae kills Young Seok, the same boy who worked with him at his shop in Seoul. Young Seok had been captured during the North Korean invasion and forcibly drafted into their side as a soldier. This angers Jin Seok even more as he feels his brother is now just a killing machine. The brothers return back to Seoul, Jin Tae gets the medal, but at a terrible personal cost as his fianc'©e Young Shin, is killed by anti communists, as she had been a member of the Communists Party of Korea. Jin Seok now openly blames his brother Jin Tae for her death, claiming he is only interested in personal glory. During another attack by the Chinese, the brothers are separated, and due to circumstances, Jin Tae defects over to the North Korean side. The rest of the movie is about how the brothers on the opposing side, finally find and reconcile.
For a war movie, Tae Guk Gi, has some spectacular battle scenes. The director Kang Je Gyu, had earlier directed the spy flick, Shiri, and most of his movies have a strong Hollywood influence. The battle scenes in Tae Guk Gi, have a strong influence of Saving Private Ryan. Most of them are shot realistically, and have that same grainy feel to them. The Battle of Pyong Yang, is brilliantly captured, and so are the suicidal missions on which Jin Tae goes. Also the scene where the brothers are separated after an attack. And the climactic battle scene, where Jin Tae falls while trying to save his brother.
However what really works in Tae Guk Gi, is the relationship between the brothers. This is I feel is the strongest point of the movie. The characters of the brothers are established at the onset of the movie, Jin Tae, the elder one, strong, dominating and possessive, while Jin Seok, the younger one, somewhat sensitive. Though Jin Seok, loves his elder brother, he does not like the way, his brother is turning into a remorseless killing machine. Jin Seok feels his brother is doing everything only for personal glory, but in truth, Jin Tae only wants to see his brother out of the Army, and lead a normal life. The effect war has on normal human beings is shown in the final battle scene, where Jin Tae now on the North Korean side, charges at his own brother, not recognizing him. The movie in fact is a metaphor for the way entire families have been separated during the Korean war. There are many Korean families even now, whose members have been separated for years, and still cant meet. The story of the brothers in this movie is the story of countless families across Korea.
The climax scene, where the older Jin Seok, breaks down on seeing his brother’s remains, and begs him to speak, is very moving. His younger grand daughter too finally understands the pain her grand father went through. Also the director does not hesitate to show some of the more unsavory aspects of the South Korean side too. Like the scene where the brothers are forcibly drafted into the army, and their mother runs after the train wailing. The South Korean Govt did indulge in forcible recruitment of people, due to shortage of soldiers. And again the scene where Jin Tae’s fianc'©e Young Shin is shot dead by the anti communists. While the North Korean armies massacred many villages on South Korean side, on the South Korean side too many people suspected of having communist leanings, were summarily massacred.
The performances by the two lead actors are excellent too. Jan Dong Gun as Jin- Tae is one of the leading superstars in S.Korea, having acted in a host of super hit movies. He is first rate as the possessive elder brother. Watch the scene where he argues with the guard who is forcibly drafting his brother, or the final scene when he recognizes his younger brother, his expressions are top notch. Won Bin as Jin Seok too gives an excellent performance. Won Bin incidentally served in the Korean army. I would recommend this movie, not just for the war scenes but also the human angle, many of us in India would feel pretty much connected with the relationship between the brothers shown here.
Tags: Kang Je Gyu, Saving Private Ryan, Tae Guk Gi, World Cinema
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This film has already been reviewed on PFC a while ago. Check out the link: http://passionforcinema.com/tae-guk-gi-the-brotherhood-of-war-a-solid-war-epic/
Subash, did not read that review before, but even otherwise, i think it is not against PFC policy to have 2 different reviews on same movie, unless you are doing a copy paste job.
Hello Ratnakar,
I too lived in South Korea for a while and I too saw Tae Guk Gi during my time there. It is a wonderful film. Nice review.
Another nice korean war film is Welcome to Dongmakgol…pretty cool. You should check it out
nice review
do write about more films
a suggestion – give emphasis on international english title of the film, this way it will be easy to understand about which film we are talking about
TAE GUK GI SEEN 2 YRS BACK IN LOS ANGELES,TERRIFIC MOTION PICTURE,ALSO,THE DIRECTOR Kang Je Gyu’S “SHIRI” IS THE HIGHEST GROSSING FILM IN KOREA,EXEMPLARY SUSPENSE FILM !!!BOTH OF THEM ARE WORTH IT !!!
GK
I’m envious of your Korean vacation but have I told you this before ? Have u seen A Bittersweet life and JSA yet ? They rocked my socks off.
@ Vishesh: Great to know u were in Korea too. So were u in Seoul or some other city. Tae Guk Gi surely is fabulous movie.
@ Shiv: Have not seen Welcome to Dongmakgol? But from what i gather it seems an anti war kinda movie.
@ Vishrant: Yeah thanks for the comment, basically Tae Guk Gi is the name of the Korean flag. In fact even in US and UK it was released under the same title.
@ GK: Shiri is also a great movie. I think director Kang Je Gyu is clearly influenced by Hollywood, as most of his movies have that very Hollywoodish feel to them.
@ Mitch: Well the other person who was envious of my stay in Korean, i think was Mithun. I guess ur the second person. Have not seen A Bittersweetlife, but JSA was fabuluous. One of the best i seen in recent times.
hehehehe. Check my email id.
Mitch point noted Guru.
Basic question. JSA is?
Joint Security Area
@ Arthi
JSA is Joint Security Area. Basically on the border between North and South Korea, you have the DMZ or Demilitatrized Zone, which is a kinda No Man’s land. The JSA is the only part where North and South Korean forces stand face to face with each other, somewhat like the Wagah Border checkpost. This JSA lies within Panmunjeom village, where the Treaty was signed to end Korean War.
JSA is basically a Rashomon kinda movie, where you have a soldier defecting from the North Korean side to South Korean side, and an investigator getting two totally different versions of the story from both sides. JSA was one of the biggest hits in Korean movie history, until Tae Guk Gi took over.
Ohhkk…Thanks for this Ratnakar.
Yeah and then “The King and the Clown” overtook TGG which was in turn beaten by The Host which is the current all time BO champion.
A very interesting anecdote related to Korean cinema. Apparently the year Oldboy released the percentage of Korean-Americans applying and getting into the top film schools of the country like UCLA, USC etc jumped 40%. Remarkable how one film can inspire so many.
Old Boy was a turning point in Korean cinema history. There used to be good Korean cinema, but till then Asian cinema, used to be identified exclusively with Japanese and Chinese movies.
Korean cinema, started to acquire its own distinctive identity with OldBoy, and it was no longer the poor cousin of Chinese or Japanese cinema.
I have to admit that i have turned into a huge fan of chan-wook park.
ever since i saw zinda wanted to see “Oldboy” and took it my breath away especially the ending. then i got hold of “Sympathy for Mr. vengence” and liked it even more then oldboy.
another japanese movie “Ichi the killer” is worth a dekko.