Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)

Director: Je-kyu Kang

Writers: Ji-hoon Han, Je-kyu Kang, Sang-don Kim

Cast: Dong-gun Jang, Bin Won, Eun-ju Lee, Hyeong-jin Kong

Release year: 2004

Running Time: 142 minutes

Country: South Korea

Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War tells the story of two brothers, one of whom shines shoes in order to support his family, which includes his younger brother who is an excellent student and expects to go to university soon. The film starts in 2003, 50 years after the end of the Korean War, when an old man, one of the two brothers, is notified by the South Korean Army excavation team that they've found human remains which they've identified as his. The story then shifts to 1950 in the Korean capital of Seoul where the two brothers live with their mother, the older brother's fiancee and her younger siblings. The family's hopes for an idyllic existence are shattered when they learn that North Korea has invaded their country. They flee the war but circumstances force both brothers into the army. The film examines the way the war transforms both brothers, the camaraderie of men fighting together for their lives and the impact of the war on South Korean society.

This is not a film for the squeamish as it features some horrific scenes. It is a visceral portrayal of modern combat that doesn't shy away from portraying the horror of industralized warfare. Furthermore, the film doesn't ignore the fact that both the North and South Korean armies committed atrocities during the war. Several crucial scenes demonstrate the way the war ripped apart South Korean society, including the questioning and shooting of suspected communist sympathizers.

The film has several twists and it kept me guessing until the very end. The emotional core of the film is the relationship between the two brothers but, as I already mentioned, the camaraderie of the men in the brother's platoon also plays an important role. The film doesn't attempt to preach anything, it simply portrays the horror of the war. I must admit that I haven't seen many modern war films but I doubt that there's a lot that so realistically portray the cruelty of war.

If you're interested in the reasons for the start of the war, you're better off finding a book to read as the film doesn't look at this issue. However, if you would like to watch a realistic and moving portrayal of the conflict, you should definitely watch Brotherhood. Both main actors give excellent performances and, unlike some other great Korean films, I think this has only one melodramatic scene, which is why the film stays realistic all the way through. Watch Brotherhood, you won't regret it.

Film poster linked from Wikimedia.org