A powerful epic from South Korea. It's a tear-jerker for me, through and through, from the very start.

Rating: 8/10 (10 October 2004)

The nostalgic sepia-toned segment of Seoul 1950, depicting pre-draft happy moments the two brothers shared with friends and family, is touching and heartwarming. But director does not linger there - in fact, the pace of the storyline of "Taegukgi" (South Korean name for their national flag) is more than tight, it's one event after another, never stops. We see the characters, main and supporting cast, managing the situations as they come. Korean filmmaker, Kang Je-gyu (of "Shiri") provided a powerful epic film experience. The war scenes of soldiers at camp, in combat, on the move, literally covered a lot of grounds, physically and historically timeline-wise.
Yes, it's quite melodramatic. Very much like a Korean opera. An emotional wringer we go through watching the changing situations between big brother Jin-tae and younger brother Jin-seok, the sad tragic scene of Young-shin, Jin-tae's fiancée caught between the political muddle of Koreans killing Koreans over suspecting communists involvement (she did nothing wrong other than getting food for family members' survival). Big brother was too sad and furious to continue gloriously fighting for 'country' as he felt the impact of lives loss, went over to the North Korean army, contradictorily fought for the enemy side. Fate did play a hand at every turn. Young brother escaped burning fate, as he's about to get back home to mother and family, he learned of his brother at the opposing war front. He realized how much he has wrongly alienated his big brother. Sigh! No one should be judged for what they do during war - circumstances in war time can change one's psyche and outlook.
From "The Power of Myth" PBS series, in his conversations with Bill Moyers, scholar and teacher Joseph Campbell talked about the [ritual of] people joining the army, putting on a uniform, giving up personal life and accepting a socially determined manner of life in the service of one's society. In times of war, they're acting not as individuals, they're acting as agents of something above them to which they've given themselves. "To judge them as though they were individual human beings is totally improper." To all soldiers, defensive or offensive, they are courageous souls who sacrificed their precious family ties and all, risking their lives coping with the unknown. It is humane to respect both the living and the dead.
The two leads are engaging: Jang Dong-gun is the big brother (he was detective Kim in "Nowhere To Hide" 1999) and Won Bin is the younger brother (he's a young popular TV star in South Korea). The multitude of extras for the battle scenes is part of a grand production with effective cinematography, score and sound effects enabling the film depictions being devastatingly real. The layers of plot and the 'all encompassing' facets/effects of war included in the mix may be too much for some - somehow, 2 hours 20 mins. of "Taegukgi" just came and absorbed. I understand the release of this film in South Korea coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the country's truce with North Korea. The film was very well received (a blockbuster) at home.
Other noteworthy war-related films: "Sergeant York" (directed by Howard Hawks 1941), with Gary Cooper's incomparable portrayal of WWI American hero Alvin C. York. "Hong Kong 1941" (aka "Dang doi lai ming" directed by Leong Po Chi 1984) the Chow Yun-Fat movie of the indelible friendship of three during Japanese occupation, how people react and act due to wartime situations for the sake of survival, saving a dear friend - it's dramatic, gutsy and romantic, too. "Grave of the Fireflies" (aka "Hotaru no haka" directed by Isao Takahata 1988), the impressive Japanese animated film which is very much about the effects of war - a beautiful story, nevertheless, through the eyes of a young boy and his little sister - however difficult a situation, there is magic in life and in death.