A film of epic nature revolves around the unlikely "love" between two brothers

Rating: 6/10 (7 July 2008)

I am literally torn between my sensible realization of how technically superior this film is to a horde of war films before it, and my raw human urge to cry out what an over-melodramatic cliché I've just witnessed. Films like this, I suspect, are toned to a rather specific audience, and recent turmoil in South Korea has led me to temporarily set aside my belief in the standard of good films, established over years of watching critically acclaimed (mostly American/ European/ Chinese/ Japanese) films, and assume that a different standard does exist for the Korean crowd, whose psyche must be vastly different from that of ours. And this film should have met those standards to have won Korean critical acclaim of such gigantic magnitude. I will therefore, attempt to separate my personal view from the obvious, so that readers can decide for themselves whether this film is right for them.
1. The lead actor is apparently a big deal in Koran soup opera, being instantly recognized by my Korean soup-opera savvy friend. Although I've always doubted the effectiveness of soup opera stars in a demanding role of a feature length movie, and Bin Won's two dimensional portrayal of the troubled younger brother seems to have confirmed my view, my friend was genuinely satisfied with Bin Won's performance. Her actual comment was "look at how handsome Yuan Bin (his Chinese name) is!"
2. The plot is the most puzzling part. A film of epic nature revolves around no other but the unlikely "love" between two brothers. I won't go into details but this "love" went out of step of my "narrow" understanding of human nature and psyche, and looks ridiculous especially when being placed before the backdrop of a brutal conflict (Or was the brotherly love a backdrop for the war?). Naturally my friend disagrees with me, and I don't think she is alone in thinking her way, and I quote: "The plot is really engaging! So moving! Except for the bloody parts! I hate those"
3. The technical achievement of the film is truly astonishing.
4. Side-characters are interesting, likable and sympathetic, another thing the movie does right.
5. There seems to be little political contempt in this film since every political agenda has been cast aside to serve the main plot (the unlikely love between two brothers), and although on a mechanical level both sides of the Korean war had been shown their fair share of "evil", the one-sided portrayal of the ROK soldiers as representing everything human and sympathetic leaves neutrality in disarray, and much more for the audience to wonder about the dilemma between the current South Korean public attitude toward their northern counterpart and a strong public desire for reunification.