Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War

[Hufflepuff44]

This is a great film, made in South Korea by Kang Je-Kyu. I'm surprised I found it! Its a graet film though.

It tells the story of two South Korean brothers who get drafted into the Army after the North Korean invasion, and the story unwinds from there.

Has anyone seen this film? (Came out in 2004.)

[Przemyslaw]

Has anyone seen this film? (Came out in 2004.)

Some years ago... But try also Assemble aka The last battle. Very similar style.

[Konzev]

Good Korean War Movies

This is a great film, made in South Korea by Kang Je-Kyu. I'm surprised I found it! Its a graet film though.

It tells the story of two South Korean brothers who get drafted into the Army after the North Korean invasion, and the story unwinds from there.

Has anyone seen this film? (Came out in 2004.)

Yes, I loved it. Very good and honest film resolving the past.

And I have seen some other, I would say equally good Korean war flicks:


http://http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475783/

Tidbits: The downed american pilot is played by a canadian actor from my neighboring Sudbury.


I wrote this comment on the imdb.com:

I was pleasantly surprised about this wonderfully crafted movie. It guides the viewer to "the other side" of the korean war, to the communist side. Western viewers like me, with an European background west of the iron curtain, know almost nothing about. When this side was portrait in Hollywood or early korean war movies, it was dehumanized. Now this movie shows an entirely new angle, where ordinary citizens get drawn to the communist site for all kind of different reasons, and from all walks of life. From the practical decission to the ideological one, from the workrelated one to the adventures one, for love or for revenge. All this is seen from the biographical view of a journalist who lived, and suffered through this experience. By watching this movie you feel the approach of emotional pain, by knowing that some of the wonderful human bonds created, will end with tragedy. The war movie action fan will also find this movie packed with realistic and well researched combat scenes. I was truly impressed about every aspect in this movie. Now this is the story: The American forces under McArthur land in Inchon, the communist front in southern Korea crumbles. Civil proffessionals are being ordered by the communist leaders, to join the partisans in the mountains. Whole bands of partisans have very little experience, when they meet the regular korean army in pitched battles. Mostly being defeated, they suffer under unbearable conditions. When the Chinese army enters the war, new hope and optimism arrives, giving new live to the battered spirits. Ordinary communist leaders committing reasonable decissions among some atrocities. It paints a very threedimensional picture about their movement, without a final judgement. That is very impressive. For a moviemaker, this takes guts to do. No sour note on morals in this movie. This is also a movie that portraits female soldiers in battle, in ways rarely seen in other war movies. This is the best korean war movie I have ever seen, it even outclasses my favorite up to date Tae Guk Gi.

[Konzev]

Nambugun

I forgot to mention:

2 second clip above is from the movie NAMBUGUN.
And so is my comment to it.

[Redwolf]

I hate it. Most pathetic whiner story around a war movie I have seen.

Anybody wants it? $12. Like new.

[Przemyslaw]

I hate it. Most pathetic whiner story around a war movie I have seen.

Well, I understand Your feelings, but You have to watch it not fully literaly. E. g. two broders are two countries: worker and student, North and South, and they finally untie, etc. I find this film quite interesting.

[Konzev]

Marvel Comics

I hate it. Most pathetic whiner story around a war movie I have seen.

Anybody wants it? $12. Like new.

Perhaps you should stick to Cartoons, saving you a lot of grief.

[Tankboy]

I'm going to have to count myself with the nay sayers. I thought it was hokey, cheesy, predictable, completely unrealistic, and to be brutally honest, kind of lame.

I swear, I was almost always two scenes ahead of the movie.

The girl joins the communist party. Guessed it. The guy with the kid gets killed while the brother tries to get a medal. Check. The younger brother gets alienated from older brother. Check. Older brother defects after he thinks the country has betrayed him and his brother. Check. Brothers come to understand each other. Check. Yawn.

How come every fight devolved into a really lame kungfu movie?

Also, every battle was basically like two groups of children running at each other. No real tactics were ever displayed, imo. Flag unit was just weird and didn't make sense why it was so dangerous. All it was was bearded North Koreans who could win kung fu fights. What happened to the bullets in the guns?

[Parasocko]

I thought it was good until the end when the older brother wins the Korean Medal of Honor then deserts to the North....

[Konzev]

What do you know about Korean Culture

I thought it was good until the end when the older brother wins the Korean Medal of Honor then deserts to the North....

This move was not about the formulated Hollywood War Movies, where history gets bend to suit a family value oriented Micky Mouse culture.
It tells a Korean War Story, made for history fans that have an open mind for other cultures. And in my proffessional opinion , a Masterpeace of Movie making.

[Redwolf]

Perhaps you should stick to Cartoons, saving you a lot of grief.

This movie *is* a cartoon for the most part.

[Pirateship1982]

Hmm, how I rate this film would depend on what I was grading.

Battle Scenes - Visually exciting. Although the over the top assault was more brawling than gun battle this would be a realistic portrayal of trench warfare. The urban combat scenes make for pretty good action. Of course, it's hard to have an urban combat scene that is boring.

Acting - Incredibly corny. Like Platoon, all of the characters are stereotypes and the movie hits every war movie cliche it can manage.

Period Quality - Decent. Any lover of period films will find this movie visually appealing.

Overall Quality - Like Alexander, it's a movie I can enjoy now that DVD technology allows you to skip scenes instead of having to manually fast forward.

[Konzev]

Explain !

This movie *is* a cartoon for the most part.

An elaborate Explanation would have been most appreciated, or did you just enjoy to let "Steam Off".
I mean that, just out of respect for other Forum members, who explained their opinions.

[Tankboy]

An elaborate Explanation would have been most appreciated, or did you just enjoy to let "Steam Off".
I mean that, just out of respect for other Forum members, who explained their opinions.

He's right the movie is so cliched with its story and action scenes I'm surprised I wasn't watching some bad anime.

[Tankboy]

Although the over the top assault was more brawling than gun battle this would be a realistic portrayal of trench warfare.

Though, I'd think more people would use clubs and tools instead of going for straight up kung fu like they do in this movie.