[movie 2004] Taegukgi : The Brotherhood Of War 태극기 휘날리

[Guest jhing]

I got my friend to watch this and she hates war movies but she enjoyed this one and she thinks WB is just the cutest guy ever.

[Guest HappyGirl]

Normally I don't like watching war movie because there's just too much killing. But I loved this movie. It's very touching and I cried alot too.

[Guest XTINE__]

omgosh, i own this movie, and i'm sure a lot of you agree that it's a very touching war movie. it was really good for a war movie; i don't usually like these kinds of movies. omgosh, i swear, i've never cried so much during a movie before! it was so sad, especially at the end when jin tae (was that the older brother's name) died and the older version of.. jin seok?/won bin started crying on the spot where his brother died. it's definately a tear jerker. you can't miss this one.. plus, won bin and jang dong gun are in it, soo it's a must-see!

this was a good movie. made me cry too. but the part with the guy and the maggots. that was gross. haha.

oh yeah, which part had the guy w/ the maggots? i don't remember it

[Guest jhing]

XTINE - Yupz, Jin tae is the older bro and Jin seok is the younger bro. This movie made me cry a river too. hehe I enjoyed it from start to end. There was not a moment that dragged. WB looking so gorgeous was a big big plus!

That maggot bit was totally gross. You know how Jin tae and some soldiers went to the enemy's camp and they planted bombs but they got ambushed and one of Jin tae's men got shot in the stomach and he lost his legs too. They sew him back up but then he started complaining about his wound so WB checked it and that's when he found maggots and... that's it I can't continue. I get sick just thinking about it.

[Guest jisung]

sources: monkeypeaches/rottentomatoes

sources: monkeypeaches/rottentomatoes

[Guest lilchism21]

this movie was a great one. the effects and the storyline made it the best war movie i've seen yet.

it may be gross in some parts but you'll also cry in others.

great movie...

i give it two thumbs up..

[Guest jisung]

saw this film a little over a month ago, have been a jdg admirer and more since april this year after seeing him in AAE (i know, i'm way behind )..and just some thoughts on the movie...no movie critic here, just a plain fan, and my humble take on it! this was originally posted over at jdg's thread(soompi) with very minor revisions ...jisung

my first time to see won bin and i must say, he was very impressive! must check out his other works when i have more time. their portrayal of brothers was so convincing, and the love between them was so palpable and all-encompassing it felt like i was part of it too! but what a sad movie, it left me so heartbroken and awash in misery and acute distress there seems to be no relief in sight! the first few scenes were piercing... it seemed like an idyllic existence only to be shattered by war, such sudden descent to hell in the blink of an eye...reminds one of the glimmering tenuousness of life and the need to live life to the fullest..and what a life dong gun's character lived...in my religion it's always said that the greatest sacrifice is to lay down one's life for another, and that's exactly what he did...indeed, he seemed to live only for his brother, volunteering for dangerous missions, almost like a suicidal rampage, in exchange for his brother's release...and eventually losing his mind at the thought of his brother's death...i lost it myself in that scene where the brothers were reunited, dg recognizing the brother he thought had died, and then making his promise- to finish the pair of shoes he was going to give when wb goes to college! waaah, that was just too much for the human heart to take!

needless to say, taegukgi hit me where it matters most, caught me at my most vulnerable if i may say so...there's a physical pain that accompanies mere recollection of scenes from that film! it is that potent for me! and although i mourn the death of jdg's character, i am heartened by won bin's character's tenacity and gumption to go on living! indeed, the only way to accord honor to his brother's death was to lead a well-lived life, though some may claim dying would be a much better alternative to living! but there's always a reason to go on even in the midst of seeming hopelessness and endless despair..

go see this please, those who haven't yet! and then let us know what u think!

Revisiting the Korean War in a Tale of Two Brothers

By DAVE KEHR

The New York Times

Published: September 3, 2004

The Korean filmmaker Kang Je-gyu is the Steven Spielberg of East Asia, and not just because his movies routinely become blockbusters. Both his 1996 first feature, "The Gingko Bed," and his 1999 "Shiri" broke box-office records in South Korea by building compelling genre stories around questions of national identity, a formula that has long been a winner for Mr. Spielberg.

And with "Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War," Mr. Kang seems to be deliberately forcing the comparison. Set during the Korean War, the picture is plainly Mr. Kang's "Saving Private Ryan," a tribute to a passing generation of heroes that begins with an elderly man's visiting a burial site, a sequence that practically quotes Mr. Spielberg's film.

The old man is Lee Jin-seok (played by Won Bin in the flashbacks that make up the body of the film), a war veteran with a complicated personal history. Together with his older brother, Jin-tae (Jang Dong-gun), Jin-seok was forcibly drafted into the South Korean army when Northern troops staged a surprise attack on the South.

In the flashbacks, Jin-seok is a slender, fragile young man, a budding intellectual who is his family's hope for the future. His older brother, Jin-tae, is a burly, boisterous shoemaker whose priority is to protect his younger sibling by winning as many combat medals as possible and using his status as a national hero to have his brother sent home.

The theme of brotherly sacrifice is a popular one in Asian cinema, but it is used here for more than its melodramatic appeal. When the younger brother figures out what his sibling is up to, he turns against him, mirroring the suspicion and distrust that characterized then and characterize now the division between North and South Korea, fraternal countries locked in a permanent struggle.

"Tae Guk Gi" (the title refers to the name South Koreans give to their national flag) is a far more ambivalent and ambiguous film than Mr. Spielberg's. Both North and South are portrayed as brutal, abusive regimes that use their citizens as so much cannon fodder. The battle sequences aim for the intimate violence of Mr. Spielberg's depiction of the D-Day invasion and even make use of the same curious strobelike effect that "Saving Private Ryan" employed to communicate the panicky adrenaline rush of warfare.

These scenes do not depict just democracy triumphing over authoritarianism, but something more morally queasy and brutally pragmatic. Jin-tae becomes a monster of aggression, almost forgetting about his mission to save his brother as he becomes more and more caught up in the hysteria of pitched combat. If he is a hero, he is a deeply flawed, almost demented one. The Northerners commit atrocities — slaughtering entire villages as they retreat — but so do the Southerners, who summarily execute even those villagers who were forced to collaborate with the enemy in order to eat. One of those executed is Jin-tae's fiancée, Young-shin (Lee Eun-joo), a development that pushes Jin-tae even further over the edge.

"Tae Guk Gi," which opens today in the New York region, is a film that will inevitably mean more within the culture that produced it than outside. Reportedly, it has become the highest-grossing film of all time in South Korea, even topping that worldwide phenomenon "Titanic," though it will certainly not escape the art-house ghetto in the United States. But the film does offer Western viewers rare access to another country's innermost anxieties and contradictions, and as such is a fascinating document.

"Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War" has been rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes realistic, sometimes sickening depictions of warfare.

Friday, September 3, 2004

War and ideology put brotherly love to a horrific test

By SEAN AXMAKER

SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

South Korea has, in the past few years, become the filmmaking powerhouse of the Asian mainland, pumping out slick action thrillers that have overtaken the market once dominated by Hong Kong studios, moving in on Japan's lucrative wave of horror movies and creating sweeping national epics in the Chinese mainland mold.

Kang Je-gyu's epic "Tae Guk Gi" is an anti-war spectacle that uses the story of brothers divided by the 1950 civil war as a metaphor for the wounds of the split.

Framed by the present-day excavation of a battle site, the film sweeps us back to scenes of peacetime innocence shot through a golden haze of nostalgia. Jin-tae (Jang Dong-Kun), a shoeshine boy with dreams of owning his own shoemaking shop, and Jin-seok (Won Bin), his college-bound younger brother, chase one another through the crowded streets of 1950 Seoul with a giddy exaggeration that belies their poverty. A distracting, self-important score all but screams that this idyll will be crushed under the boot of history.

Sure enough, North Korea invades and the brothers are conscripted out of the crowds of refugees. Jin-tae transforms from apolitical family man to commie-hating hero, sacrificing his humanity for battle glory in order to send his brother home. Jin-seok comes to hate the monster that his brother has become, but blood is thicker than ideology.

There's nothing subtle in the symbolism of this operatic melodrama, in which emotion overcomes reason and the situations are often contrived. But as the ordeal becomes an unending bloody, gory nightmare, that runaway passion is also what drives the film.

While the North Korean army doesn't come off well, both of the increasingly polarized sides turn ideology into a game of intimidation that neither dehumanized soldier nor victimized civilian can win.

"Tae Guk Gi" recently became the No. 1 box office film of all time in South Korea. Along with the similar success of the 2001 political drama "JSA" and Kang Je-gyu's previous action thriller "Shiri," it suggests South Koreans are tired of politics and merely want to heal the wound and reunite the brothers separated by war.

[Guest dodidudada]

saw this film a little over a month ago, have been a jdg admirer and more since april this year after seeing him in AAE (i know, i'm way behind )..and just some thoughts on the movie...no movie critic here, just a plain fan, and my humble take on it! this was originally posted over at jdg's thread(soompi) with very minor revisions ...jisung

my first time to see won bin and i must say, he was very impressive! must check out his other works when i have more time. their portrayal of brothers was so convincing, and the love between them was so palpable and all-encompassing it felt like i was part of it too! but what a sad movie, it left me so heartbroken and awash in misery and acute distress there seems to be no relief in sight! the first few scenes were piercing... it seemed like an idyllic existence only to be shattered by war, such sudden descent to hell in the blink of an eye...reminds one of the glimmering tenuousness of life and the need to live life to the fullest..and what a life dong gun's character lived...in my religion it's always said that the greatest sacrifice is to lay down one's life for another, and that's exactly what he did...indeed, he seemed to live only for his brother, volunteering for dangerous missions, almost like a suicidal rampage, in exchange for his brother's release...and eventually losing his mind at the thought of his brother's death...i lost it myself in that scene where the brothers were reunited, dg recognizing the brother he thought had died, and then making his promise- to finish the pair of shoes he was going to give when wb goes to college! waaah, that was just too much for the human heart to take!

needless to say, taegukgi hit me where it matters most, caught me at my most vulnerable if i may say so...there's a physical pain that accompanies mere recollection of scenes from that film! it is that potent for me! and although i mourn the death of jdg's character, i am heartened by won bin's character's tenacity and gumption to go on living! indeed, the only way to accord honor to his brother's death was to lead a well-lived life, though some may claim dying would be a much better alternative to living! but there's always a reason to go on even in the midst of seeming hopelessness and endless despair..

go see this please, those who haven't yet! and then let us know what u think!

After TGK's recent win at the APFF, I started listening to the OST again from time to time and what do you think happened? I actually felt again that quiet, helpless, desperate sense of pain and loss that jin-seok (won bin) must have felt all the time in many parts of the movie. As I listened to the music, scenes from the movie flashed through my mind and I actually ended up in tears again. Although jin-tae (jang dong gun) sacrificed his life, he didn't have to suffer this saddest of fate that jin-seok had to go through for the remaining days of his life : that of not only mourning the loss of his loved ones but also that of carrying a heavy burden of guilt at the possibility of being the cause for that loss. I felt all this through won bin's portrayal of jin-seok. Very powerful indeed.

[Guest TY_KSW]

Most of leading magazines in Saigon now are praising Taegukgi soooo muchhhhhhh. Mostly come to director and 2 actors... they said beyond the excellence.... extraordinary excellence Jang .... n there's no such a terrific and lively war films like that in all Asia continental ... Me agree with them ...

[Guest jhing]

Thanks for sharing your views and movie critics reviews on TGK with us Dodi and Jisung.

[Guest jhing]

haha I got my cousin to watch this movie and he loved it. Now he's into Korean films.

I'm actually promoting this movie to everyone I know. hahaha And I think am doing a great job.

[Guest dodidudada]

haha I got my cousin to watch this movie and he loved it. Now he's into Korean films.

I'm actually promoting this movie to everyone I know. hahaha And I think am doing a great job.

Good! We're together then in our Taegukgi brotherhood! Will bring over whatever I've posted on sokorean forum on the film over here soon. I did that in the old thread. Felt like it was quite a loss... that old thread.

[Guest Special Ed]

I cried shietless watching this movie.

Won Bin super hott!!

[Guest ginachan]

I LOOOVEEE THIS MOVIE....THE BEST WAR MOVIE EVER

[Guest snowwhite]

this is a great movie.. but i didn't like the role wonbin played in it.. i felt really bad for the older brother lol

[Guest tinyblueangel]

i just watched this movie recently and loved it! i'm not too into war movies because sometimes they can be pretty graphic and confusing...actually some war scenes were confusing in here with the camera shaking and i had no idea who was who because they all dressed the same lol but i love the story of the two brothers, it was very touching. won bin is so cute <3 it's so sad how jin tae had to die though =(

[Guest jhing]

Thanks for the TGK caps/images Jisung!

Dodi! Yes, we're together in our Taegukgi brotherhood!

Do try to visit our other WB related threads here too. hehe >>My Brother, Guns and Talks and Autumn Tale.

Let's spread the WB love,shall we?.

[Guest jhing]

omigosh hahaha I got some friends of my bro to watch this and they all loved it. The girls esp. loved WB and JDG. The boys were like "better than Windtalkers?" hahaha

[Guest jhing]

Can't wait till this one hits the stores. Thanks to easterneye.com for releasing the dvd here in Oz.

[wowastyle]

i watched the last 20 minutes.. i cried when I saw the credits cuz of Lee EunJoo's name.. JOYUNHEE was in it tho... at the very end.. >.< WonBin and JangDongGun are such good actors, too bad wonbin doesnt come out anymore...

>.<