In 2000, 6 million of Koreans gathered to see this film directed by Park Chan-wook probably moved because of the associations with common situation that Koreans could take of the film such as the background of two young South Korean soldiers sent to DMZ to do the compulsory military service or their loneliness feeling that leads them to develop a close relationship with North Korean soldiers.
The film start with a shooting scene and a bit later the viewer get to know that two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by a South Korean soldier. Sophie, a Swiss-Korean agent, one of the members of the Swiss team from the Neutral Nation Supervisory Commission, will be the one in charge of the investigation.
The film treats the division of the country in 2, North and South, taking as scenery the frontier line, DMZ.
The conflicting area becomes a witness of the growth of a forbidden friendship between North and South Korean soldiers. The relationship can be interpreted in opposite ways, as a pure feeling or as treason. A proscribed family ties among brothers that can be compared with the division of the country that breaks the most important Confucianism base, ‘the brotherhood’.
The soldiers move during the movie over a thin line between trust and suspicion, protection and damage. That is comparable situation with the actual political tension. The tension in the film is increased with the use of 360º pan, for example when the 4 of them get together, also in the scenes that involve what is called “The Bridge of no return”. This conflicting situation shows at the same time the wish of unification and the difficulty to achieve it.
A great tragic story based on a mixed genre, a political-thriller with comical overtone, which evokes sad feelings about the division of a country, a family; a truncated wish of unification because of the complexity of the situations.
I.M
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