Review of Inchon (1981) by Charles P — 08 May 2013

Inchon: The Unification Church's Battlefield Earth.

Scientology member John Travolta's epic science fiction film Battlefield Earth based on the novel of scientology founder L.Ron Hubbard, is notorious for being a bad movie and a box office flop. Battlefield Earth is said to be John Travolta's pet project to glorify L.Ron Hubbard.

It was not the first time an epic film was produced with the involvement of believers of a controversial religion. In 1981 the Korean war movie Inchon was released. Directed by Terence Young it deals with the battle of Inchon, a battle that is considered to be the turning point of the Korean war. The film was financed by Sun Myung Moon of the notorious anti-communist christian organisation the Unification Church, through one of his companies One Way Productions. Moon not only financed the movie but also served as a special consultant.

Inchon had budget of $ 46.000.000 and starred among others Laurence Olivier as general Douglas MacArthur and Jacqueline Bisset as a United States Major's wife who has to flee from Korean village when the communists invade while she is shopping for furniture. Although imdb doesn't state any box office revenue, the movie is considered to be a flop.

Of course there are plenty of differences between Battlefield Earth and Inchon. Inchon is based on a true historical battle and Battlefield Earth is not. Also the message of Inchon is much clearer than in Scientology. Which could be because Inchon had a more direct involvement of the church than Battlefield Earth, which is more L.Ron Hubbard fanfiction than a propaganda piece. Although it lacks the gore like in movies as Men Behind The Sun, it shows the communists of North Korea clearly behaving as the bad guys. In Battlefield Earth it is not clear, what the story has to do with the specifics of the Scientology religion.

Is it as bad? I have to admit that I didn't think Battlefield Earth wasn't that bad. Although I'm not a hardcore science fiction fan and/or a continuity error fundamentalist. Some aspects of Battlefield Earth were unrealistic, but it didn't matter much to the story. A science fiction film for me is a form of entertainment not something that has to be scientific accurate.

As for Inchon: The entertainment factor really under the slow pace of the story. The subplot isn't intresting or enjoyable and doesn't add anything to the story. I think is supposed to be a heart warming story where an American woman safes 5 cute little asian kids.

The part of the movies where General MacArthur lays out his plans are very pretentious and bombastic "The plan will succeed because God is on our side".

The action scenes are alright, although it uses a lot of stock footage. But don't expect any blatant scenes like the more obvious blatant propaganda movies like Men Behind The Sun: The Rape of Nanking.

As for the historic value. It still isn't clear to me how the battle of Inchon was one. Something with a white american and a black american stabbing an North Korean watch soldier to death and rigging a light house.

As a propaganda piece? The movie doesn't really appeal to the emotions of the viewer. For the rest, it depicts the North Korean as the bad guys. But I would consider that most of the target audience already saw the North Koreans as the bad guys. The war crimes depicted in the movie are pretty random: north korean soldiers shooting in a crowd of civilians. Which is of course bad, but the crowd is too anonymous to feel emition about them.