Review of Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) by Ryan M — 21 Oct 2009

Korean Cinema has been churning out some quality films this decade, they've tackled violent thrillers (Oldboy) serial killers (Memories Of Murder) and even tackled dramas quite well (Kim ki-Duk's films, too many to name). So when a film about the Korean war was released, all of Korea went to see it, it was a massive commercial success, even if it did borrow elements from "Saving Private Ryan". But oddly enough, both of those films suffer from being too shmaltzy (although my sources indicate that Korean cinema was built up with this sentimental factor from the start, plus this is a war that was mostly forgotten by the rest of the world, and it's very personal for the Korean people).

It starts off in the present day, as an elderly Jin Seok is told over the phone that they have found a skeleton that was identified as his own. But since he can't be dead & alive at the same time, he goes to see what's going on. The story then flashes back to a time before the war started, where Jin Seok and his older brother Jin Tae are enjoying life with their mother and Jin Tae's fiancee Young-shin, along with her younger brothers & sisters. But shortly afterwards, war is declared, and every man between the ages of 18 and 30 is drafted in. Jin Tae and Jin Seok get assigned to the same regiment, but Jin Seok's heart condition is ignored, so Jin Tae opts to get him out of the army, but he can only do that by winning a medal. Jin Tae battles the enemy to win his brother's freedom, but he's also battling for his innocence, all the while Jin Seok resents his brother's heroics because he wants both of them to return home safely.

With any war film, the casual viewer will demand large-scale and realistic battle scenes, and "Brotherhood doesn't disappoint: handheld cameras, lots of blood, plenty of extras being used with many explosions. There are even a couple of hand-to-hand battles with bayonets, which are surprisingly good too. The acting from the two main leads is very good, and the rest of the cast certainly do their job, the cinematography is also quite good, and the screenplay is decent.

But, the huge problem with the film is that sentimentalism I mentioned earlier: "Infernal Affairs" brought it out sparingly, "Memories Of Murder" had very little sentimentality, but "Brotherhood" rolls around with it at almost every possible chance. It makes "Saving Private Ryan" look like a film by Robert Bresson in the shmaltz-factor. There are plenty of examples of this, but they all involve the same routine. Whenever someone from the regiment or another important character is about to die, this is what happens exactly: The sound volume is brought down, the incredibly bland strings on the soundtrack is raised louder and louder, the film goes into slowmotion, extreme closeups and reaction shots, until the person's body hits the floor, where it lingers for a few seconds with the sad/bland/horrible film score playing far too loudly. It is an unbelievably cheap way to make you feel upset at the doses of death being handed out, and it almost ruins the entire film. Because it's a war film, it happens quite a few times, and after the first couple times it occurs, you just start laughing at the melodrama, it feels so out of place when contrasted with the brutal war sequences, that it could have easily made the film into a terrible one. But those war sequences are good enough for you to go and see it. It may be a long film, but it rarely drags thanks to those war scenes. Overall, it's a decent film that could have been amazing, but if you just mute it when somebody important dies, or better yet just fast-forward slightly, you'll be fine.