Review of The Front Line (2011) by Leo K — 07 Oct 2013

In "The Front Line," the good news for Eun-pyo(Ha-kyun Shin) is that he will no longer have to suffer through the endless peace talks. The bad news is he is being shipped to Aerok Hill, which is a key battleground for where the boundaries will be set, to investigate a possible spy. Currently, the hill is being defended by a bunch of teenagers, with Yang(Chang-Seok Ko) being the only veteran from a previous war. At least, Eun-pyo gets reunited with Soo-hyeok(Soo Go), who he feared dead.

Some times it may seem like there have already been too many war is futile movies but then with the latest warmongering, it becomes perfectly clear again we can never have too many. One of the more recent, "The Front Line," which as uneven and episodic as it is, still has quite a few neat touches like the box and a massive dose of irony in its final act. Set in the final days of the Korean War, the movie is also about the last chances for any kind of reconciliation for the country, as the final barriers are about to go up.(Since this is told from a Korean point of view, I wanted to see what they called this war there but according to Wikipedia, it depends on who you ask. Oh well.) Even though the South are the protagonists, the movie does not denigrate the North as villains, either.