It is said that the history of Korean cinema can be divided into before "Shiri" and after "Shiri", a testament to the significance of the 1999 blockbuster that opened an era of big-budget, high-grossing spectacles in Korea.
If Kang Je-gyu, the man behind "Shiri", has his way, Korean cinema will be divided into before "Taegukgi" and after "Taegukgi" from now on. The hugely ambitious Korean War epic will finally be unveiled at theaters across the nation today, seeking nothing less than to write the next chapter in the development of Korean cinema.
"Taegukgi" was breaking records even as it was in production. The film is the most expensive ever made in Korea with a colossal budget of nearly 15 billion won. Shooting took place in 18 locations with 25,000 extras and marvelous sets of the streets of Seoul and Pyongyang in 1950. The film will open on 430 screens around the nation, another record.
If Kang wanted to show that Korean cinema could play like Hollywood with "Shiri", he seems to want to show that it can sell like Hollywood with "Taegukgi". Starring Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin, two key heartthrobs of the "Korean Wave" phenomenon, the film is looking overseas to Japan and eventually America to recoup its gigantic budget. "As the title of the film indicates, I want to fly the Korean flag over other parts of the world in the form of movies", Kang said at a preview of the film Tuesday.
Like the Hollywood blockbuster "Titanic", the film uses the bookends of the present to frame the story. An excavation team digs out the remains of what it believes to be Sgt. Lee Jin-seok, who is still alive as a 77-year-old grandfather. He wonders whether the remains are that of his older brother Lee Jin-tae.
The scene changes to Jong-no in Seoul on June 24, 1950 when Jin-tae (Jang Dong-gun) is a shoemaker, Jin-seok (Won Bin) is a student, and their mother makes noodles to support the family. When the Korean War breaks out, the family quickly flees, but Jin-tae and Jin-seok are forcibly conscripted into the army and sent to the front.
The ensuing battle scenes are bigger and better than anything ever before seen in Korean cinema. To a backdrop of ear-splitting explosions and thick artillery smoke, flesh goes flying and blood is splattered so vividly and graphically that the film almost takes us there. The sight of an American bomber crashing or the panorama of the Chinese army charging over a mountain is remarkable by any standards.
Like the World War II epic "Saving Private Ryan", "Taegukgi" delivers an unflinching depiction of the horrors of war from the perspective of the lowest soldier. The shroud over the Forgotten War is lifted to reveal its brutal violence in a way that is certain to make the film a milestone in Korean cinema.
While "Taegukgi" raises the standards, it also has its shortcomings. Like Steven Spielberg, Kang seems to be a boy at heart, and the emotions delivered by the film are boyish. While the film avoids both a simple-minded anti-communist message and a pandering pro-unification message, it seems to have no clear convictions other than action.
The tragedy of a fratricidal war and the rich metaphor of brotherhood are left alone for most of the film until the end. Potentially agonizing moments are never fully pursued to satisfaction. As for Jin-tae's superhuman heroics, if they were not eye-popping, they would be comical. Perhaps the meaning of the film lies not in what it wants to say but in what it wants to be.
"Taegukgi" is too great to be called disappointing, yet too disappointing to be called great. Like "Shiri" five years ago, the significance of the film may not be in itself but in offering a direction for Korean cinema to follow for the next five years.
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