movies that emphasize on the kind of brotherly ties between men never fail to intrigue me. think lord of the rings and the last samurai. it's movies like that that always reduce me to tears.
taegukgi tells the story of two brothers... the younger one (won bin.. who looks so cute and so cool when he matured) was drafted into the army when the korean war broke out. the older one (jang dong gun... impressive acting) who loved his brother more than anything else volunteered into the army and took on special life-threatening missions to win the medal of honour so as to send his little brother back home. but things go awry when the older brother began to get too involved in his missions and ended up changing into someone who was cruel and ruthless. the younger brother couldn't quite take this change and disapproved of what his brother did. eventually... the older brother defected to the north korean communists and the younger brother who had earlier denounced him... took it upon himself to get his brother back and went back to the 38th parallel (the then bloodiest battlefield) just a week before his discharge....
it's a very touching story.. the strong ties between the two brothers, jin-tae and jin-seok. the older brother was protective and caring, even though he did go too far while the younger brother served as a conscience for the older one.. bringing him back to the right side again. the kind of friendship built between comrades and friends.. it only gets stronger with time and ordeals.
that's why i'm always envious and always very inspired by war flicks. the saddest part must be the war.. it was gory and violent.. but true too. it must have been worse in the real war... the soldiers didn't know what they are fighting for.. at least most of them didn't, i believe. they were students.. drafted into the army .. and they had to kill whoever they see in a different uniform. and just like what jin-seok said about his brother .. "he doesn't know what is communism and democracy". they fight because they can only survive if they win.
it's sad but true. may peace prevails.
listening to: myself
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