The fifth film in this series of Korean New Wave Cinema is Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (also known 태극기 휘날리며 in Korean pronounced as Taegukgi Hwinallimyeo). Taegukgi is a is a South Korean wartime action drama film directed by Kang Je-gyu. Taegukgi tells the story of two brothers who are forcibly drafted into the South Korean army at the outbreak of the Korean War. It stars Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin as the central brothers in the movie. Kang Je-gyu was known after his Hollywood-style big-budget blockbuster Shiri.

The film focusses around two brothers Lee Jin-tae (Jang Dong-gun) and Lee Jin-seok (Won Bin). The film is set in June 1950, Jin-tae owns a shoeshine stand and he lives in Seoul with his family. Jin-tae uses the earnings from his shoeshine stall to pay for his brother Jin-seok’s education. They live a modest and peaceful life with their family that consists of their mother, Jin-tae’s fiancé, Young-shin and Young-shin’s younger siblings. Jin-tae’s mother and Young-shin run a noodle stall to support the family. Unfortunately the peace in this family is short-lived, soon into the film Jin-tae and Jin-seok are forcefully drafted into the Army because the country was being attacked by North Korean forces. While in they serve in the Army, Jin-tae finds a way to send Jin-seok back home and starts working towards the possibility of having his brother to be sent back. The film showcases the struggle of fighting in a war and the hardships individuals face at a time of crisis.

The primary theme in Taegukgi is the theme of brotherhood in a politically detached sense. Once extremely close brothers Jin-tae and Jin-seok, eventually lose their prior identities and are forced apart towards the end of the film. The film constructs a parallel between the brothers and the two nations of North and South Korea. Jin-tae and Jin-seok, two brothers who had the same goal eventually end up on two different ends of a spectrum. As Jin-tae progresses in working his way to the top to offer stability and safety for his brother, Jin-tae also loses himself along the process. Finally Jin-tae is defected to North Korea and ends up fighting in the North Korean Army. Similarly to the two nations of North and South Korea, the two were together as one unified Korea and fought together against the imperialistic Japanese rule in Korea, yet the nations were torn apart and now fight against each other.

Taegukgi was the on of the movies with the largest production South Korea, with a budget of $14-million. It also had a record-breaking audience count which spans to at least one-fifth of the size of the South Korean population (Hwinalrimyeo & Lee, 2006). The film encapsulates the Korean emotion and pain caused to the people of the nation. The nation’s dark past is filled with war and unrest and the population of the country having little to no control over their own lives. The effects of war has been evident through generations and the nation still lives with the harsh memory of the torture inflicted upon the Korean society.

References

Conran, P. (n.d.). Review: TAEGUKGI: The Brotherhood of war is a Heartbreaking tale from the Korean War. Retrieved May 21, 2021, from http://www.modernkoreancinema.com/2015/05/review-taegukgi-brotherhood-of-war-is.html

HoF. (n.d.). Tae guk Gi. Retrieved May 21, 2021, from http://historyonfilm.com/tae-guk-gi/

Hwinalrimyeo, T., & Lee, J. (2006). Film review: Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War [Taegukgi Hwinalrimyeo]. (January).