Korean filmmaker Kang (Shiri) goes for broke both with this war epic that's both an action-packed account of a brutal conflict and an intimate portrait of a family caught in the middle. It's powerfully moving and thoroughly involving, although rather over-constructed.
Jin-Tae (Jang) shines shoes as his part of the family effort to send younger brother Jin-Seok (Won) to university. But when the Korean War begins in 1950, both brothers are drafted to fight. Jin-Tae takes his responsibility with him, engaging in daring heroism to earn top honours so he can have his brother sent home. But to Jin-Seok this looks like a form of obsessive, thuggish patriotism.
The title is the name of the Korean flag, and Kang's film is strongly nationalistic; its characters proudly wave their flag with each victory, and the war itself is played out like a battle for Korea's soul, with America backing the plucky south and China aiding the aggressive north. The combat scenes are shockingly edgy and intense--Saving Private Ryan cranked up to 11. Writer-director Kang (Shiri) throws us right in the middle of the frenzy, and it's jarringly relentless and horrific. It's also hard to imagine a more brutal or chaotic cinematic depiction of battlefield grisliness and wartime atrocities.
Alongside this is a stirringly heartfelt story focussing on the brothers' own journeys, complete with surging orchestral score and weepy Spielbergesque bookend scenes. Even though it's emotionally engaging, this side of the film is more problematic, as the script falls back on corny expository dialog and lots of contrived conveniences, such as the fact that the brothers just happen to arrive back home as Jin-Tae's fiancee (the late Lee Eun-ju) is arrested by anti-communist goons. These scenes aren't quite believable enough to hold the entire film together, although the raw gustiness of it all carries us through. It helps that, just as things seem to be winding down, there are a couple of remarkable twists that add both complexity and resonance. Jang and Won are so good in these roles that we willingly travel with them to hell and back. And in the process we get a relevant history lesson.
