Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)

A drama about the fate of brothers forced to fight in the Korean War.

Director:

Je-kyu Kang (as Je-gyu Kang)

Writers:

Richard Epcar (dubbed version), Ji-hoon Han

Stars:

Dong-gun Jang, Bin Won, Eun-ju Lee

10 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Dong-gun Jang	...	Jin-tae Lee
Bin Won	...	Jin-seok Lee
Eun-ju Lee	...	Young-shin Kim
Hyeong-jin Kong	...	Yong-man
Yeong-ran Lee	...	Mother Lee
Kil-kang Ahn	...	Sergeant Huh (as Kil-Kang Ahn)
Jin Jung	...	Sergeant Lim
Jae-hyeong Jeon	...	Yong-seok
Min-ho Jang	...	Old Jin-seok Lee
Yun-hie Jo	...	Jin-seok Lee's grandaughter
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Won-hee Cho
Min-sik Choi	...	North Korean Captain
Do-Hee Go	...	Young-Guk Kim
Taek-ha Hwang	...	Platoon Soldier #2
Dae-Hoon Jeong

Storyline

In 1950, in South Korea, shoe-shiner Jin-tae Lee and his 18-year-old old student brother, Jin-seok Lee, form a poor but happy family with their mother, Jin-tae's fiancé Young-shin Kim, and her young sisters. Jin-tae and his mother are tough workers, who sacrifice themselves to send Jin-seok to the university. When North Korea invades the South, the family escapes to a relative's house in the country, but along their journey, Jin-seok is forced to join the army to fight in the front, and Jin-tae enlists too to protect his young brother. The commander promises Jin-tae that if he gets a medal he would release his brother, and Jin-tae becomes the braver soldier in the company. Along the bloody war between brothers, the relationship of Jin-seok with his older brother deteriorates leading to a dramatic and tragic end.

---

Plot Keywords:

korean war | korea | 1950s | archeologist | soldier | 

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | War

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic sequences of war violence

Details

Official Sites:

3L Filmverleih [Germany]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

24 September 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War

Filming Locations:

A-San City, South Korea

Box Office

Budget:

$12,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$462,458 (Japan) (2 July 2004)

Gross:

$1,110,186 (USA) (10 December 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Showbox Entertainment, Kang Je-Kyu Film Co. Ltd., KD Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min 148 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The M4A3E8 Sherman tanks seen in the film seem to be mock-ups built on M32A1B3 Armored Recovery Vehicles. This is evidenced by a small slit in the front of the vehicle, and only the M32 series have these in the Sherman family. Their hulls and Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension system seem to be genuine.

---

Goofs

During the South Korean celebration after their victory in the recent battle. They are informed that UN Forces had successfully landed at Incheon. While the soldier's yell and celebrate waves of jet fighters fly over head. You can clearly see the swept wing design of the US F-86 Sabre, only the F-86 was not sent to Korea until December 1950. The landing at Incheon took place in September, 1950.

---

Quotes

Jin-tae: [pulls out Jin-seok's pen that he lost] I found this in the fire. I've been holding onto this for you.
Jin-seok: Give it to me... when I see you again.

---

Connections

References Saving Private Ryan (1998)

User Reviews

Impressive war film from Korea

I'm not a big fan of war films, unless the war in question was at least a couple hundred years ago or somewhere in the future, or the stars - but I did enjoy SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, if "enjoy" is the best word to use for such an experience. Apparently, director Kang Je-Gyu (SHIRI) enjoyed SPR too, as its influence on his Korean war film TAEGUKGI is impossible to deny. SHIRI was the South Korean film that probably did more than any other to bring the country's cinematic new wave into being, and especially into the field of view of the rest of the world at large. Its main accomplishment was, arguably, demonstrating that Korea could make a film that competed head on with Hollywood product, in terms of slick production values but also perhaps in terms of vacuous scripts Although it is rather shallow compared to other Korean films, though, I think it's safe to say that SHIRI had more depth than Hollywood would have injected into a similar story.

TAEGUKGI is his first film since SHIRI, and he's definitely playing the Hollywood game again - tackling Spielberg head on this time. Like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, TAEGUKGI attempts to humanise war by giving us some specific characters to focus on (in this case, two brothers played by Won Bin and Jang Dong-Kun) - and then uses our personal connection to show us that war is actually a dehumanising experience. The film also spares no effort in showing us the ability of bullets, knives and bombs to turn human beings into squishy piles of gore.

There's a fairly obvious political symbolism in the story of two brothers and the effects the Korean war has on their lives and relationship - I don't know if it would be fair to read the ending as a view about the conditions under which Korean reunification might occur though. The ending of the film won't come as much of a surprise, since it's basically foretold at the start with a scene set in the present day. The exact details might be a little unexpected though.

If you like your modern-ish day war films, and specifically if you liked SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, then there's very little doubt that TaeGukGi will impress. It's big, slick and well put together. Since it's not my favourite genre or topic of interest, I can't say I loved it like a brother, but was sufficiently satisfied with it given what it is.