Joint Security Area (2000)

In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 ... See full summary »

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Seong-san Jeong, Hyun-seok Kim

Stars:

Yeong-ae Lee, Byung-Hun Lee, Kang-ho Song

14 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Yeong-ae Lee	...	Maj. Sophie E. Jean
Byung-Hun Lee	...	Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok
Kang-ho Song	...	Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil
Tae-woo Kim	...	Nam Sung-shik
Ha-kyun Shin	...	Jeong Woo-jin
Herbert Ulrich	...	Swedish soldier
Christoph Hofrichter	...	Maj. Gen. Bruno Botta
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Micara Adriana
Gallego Alberto
Ahmedov Ayder
Cannon Greg Courtney
Ju-bong Gi	...	General Pyo
Isaac Green
Kwang-il Kim	...	Civil Servant #3
Myoeng-su Kim	...	Top Ranking Officer Choi

Storyline

In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 remaining rounds in the assassin's magazine, amount to 16 cartridges for a gun that should normally hold 15. The investigating Swiss/Swedish team from the neutral countries overseeing the DMZ suspects that another, unknown party was involved - all of which points to some sort of cover up. The truth is much simpler and much more tragic.

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Plot Keywords:

korean demilitarised zone | north south korea divide | soldier | korea | neutral nation | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Myung Film

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean English German

Release Date:

9 September 2000 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area

Filming Locations:

Asan, Choongchungnamdo, South Korea

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$124,071

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Intz.com, KTB Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Quentin Tarantino considers this one of the top 20 films made since 1992.

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Goofs

The moment before Sgt. Lee shoots Sgt. Oh in the shoulder you can clearly see the squib device underneath his uniform.

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Quotes

Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil: Your shadow is over the line. Watch it!

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Connections

References Hour of the Wolf (1968)

User Reviews

One of the best Korean movies in my life.

When my friends forced me to see this movie with them, I really didn't know what to expect. Raving reviews bursted out everywhere that no Korean movies would be better than this one. Nevertheless, I was hesitant to go to cinema. I insisted that I am not in the mood watching serious movie.

It was finally started, I found myself laughed out to tears through the movie. It's supposed to be a serious movie, but not at all. It was a really inspiring one which is more worth than one thousand times Reunite demonstration.

Of course this movie is not a perfect one. If you look through the movie carefully to find plot holes, there are so many. At first Joint security area is not such a remiss place as it portrayed. And there aren't any certain explains why two lead south soldiers shot one north soldier dead who once considered to be their best friend and brother.

One more thing, I could hardly understand why two south soldiers ended up like that. Well, These some hurts the greatness of this film.

The most powerful scene was the last scene. It was the best of all. I was extremely touched by only one that scene. That picture explains everything that the director might have wanted to say.

Don't miss this one. Even though you are not a Korean, I bet you would understand the air of this film, and could laugh together, and could touched together.