Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)

When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.

Director:

Je-kyu Kang (as Je-gyu Kang)

Writers:

Richard Epcar, Ji-hoon Han

Stars:

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

12 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Dong-Gun Jang	...	Jin-tae Lee
Won Bin	...	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:
Jang-Su Bae	...	Noodles guest
Won-hee Cho
Min-sik Choi	...	North Korean Captain
Do-Hee Go	...	Young-Guk Kim
Taek-ha Hwang	...	Platoon Soldier #2

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.

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Plot Keywords:

korean war | 1950s | frontline | firearm | south korean soldier | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic sequences of war violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

To recreate the battle at Doo-Mil-Ryung, the scene required 15,000 bullets, 3,000 extras and 500 stunt experts. Instead of rifles being fired, fist fights were the main focus of the scene and all of the cast were specially trained. The shoot lasted three weeks with about 50 minor accidents a day on average, but the scene was finally wrapped without any major accidents.

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Goofs

In the scene where the South Koreans are retreating from the Chinese, one of the POWs takes a pistol from an injured soldier, shooting him twice. When he shoots the soldier a second time, the sound of the gunshot is out of sync with the slide kicking back (Just before it shows the soldier getting shot, you can clearly see the slide is back, but the gunshot is heard a few seconds later).

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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.

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Alternate Versions

Also released in a directors cut running 148min.8min longer than the US and original version

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Connections

References Saving Private Ryan (1998)

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Soundtracks

Oppaneun punggakjaengi
Written by Kim Song Kyu and Park Yeong Ho
Sung by Park Hyang Rim.

User Reviews

Damning indictment of the cost of war

When North Korea invades the South, two brothers are forcibly drafted into the army. The older of the two, hoping to win a medal and ticket home for his younger brother, begins going on every suicide mission offered. This, however, puts a strain on his relationship with his brother and those in the platoon. Worse the course of the war has several nasty turns waiting for them...

I'm of two minds about this film. Despite the fact this is a graphic example of both the physical and psychic effects of war, the narrative is more than a bit disjointed. The film is loosely connected snapshots of the course of the war, beginning right before the invasion, then several weeks later before jumping about a month at a time to certain key events. I'm sure that had I better grasp of the history of the war I would have understood the events better. I felt lost and wished there had been more explanation. The lack of a narrative that follows all the way from start to finish hurts the film since we're moved a bit too much from place to place and situation to situation

But the course of the war is not the purpose of the film, rather its the relationship between two brothers. How war changes them and everything in and around them except the love they have for each other. Its a bit hokey but its dead on, just ask anyone who's ever loved their sibling unquestioningly. You understand how one brother would spend 50 years trying to find the other.

And then there are the battle scenes which are wonderful and frightening and seem to be the total chaos that war really is. People die horribly and the experience is far from fun.

Is the movie worth seeing?

Yes. Its not perfect but its a kick in the pants.

8 out of 10.

Details

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 USA:

$260,135, 5 September 2004

Gross USA:

$1,111,061

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$76,459,252

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kang Je-Kyu Film Co. Ltd., KD Media, KTB Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min 148 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1