1. The opening
video begins with the famous Panmunjom negotiation. Our descendants have a tendency to classify history as a few simple events, because we are lazy to think. But when it comes to the details, it is so complicated. The two belligerents are in a deadlock just because of how to divide the 38th line. Especially when it comes to a highland (that is, a mountain), it has changed ownership several times. That mountain is the so-called dignity of the military groups of all sides, piled up with the corpses of bloody ordinary soldiers. This is also a microcosm of the Korean War. In the end, the warring soldiers had forgotten why they fought. Only the order from above allowed them to go up in the face of difficulties, knowing that it was a way of no return, and in a while, they would be beaten down.
At this time, the South Korean soldiers played by Shin Ha Kyun (Shin) received an order from their superiors to go to the high ground to investigate an incident of Korean internal spies. Because the South Korean side suspected that its soldiers might have liaison with North Korea. In this way, the lens is switched to the focus of the film, the high ground.
2. Investigation
When Shin came to the high ground, he saw a group of South Korean soldiers who looked desperate. Among them, there are schizophrenic soldiers, high-ranking officials who use drugs to survive, and a few homeless children. In this way, the director wants to describe who bears the cost of the war. At the banquet welcoming Shen's arrival (I don't know if it counts as a banquet), the group of soldiers drank heartily while holding water as wine. I don't know what it is to forget. Here, Shen also met Gao Xiu (Gao), a long-lost friend. He Gao was captured a few years ago by North Korean soldiers. At that time, the war had just started, and Gao was still a young student, full of fear of war. When the North Korean officers and soldiers played by Liu Chenglong (Ryu) asked them "Do you know why you are so vulnerable?", they were timid and unable to answer. At this time, Liu looked at a group of Korean prisoners with his haughty eyes, and proudly said, "Because you don't know why you are fighting." And now Gao has become a war machine. This can be seen from the scenes of the subsequent war. After several patrols and ambushes, Gao is a master of art who is bold and fearless. I think that's because, even in the war, many people have the hope of going home, and this hope has become a fear of death. Gao has no hope of going home. Even though there was a moment of hope afterwards, but the order from above dragged them back to reality. Moreover, we must know that Gao repeatedly tortured with such hopes and disillusionment. Because, as can be seen from their lines, it is not once said that the war is about to cease. However, the news of the armistice is always permeating, but it is always indefinitely, and this stalemate seems to them to be long-lasting and endless.
Three, the truth is revealed
As they entered and exited the front line, Shen discovered that this group of wilted soldiers was not like that, but they were going forward bravely on the battlefield. Because people who have no hope are not afraid of death, or they are looking forward to an end, but they use death. Shen finally discovered that fornication did exist, and Gao was among them. And this kind of fornication is also reasonable. When the South Korean soldiers who had attacked were beaten down, they knew that they would come up in a few days, so they put their personal belongings (including food) in wooden boxes and buried them on the ground. A few days later, after the South Korean soldiers attacked, when they opened the box, they found a pile of stinking shit and a letter left. It was left in the language of the North Korean soldiers, saying those things. After we have consumed the food, we will save this pile for you to enjoy. The South Korean soldiers who were not angry also wanted to retaliate. After so going back and forth, there were some letters that the North Korean soldiers entrusted the South Korean soldiers to send to their parents and relatives in South Korea. After that, South Korean soldiers also asked North Korean soldiers to send letters. Of course, if you ask someone to do things, you also have to say something. They gave each other some gifts, food, and spirits.
Although they have never met each other, through this way of communicating, in the cruel battlefield, a rare and precious friendship blooms. However, the battle is still to be fought. This is the appearance of the battlefield deformity scene. When the upper order came down, he still had to fight with the bayonet. You die or die, but after hitting it up, reading the letters left by the enemy's friends, he laughed. People's friendship and mutual love are so simple, but her destruction is so cruel.
4. Death and the end of the
war There will eventually be death. In the battles, both you and me have slowly fallen. Officer Liu, who had left his rhetoric, was also on this high ground, losing the reason for the war. In this dayless day of killing each other, a ray of light finally appeared, and it was about to truce. The Korean and Korean soldiers were overjoyed and were finally able to go home. However, there are still 24 hours before the truce, and the territory after 24 hours is the final dividing line. The leaders of both North Korea and South Korea issued the same order without any suspense. Before the moment of truce, they still have to fight. The person who gave the order signed a few bad names at the table without any effort, but the ordinary soldiers were dragged back to reality again. It turns out that going home is not that simple.
In the final shot, the highlands, the smoke filled with gunpowder, and the soldiers from North Korea and South Korea met hand in hand. Those who communicated with each other, those brothers who had used letters to ask each other warmly, died under each other's swords and guns.
In a war, who is the winner, let history judge. However, for these ordinary young people, in their opinion, it may be difficult to draw conclusions based on victory or defeat in war.
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