This is a very surprising movie. Some people say that Korean movies are never short of blood, and they are often splattered with blood, but I think this movie is a transcendence of previous Korean war movies.
The charm of movies lies in fantasy and impossibility, so there are many war movie lovers flocking to them, and good war movies are all anti-war. This inherent contradiction is undoubtedly one of the biggest highlights of war movies.
The highland battle is unfolded from the perspective of a military policeman. There was an intelligence leak incident on the front lines of the North and South Korea. As the suspense point of the whole film, it was revealed in the middle of the plot. Some soldiers on both sides communicated with each other through strongholds that repeatedly changed hands during the war. Although it sounds whimsical, it makes sense logically. This new entry point is very novel. This kind of black and humorous collaborating incident shows from the side the impact of the years-long Korean War on ordinary soldiers at the grassroots level, the separation of communication between the North and the South, the struggle for survival and the numbness of humanity. It directly shows the cruelty of war. The characters in the film seem to have an unbearable history. In the long-term war, human nature has become animal nature. In addition to the war, there is more to reflect on the powerlessness and irredeemable sadness of the two Koreas in the great power competition. After the signing of the armistice treaty, what awaited was not peace, but the final battle. This addition is very attractive to me. The two sides fought for the final territory on the highlands. The tacit understanding of mutual exchange in the past was torn up, the illusion of peace and survival was broken, and the cruelty of war jumped into view. The film performs well under this narrative logic.
The disadvantage of the film is that the details of the plot in the film cannot stand up to scrutiny. For example, the repeated occupation of the stronghold by both sides and the love and killing of the sniper girl are actually dramatized; in addition, the scenes of the volunteer war are still not detailed enough. , the charging of the sea of people all over the mountains and plains is an insult to the tactics of light infantry. In the end, the description of the North Korean side is not careful enough to form a relatively complete comparison and contrast. The North Korean side's lack of space prevents the North Korean characters from standing up, and also makes the film lose some highlights.
In my opinion, this film surpasses the previous Korean films in that it explores the war from the goals of the war and the process of the war. Even if it is superficial, it is a breakthrough. At the beginning of the war, the male protagonist was captured by the officers of the Northern Army. The reason why the officers of the Northern Army released the male protagonist was that the male protagonist could contribute to the construction of the country after the reunification. . But at the end of the chapter, the male protagonist and the officer meet in the stronghold. The officer confesses that he is confused about the purpose of the war, and the buried ideal and the original wish of the war have nowhere to be found. This kind of change actually set up anti-war thinking, and the Koreans tried to explore the pain of war from the perspective of a unified Korean nation, which was originally a kind of exploration and development. In addition to condemning the cruelty of the war at a deep level, the director hides more regrets and reflections on the state of confrontation between the two Koreas, which are involved in the world trend, leading to the separation of flesh and blood. Behind it, there is anger at hegemony and national unity. Desire, but in reality, helplessness is the moon in the mirror. For anti-war movies, the helplessness in the mirror is what impresses me most about this movie.
There is no right or wrong in war, any war is a tragedy, and only tragedy.
View more about The Front Line reviews
