Tae Guk Gi - The Brotherhood of War

[daisho2004]

You know I had started a thread on this movie a few years ago but when the site got an overhaul it must've been deleted. This is another Fantastic movie. I found a Guy on eBay who has a Blu-Ray HK export of this movie. I was hoping it would get a US Blu-Ray release but it hasn't.

This is a review from someone off of Amazon.com and I think its a great review of this movie.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful, Gripping, Epic Film about the Madness of War February 21, 2005

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

TAE GUK GI (literally translated, is the name of the South Korean Flag) or THE BROTHERHOOD OF WAR is one of the most consistently moving, desperately realistic, harrowingly poignant films about war in the international motion picture repertoire. While many directors and writers have prolifically produced films about the Civil War in the US, World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War, and other wars from other countries, few have touched on the Korean War. Director Kang Je-gyu corrects that omission with this dazzling epic and in doing so, he elects to make the story of that war a tale of two brothers (a metaphor for the North vs. South Korean conflict ignited by the fires of communism versus capitalism).

Jin-tae (the strikingly handsome and fine actor Jang Dong-gun) shines shoes and works at small jobs to encourage his younger brother Jin-seok (the refined and delicate actor Won Bin) to study to go to college to be the saviour of their poor family. The degree of camaraderie of these two brothers is some of the most touchingly portrayed on film. The joy of this South Korean family fills the screen for the first moments of the film, only to change abruptly on June 25, 1950 when suddenly the North Koreans attack at the 38th parallel, forcing communism and death down the throats of the South Koreans. Jin-tae realizes he must join the South Korean army to protect his mistakenly conscripted brother from the horrors of war.

The remainder of the film explores the progress of this war with great detail, leaving no battle untold and visually depicting the atrocities of war more brutally than any other film of this genre. But overriding the visuals of the war is the relationship of the two brothers, their reliance one each other, and the gradual transformation of Jin-tae into a well-trained soldier bent on being a hero to gain medals, for in doing so, he is assured that the younger, worthier Jin-seok can return home to safety.

The poison of war infects Jin-tae's personality and he becomes obsessed with killing, a fact that eventually frightens Jin-seok into believing that his brother's criteria have changed for the worse. The two are split, Jin-seok is mistakenly taken captive as a 'communist sympathizer' when he briefly returns to his home, and when Jin-tae feels he has lost not only his brother's love but that his brother is dead, Jin-tae's rage drives him to join the ranks of the North Koreans.

How the truth of the misinformation that always accompanies war tears at the bond of the brothers is finally resolved in a way that explains the futility and madness of war as clearly as has been captured on film. Credit Director writer Kang Je-gyu and his extraordinary cast and crew with not only making us understand the elusive history of the Korean War, but also the universal lessons that we still fail to recall whenever conflicts merge into warheads.

The DVD is accompanied by a separate disc that includes the 'making of the film' and a lot of the history of the Korean War by scholars and veterans of that war. This is a monumental achievement that deserves as wide attention internationally as it gained upon its release in South Korea in 2004. A tough, yet ultimately tender film, with the sanctity of familial love at its roots. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, February 2005