| 首頁 Home | 電影 Films | 評論 Opinions | 戲院 Cinemas | 資訊 Information | 網站地圖 Site Map

首頁 -> 評論 -> 新片評論 ->
Home -> Opinions -> Current Film Reviews ->

The film's Chinese title corresponds to its Korean title which in the presence of the national flag in a visualized motif at the beginning sequence of the story. It is all about brotherhood, revealed in flashback, between 2 members of a Korean family during a politically unstable period (1950s) in Korea.

The media compares the battle scenes of the film with those from "Saving Private Ryan" (Dir: Steven Spielberg, 1998) and this is used as one of the means of propaganda of the film distributor in Hong Kong. In fact the battle scenes of Taegukgi has only momentum in images (the repeated scenes of flying rocks under explosion) but not tension whereas those from "Saving Private Ryan" are more effective in generating tension (hence suspense) to the viewer (gun shown in mise-en-scene in high angle framing POV shots of enemies).

The film comes with an explicit theme on the devastation of the Korean civil war on families and human lives. Director Kong Je-gyu adopts 2 analogies in expounding the theme: (1) the breaking up of the brothers, Jin-tae (Jan Dong-gun) and Jin-seok (Won Bin), which is ontologically inherent in the story's main line and (2) the compelled fighting among the captured soldiers by Jin-tae's troop, which is embraced in a plot in the middle sequence. The many terrifying battle scenes function to reinforce visually and emotionally the tragic repercussions of the war.

Narrative wise, the majority of the plots focuses on the gradual change of Jin-tae from a shoe craftsman to a cool warrior, all behind his motive to exchange for the repatriation of his younger brother from the military service. However, the story is a bit dramatic and not persuasive enough in depicting Jin-tae's change from a South Korean private to a field commander of the enemy in the second half of the film.

On the whole, the grand and cluttered mise-en-scenes, the detailed depiction on the emotional (and behavioural) transition of the protagonists and the thematic loading render the film a good one.

註：本評論純屬影評作者個人意見，並不代表本網立場。
Note: This views presented in this review is solely the views of the critic who wrote it and do not represent the stance of our website.

相關連結 Related Links

• 最近公影電影 Recent, Current, and Upcoming Films