Well-received, but disappointing. Award-bait (cinematic & humanitarian) from iconic Korean writer/director Park Chan-wook plays like an allegory on the futility-of-war. Odd, as it takes place in the on-going Cold War between North and South Korea. In a peacefully maintained border area campus, where territorial lines are laid out in tasteful sidewalk pavement styles, a neutral foreign official, with a Korean background, has come to investigate what happened when patrolling soldiers of the South crossed into the wrong DMZ area, nearly triggered a landmine, found themselves in North territory and, after explanations, slowly started to bond with their enemy. Brothers under the uniform? Or just under the skin? The breach in territorial protocol an honest mistake/misstep or a testing provocation? Things seem to be calming down as the soldiers work things out on their own (and share chocolate), but when a superior true-believer officer hits the outpost, suspicions flare up and a gun-happy Mexican Stand-Off erupts. Like a 1960s parable (specifically 1964: more earnest FAIL-SAFE then hip DR. STRANGELOVE), and a big hit in South Korea, it was a career breakthru for Lee Byung-hun as the handsome South Korean soldier. But in trying for timeless verities, Park ends up dated.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Head Juror at this year’s Cannes Fest, Park Chan-wook remains best known for his gross-out thriller OLDBOY/’04. There’s lots more to him, but it’s a good place to start. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/03/oldboy-2004.html
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