A rare brotherhood movie of late

Eldridge 2022-01-10 08:01:10

A very cumbersome title. The Tai Chi flag represents South Korea, and the fluttering represents the turbulent past of this place; what is displayed on this historical stage is a story of brotherhood of life and death. Although time flies, the battle changes and the stars change, history is gradually forgotten, but the unforgettable brotherhood has not been reduced too much. It is still flying in the wind like the undefeated Tai Chi flag, with unending thoughts.

The publicity momentum of this film in Hong Kong is not weak. Both films are indeed telling the brotherhood on the battlefield, but this time they are not only brothers in siblings, but real brothers who have grown up together. And because of this, there is a sharp contrast between the happy and harmonious life segments at the beginning of the film and the separation of hands and feet on the battlefield afterwards. The director reminded his brother of happy past scenes and appeared on the screen to let the audience recollect with them, feel the contrast between the past and the past, and miss the happy and stable life that has faded away. This set off the prelude to the audience's tears.

From then on, the ruthless war focused on the affectionate and righteous brothers, and developed a relationship of respect and love into an inconsiderate situation. On the one hand, the audience saw how much his brother had changed his personality as a result of the war, but the audience understood that from the beginning to the end, his brother was trying to protect his brother before he tried his best to commit death in exchange for the power to set his brother free. The war gradually made people lose their minds, and accident after accident deepened the contradictions between the brothers. We all regretted that our brother was hated and hated by his most cherished brother; and we would even recognize the tragic fate of the brothers who were crippled and could not be reunited in the end. And can't stop the tears.

The film tells the story in a traditional way. It simply introduces the memories with a pair of old leather shoes, and finally returns to the present with a pen. There is no fancy stylized means of expression, but a solidly structured story is drawn out. I can't find any refutations in the plot. As long as I pay attention, clear lines have been buried in every turning point, such as signing for food and pens connecting the beginning to the end are all very clear.

In terms of photography, the realistic manual battlefield follow-up may make me dazzled, but it makes me more deeply feel the unpredictable and perilous battlefield. I often blasted bombs when the soldiers were eating and resting, which made me feel horrified subconsciously. Every time they talked and talked, I had the fear of bombs suddenly. But this method has an advantage. The audience is concentrated all the time like soldiers on the battlefield, will not lose their minds, and will be more involved in the movie. But maybe the director hates war too much. He spent a lot of time depicting the death and injury of the soldier. There are a lot of almost disgusting scenes. Although it is for realism, the same soldier’s severed limb was repeated several times. It is horrible and insufficient in connotation. In the front part of the center, the shots were shot after several bloody shots, which made me look away from it many times. I think it’s enough for the audience to see the heavy casualties on the battlefield, and maybe try to show the cruelty of war from another angle instead of numb and abuse of visual stimuli to influence the audience. This will make the audience’s eyes a little better and reserve more. Space gives the audience's heads to imagine the terrible war.

Finally, although this film is not a detailed documentary of the Korean War, for me, a typical Hong Kong student who has only read a few absurd sentences about the Korean War since middle school, this is exactly the right confession of the social background and the social background of the Korean War. Culture lets me know, on the contrary, if we describe it in more detail, it will only win the resonance of more Koreans and leave us outsiders with a lot of unknowns. The director focused on describing the conflict between two different ideologies and the anti-intellectual extremist killings; both of which resonated with me as a Chinese, because our country has experienced it and may be more powerful than this. Contradictory struggle.


After watching this movie, I once again hated the ugly corruption that politics gives those in power to manipulate people to numb struggle. Towards the end of the film, we will see that we have changed the opponent and suddenly can turn the gun and shoot back to our side. This seems absurd, but this is actually a sharp irony because of the civil war in a country. It has always been so absurd.

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Extended Reading
  • Philip 2022-03-23 09:02:43

    classic and shocking

  • Demarco 2022-04-24 07:01:17

    A family with no beliefs and no stand. . . Anyone can kill for the sake of their relatives, and they can sign anything for the sake of eating, but the reaction of others is sorry for you. In short, the whole world owes you. . . The plot is too ridiculous, too sensational, there are no tactics on the battlefield, and the bloody scenes are average. I don't see the good.

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War quotes

  • Jin-tae: [pulls out Jin-seok's pen that he lost] I found this in the fire. I've been holding onto this for you.

    Jin-seok: Give it to me... when I see you again.

  • Jin-seok: I wish this was all just a dream. I want to wake up in my bed, and over breakfast, I'd tell you that I had a strange dream. Then I would go to school, and you and mom would go to work.