The amazing "JSA Joint Security Area"

Silas 2022-01-12 08:02:08

Yugoslavian director Kusturica has such a line in his masterpiece "Underground": "Brothers kill, this is called war", "JSA Common Security Area" once again let us face such a cruel and realistic situation.

The four male protagonists, two South Korean soldiers and two North Korean soldiers, turned from hostile relationships to friends. This film uses the perspectives of two characters to describe the incident in Panmunjom, on the border of South and North Korea, where two North Korean officers and soldiers were found to be shot to death, thereby showing the truth and lies of the political struggle.

This touching work pays homage to Kurosawa Akira's "Rashomon", and is hailed as one of the most exciting movies in Korea, and it is almost impeccable in technique. Park Chan Wook's film narrative language has reached a level of proficiency. His rigorous thinking logic and tense narrative skills are brilliantly displayed in this film and later in "Old Boy].

The film’s narrative structure is the most impressive.

The whole story begins with a sensitive murder case. It uses the heroine's investigation as the main line throughout the film, and uses the memories of the two victims in the case to promote the development of the plot. At this moment, the statements of the North and the South are wrong, but who is the real victim and what is the truth of the matter?
The mystery finally came to light with the heroine's efforts. However, there is no real murderer behind the concealed facts, but there is a sad story of a nation.

Park Chan Wook is a master of storytelling. From this film to "Old Boy", his films are always full of suspense. This is also one of the magic weapons of his fascinating works. But what is commendable is that he is not purely suspenseful for creating suspense, nor is he deliberately showing off suspense. Behind the hidden facts, there are always unspeakable difficulties and sad helplessness.

The film's portrayal of the protagonist is quite dramatic.
Initially, we learned from the heroine's profile investigation of the hero Sshok. His comrades in arms thought that Sixiaogu hated the north: "He once smashed the glass windows of the northern outpost, and he once removed the mines he stepped on alone."
However, the facts are just the opposite. Although these have actually happened and are not fabricated, they are versions of the facts that have been misinterpreted. And these side misunderstandings have just completed the foreshadowing of the following. Because later we obviously learned that Sixiaogu smashed the glass to send a letter to the northern sergeant Joan Bilu, and that the landmine he stepped on was actually removed by Joan Bilu's help. Even these things contributed to their friendship with each other.

This kind of wonderful foreshadowing is everywhere in the film.

Park Chan Wook's meticulous engraving of details is extremely realistic, without any flaws or loopholes at all.

Because the film is the memory of the protagonist, there must be a deviation between the intention and the inadvertent existence of the fact. In the truth of Sixiaogu's final sincere recollection, Park Chan-wook clearly set a logical error for the audience. Sixiaogu believed that it was his comrade Songxi who killed Ugin, and he shook so that a bullet only hit Ugin's finger. But in fact, we saw that after being "headshot" and dead, Ugin shot a bullet at him clearly "surreal". In other words, Songxi did not shoot Wujin to death at that time, in fact it was Songxi who hit Wujin's finger, and after that, it was Sixiaogu who shot Ujin in the head and killed him. At the end of the film, Qiong Bilu accidentally corrects Sixiaogu's memory error. Although Sixiaogu committed suicide by drinking a bomb, he was morally reasonable and deserved.

Let's take a look at the ending of the four male protagonists: In the
end, Sixiaogu and Wujin died, Songxi was paralyzed, and Qiongbilu lived strong. In fact, the fate sanctions they endured are equivalent to their behavior (sin) that night. Park Chan Wook's arrangements for their respective destinies once again showed the color of drama.
We return to the scene of the accident. In the entire conflict, only Qiong Bilu calmly judged, only he did not draw his gun at his friend, and the other three betrayed their friendship more or less. Wu Jin drew his gun to his friend, which was the cause of his death. Sixiaogu shot Ujin to death, and even hooked the trigger to Qiongbilu (fortunately the pistol was malfunctioning at this moment), so he was also the most ashamed of the four. Although Song Xi was the fuse of this accident, it did not completely betray the friendship. Wu Jin was not benevolent, and he was not righteous. He shot Wu Jin's body continuously because of a mental loss of control. Moreover, he did not shoot at Jonbilu (he wants to be awake than Shogu at this point). So his end is paralysis, not death.
In addition to the four victims, Park Chan-wook also focused on portraying the character of Swiss Shao Zuo Su Fei, and even gave her a special political background. It was her intervention that made the truth of this sad story come to light. This is because before the North and South Koreas defend their respective political interests and the nameless neutral supervision committee, such a story cannot be seen.

The scene at the end of the film changed from dynamic to quiet, from color to black and white, and he ended with the photo of the four protagonists taken together by the tourists accidentally. He permanently fixed the friendship of the four soldiers on the film.
In terms of details, the film also has many remarkable features. For example, the plot depicting the "reunion" of two pairs of soldiers is very humorous, interesting and very human. The friendly description of North Korean soldiers is even more contrary to the usual ugly view of South Korean movies-Song Kangho, who plays the North Korean officer in the play, is even friendlier than the two South Korean soldiers (Song Kangho's brilliance is the brightest in this film).
In addition, when describing the group photo, the South Korean soldier in charge of taking the photo, Nam Sung-sik, deliberately covered the portrait of the North Korean political leader in the house, also expressing that subtle emotion.

Park Chan Wook’s landmark work in the history of Korean film has made great breakthroughs in both art and commerce, and it has also proven his outstanding directorship for the first time.

Lee Byung Hyun, who played the role of South Korean soldier Lee Shou Hyuk, won the 1992 KBS Acting Award "Newcomer Award", the KBS Acting Award "Best Acting Award" in 1993 and 1995, the 1995 Television Art Award "Actual Performance Award", and the 1996 Golden Filming Award "Newcomer Award" Leading Actor Award”, Big Bell Award “New Actor Award”, White Art Award “Male Acting Award”. I also love him-"Bungee Jumping of Love" (2001), "Poisoning" (2002), "Sweet Life" (2005).

Song Kangho, who played the role of North Korean sergeant Wu Jingbi, won the 2000 Busan Film Critics Association "Best Actor Award", Korea Daejong Award "Best Newcomer Award", and "Best Actor Award" at the 3rd French Duville Asian Film Festival. "Most Popular Actor Award" in South Korea in 2000, and "Best Actor Award" in Korea's Daejong Awards in 2001. I like his "The Spies of Life and Death" (1999) the most.

The new Korean actress Lee Young-ae, who plays the role of a special investigator for a neutral country, has the reputation of "Korea Brigitte Lin" and has performed in "First Kiss" (1998), "Gift" (2001), and directed "August Christmas" "Spring Passes" directed by Xu Qinhao. For a long time, Li Yingai has followed the line of innocent beauty. In "JSA Common Security Area", becoming a shrewd and capable female officer is also a major selling point of the film.

In terms of film technology, "JSA Joint Security Area" is the first film in Korean film history to use Hollywood-style Super 35mm. Because this format widens the visibility of the screen, increases the depth of field, and closes to full-screen playback, the visual images are more realistic.

"Joint Security Area"
released: 2000
Starring: Lee Byung-hyun, Lee Young-ae, Song Kanghao, Shen Ha Kyun

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Extended Reading
  • Eric 2022-03-15 09:01:05

    It's the same root, so why is it too anxious?

  • Aaliyah 2022-03-18 09:01:05

    The inside story of an incident on the border between North Korea and South Korea-the flash of humanity behind politics and war

Joint Security Area quotes

  • Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok: Hey Assholes! You just gonna leave me here?

    Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil: You told us to go.

    Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok: I said don't come closer, when did I say to leave, you fuckers!

  • Maj. Gen. Bruno Botta: You haven't learned much about Panmunjom yet. Here, the peace is preserved by hiding the truth. What they both really want is that this investigation proves nothing after all.