Call me a sentimental fool but The Battle of Jangsari is one of those war movies that makes me gasp then cry. Co-directors Kim Tae-yong and Kwak Kyung-taek — and their team of screenwriters who've divided the English- and Korean-speaking dialogue — trot out familiar types: the wild outcast (Kim Seong-cheol), the sensitive leader (Kim Min-kyu), the big-hearted ox (Jang Ji-gun), and the quiet one (Lee Ho-jung) with a secret you'll guess early on. But then they ratchet up our sympathy by making these characters teens without training. This is a war pic about earnest young soldiers who are largely expendable, a troop of rosy-cheeked recruits who are treated like cannon fodder, a secondary concern, collateral. Actually, the behind-the-scenes talent didn't make that happen. The Battle of Jangsari is based on a true story; in the Korean War, over 700 real high school students really were recruited, uniformed, armed then sent on this Pyrrhic mission before they'd even finished boot camp.
Their easily avoidable predicament makes the adults a despicable lot. Imagine sacrificing a high school as a diversionary tactic! The Korean general (Myeong Gye-nam) behind the operation is loathsome; the smooth-talking American general (George Eads) doesn't come across much better. He just a better bullshitter. There are two adults who truly rise to the occasion. One is a self-sacrificing soldier (Kim In-kwon) who knows they've no business puttings these kids' lives on the line so he keeps putting himself in harm's way. The other is a stylish reporter (Megan Fox) for the New York Herald-Tribune. She's the one who advocates against their deployment and pesters about their rescue; she's the one who recognizes their collective tragedy even before it's begun. She also looks fabulous, as if she'd miraculously walked out of a noir film from the early '50s. I think both sides of the war could agree on that.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment