Brotherhood - When brothers have to shoot each other

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Movie
German title Brotherhood - When brothers have to shoot each other
Original title 태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo)
Country of production South Korea
original language Korean
Publishing year 2004
length 143 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Kang Je-gyu
script Kim Sang-dong
production Choi Jin-hwa ,
Kim Woo-taek
music Lee Dong-jun
camera Hong Kyung-pyo
cut Park Gok-jee
occupation

Brotherhood - When Brothers Must Shoot Each Other (Korean title: 태극기 휘날리며, Taegeukgi hwinalrimyeo , also Taegukgi for short ) is a 2004 South Korean film directed by Kang Je-gyu . The film is about two brothers who take part in the Korean War and at times face each other in combat. The title of the film "Taegeukgi" (Taegeuk = flag) is both the name for the pre-war flag of Korea and for today's flag of South Korea .

action

overview

The plot begins in the modern day and shows an old man with his granddaughter who receives a call from the army. Little by little, the viewer learns that it is Lee Jin-seok who, after many decades, is still looking for his older brother Lee Jin-tae. Both brothers lived in South Korea and were tragically separated. The eventful past of the two brothers is told in a flashback .

Beginning

Lee Jin-seok, the younger of the two, was just 18 years old, and the path to university was predetermined for him . Lee Jin-tae worked as a shoe shiner to support the family with the sick mother after the death of the father and to enable the little brother to attend school. In June 1950, North Korean troops attack the south, the Korean War breaks out and the family flees south. Lee Jin-seok is forcibly recruited by South Korean soldiers in a market square. Lee Jin-tae tries to free his brother and is also forced into military service . Both are brought to the front , Lee Jin-tae ensures that both are assigned to the same company so that he can protect his little brother.

The first few weeks

The film depicts the desperate situation of the South Korean armed forces, which despite American support are pushed further and further south of the country until they were finally enclosed around the city of Busan . Here the brothers experience everyday life at the front under heavy fire from enemy artillery and the atrocities of trench warfare . The older brother Lee Jin-tae now finds a way to bring his brother home. He makes a deal with his next officer that Lee Jin-seok can go home if Jin-tae does heroic deeds. That is why he now always volunteers when it comes to dangerous missions. With a lot of luck, but also with a lot of courage, he survived some dangerous situations and developed more and more into a leader in his unit. This is where tensions in the fraternal relationship become apparent for the first time when Lee Jin-tae tries to keep his brother out of the ensuing battles at all costs. Because of special services he becomes a sergeant promoted and receives the Medal of Honor of the then South Korean president .

Change in the course of the war

The situation of the South Koreans only changes with the massive intervention of the Americans . The film now deals with the changed situation and the retreat of the North Korean Army and shows the further changes of Lee Jin-tae, who does not spare his own life and that of his comrades during daring missions, which he did in one case of Lee Jin-seok is also accused. The difficult situation of the guerrilla war and the constant threat from partisans and booby traps are causing Lee Jin-tae to become increasingly bitter. He also mercilessly shoots unarmed prisoners of war or lets them fight each other to the death for food. The brothers continue to alienate each other.

The Chinese

The South Korean troops are now standing at Yalu and want to destroy the last parts of the enemy forces when the Chinese army intervenes and all allies have to withdraw. During the retreat, the brothers finally fall apart when Lee Jin-tae shoots a mutual friend from earlier times. When the unit is near the family's old home, Lee Jin-seok decides to leave the company without permission so that he can visit the sick mother. Once there, he witnessed how the secret service arrested Kim Young-shin, his older brother's fiancée, for alleged communist activities and wanted to shoot him. He tries to prevent this at gunpoint. Lee Jin-tae, who happens to be nearby, also uses his weapon. There is a shooting, in the course of which Kim Young-shin is shot and dies in the arms of her fiancé.

The two brothers are arrested, Lee Jin-tae is taken to the command officer of his unit and his younger brother is thrown into the nearby army prison. Lee Jin-tae asks the officer to let his younger brother go home, which he angrily refuses. During the course of this conversation, an enemy shell accidentally hits the ground and everyone is knocked down. Lee Jin-tae recognizes his chance and wants to force the officer at gunpoint to give the order to release the prisoners on the radio. But this gives the order " Burn the prisoners ", whereupon the soldiers begin to set fire to the prison. Lee Jin-tae rushes there, but the building is already ablaze. Later he finds some of his brother's personal items in the smoking ruins and therefore suspects that he is dead.

The entire unit is captured and marched into a prisoner of war camp . On the way there, Lee Jin-tae grabs a stone and kills the officer who gave the order to burn the prison.

The flag unit

But Lee Jin-seok survived. Some time goes by and he is about to be released from the army. It is known that Lee Jin-tae joined the opposing North Korean army, probably out of frustration that the South Koreans - the country he had fought for up to then - murdered his fiancée and his younger brother. He doesn't know Lee Jin-seok is okay. The North Korean army has taken in the former hero of the South Koreans, he now leads the infamous flag unit , an ideologically oriented elite unit of North Korea.

Lee Jin-seok is very indifferent to his brother. Nevertheless, he travels to the front, maybe to see him again and to bring him back. When he gets there, he realizes that he should only talk over the radio . But he wants to see his brother personally and on the eve of the last battle sets out on his own to look for him. He meets North Korean units to which he surrenders. They consider him a spy and want to send him for interrogation . On the way there, the allied attack begins and he is able to escape his guards in the turmoil. In the midst of the fighting, he searches for the flag unit because he suspects his brother is there. When the battle reaches its bloody climax, he finds it - the flag unit is just beginning an attack against the advancing South Koreans. A man-to-man fight begins. Lee Jin-seok finds his brother, but he doesn't recognize him. He even tries to kill the supposedly enemy soldier. The two brothers start a fist fight. When it is almost too late, Lee Jin-tae comes to his senses and recognizes his younger brother. This tries to get him out of the danger zone. But Lee Jin-tae is now wounded and knows that it is too late to save him. He persuades his younger brother to flee and promises to surrender so that he can return to his family after the war. But when his little brother finally flees, Lee Jin-tae decides to open fire on the advancing troops in order to give his escaping brother better opportunities. Lee Jin-tae is shot dead, but his brother survives.

After the war, Lee Jin-seok returns to his family and begins his studies. Decades later, the remains of his brother are found on the battlefield, and he travels to the place where his brother died and can now mourn his brother.

background

The film was shot exclusively on locations in South Korea , including locations in Seoul , Busan , Jeonju and Kwangju . Filming began on 10 February 2003 and ended on 31 October 2003. The budget of the film is on 12.8 million US dollar appreciated. The film premiered on February 3, 2004 in Seoul. It was screened on May 13, 2004 at the Cannes International Film Festival and on August 21, 2004 at the Copenhagen International Film Festival . The DVD release in the USA took place on February 15, 2005. In Germany, the film was shown for the first time on October 21, 2005 at the Asia Filmfest in Munich , before it was shown in selected cinemas on June 29, 2006. On the opening weekend, the US grossed more than 360,000 US dollars, with total US revenues exceeding 1.1 million US dollars. The film became one of the most successful films in South Korea with 11.5 million admissions. In 2006, it was surpassed by The King and the Clown , the first film to attract more than 12 million moviegoers in South Korea. The production was one of four Korean films screened at the 2006 Fajr International Film Festival in Iran .

To recreate the fight for Doo-Mil-Ryung, 15,000 rounds of ammunition, 3,000 special effects and 500 stunt experts were required. The focus of the fighting was placed on fist fights between the soldiers, for which they were specially trained. The shooting of the fighting lasted three weeks, during which around 50 minor accidents occurred every day, but no major accidents.

Nominations and Awards

At the Blue Dragon Award 2004, Jang Dong-gun was honored for best actor, Hong Kyung-pyo for best camera work and Choi Kyeong-hie for best editing. At the Grand Bell Awards that year Lee Taekyu and Kim Suk-won were awarded for best sound effects and Shin Bo-kyeong for best director, while Hong Kyung-pyo received another award for best cinematography. At the Political Film Society Awards 2005 the film was nominated in the " Exposé " category, while it was awarded in the " Peace " category. In the same year, director Kang Je-gyu won prizes for best director and best film at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival .

The film was South Korea's entry for a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the 2005 Academy Awards , but was not nominated.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ a b c Budget and box office results according to the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ a b c d Start dates according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ a b c d e background information according to the Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ a b c d nominations and awards according to the Internet Movie Database

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