Silmido (film)

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Movie
German title Silmido
Original title Silmido ( 실미도 )
Country of production South Korea
original language Korean
Publishing year 2003
length 135 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Kang Woo-suk
script Kim Hie-jae
production Kang Woo-suk ,
Jonathan Kim ,
Thomas Leong
music Han Jae-kwon
camera Kim Sung-bok
occupation

Silmido (alternative title: 684 - A unit fights for its life ) is a South Korean film by director Kang Woo-suk from 2003. The film was extremely successful, with 3.7 million Koreans seen in the first two weeks alone. With over 10 million moviegoers in South Korea, the film had more viewers than the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Titanic . To this day, it is considered to be one of the most successful films in South Korea.

action

In 1968 a group of prisoners sentenced to death is brought to the island of Silmido and faced with the decision to either fight for South Korea or to die. The plan is to form a secret special unit out of the men to carry out an assassination attempt on the North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung . The prisoners choose to fight for South Korea and go through a tough training. Shortly before they are supposed to carry out their assignment, however, they are ordered back because the political situation has changed and the government in South Korea no longer wants to hear about an attack. The trained men are now a risk and should now be killed by their own trainers. The men, however, realize that they should be eliminated, beat the trainers and kill them. They learn from the first lieutenant who trained them that in reality they no longer exist, that their data has been deleted and that, despite the promise to be free after a successful mission and to be able to return to their normal life, they will be killed .

The survivors go to mainland South Korea and kidnap a bus that is taking them to Seoul . They are considered "heavily armed communists" and orders are given to eliminate them. They break through several roadblocks, some are killed or seriously injured, until they can finally be stopped by further roadblocks. They release the civilians who are still on the bus, then they take their hand grenades and blow themselves up.

Film and historical facts

The film is inspired by real events, but partly deviates from reality. The fact is that the island of Silmido really exists and that a special unit was trained on it, which had the aim of killing Kim Il-sung . It was called Unit 684 , based on the unit's founding date, April 1968. After three years of hard training, in which some people died, the government decided to call off the operation and instead find a peaceful solution. In contrast to the film, the soldiers of the special unit were not prisoners sentenced to death, but civilians.

DVD release

The film, which never came into German cinemas, was released in two versions on July 19, 2007: As a single DVD and a 2-disc special edition in a metal pack. Both versions contain the original language Korean and a German soundtrack. In contrast to the single DVD, the Special Edition contains over two hours of bonus material, including a detailed making-of and a documentary on the differences between film and reality.

In 2013 the film was released again under the title 684 - A unit fights for its life .

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