Time now once again,
to dive into the world of movies.
Sometimes the stories told are too far out, or just uncomfortably real... but we just can't get enough!

Thanks for tuning in all you film buffs out there!
This is Daniel Choy's Flixology. a weekly review or preview of the big pictures.

BG: 왜 - 마루

Today's film was an eye opener for me back in 2000 when I returned to Korea for the first time in 15 years.

I was a huge skeptic of Korean movies, especially if it involved political themes.

But this one movie was so well made, that I was proud of a film that could excite, entertain and educate movie goers around the world about the history and the current circumstances of the two Koreas.

The movie is JSA or Joint Security Area.

The film begins with a shooting incident in the DMZ or the Demilitarized Zone, the only link between the North and South Koreas.

Two North Korean soldiers are killed, and an injured South Korean soldier on border patrol duty, played by Lee Byung-hun is the shooter.

A special investigation is conducted by Swedish and Swiss investigators
from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission

Something necessary to ensure that the incident does not erupt
into a serious conflict.


The mission is led by a Swiss Army Major played by Lee Young-ae.
Her mother is Swiss and her father is Korean.
And it is her first time in Korea.

She talks to the North Korean survivor of the incident, played by Song Gang-ho and also to Lee Byung-hun's character.

But the two Koreas have contradicting accounts of events.

The South Korean soldier says he was knocked out and kidnapped
and had to shoot himself out.

Song's character says the South Korean barged into the North's border house and started shooting.

The music played in it plays a big role in setting a great ambience.

Here's a classic song usually played when a close friend is about to serve his mandatory military service in Korea.

Song Break: 이등병의 편지 - 김광석

After further investigation, the Swedish investigator discovers that the plot thickens.

16 bullet wounds from a North Korean victim, when the South Korean's pistol can load only 15 rounds.
Evidence that someone else was involved.

More evidence indicate these soldiers from different sides may have been friends.

BG: 하룻밤 - 한 대수

The movie trails back to how the friendship between the two sides started.

As their friendship blossoms, they discover that neither sides are
the monsters that their military education has warned them about.

But then what happened?

This is one movie that you really have to watch to experience all it has to offer.

The movie is not entirely a murder-mystery.
Like I mentioned early on, by the end, viewers are reminded of the painful and ironic state of a nation divided in two.

In 2009, director Quentin Tarantino named the film as one of his twenty favorite films since 1992.

A DVD of the movie was presented to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-II by South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun during the Korean summit in October 2007.

Two more reasons why this movie ranks as one of my all time greatest Korean flicks.

It also helped propel the actors careers, especially Lee Byung-hun and Shan Ha-gyun.

I leave you with a song by a Korean rock legend that gets mentioned many times in the movie.

Song Break: 하루아침 - 한대수