Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War ( 2004 ) - DVD

The story begins with the South Korean Army digging up remains at a Korean War battlefield to set up a memorial site. An elderly Korean man is called by the excavation team to confirm the identity of the remains believed to be his brother. As the man prepares to leave, he retrieves a pair of shoes near an old family photo that brings back old memories and brings him to tears.

The brothers are actually Lee Jin-tae (played by Jang Dong-gun), who owns a small shoeshine stand in Seoul, and Lee Jin-seok (played by Won Bin), a bright young student who's at the top of his class and wants to attend college. Jin-tae's fiancee Young-shin (played by Lee Eun-ju) works at his mother's noodle shop; their father is deceased. The family is shown to be very close to one another.

When North Korea invades the country, the family attempts to flee south to join their uncle when Jin-seok is forcibly conscripted into the South Korean army. After a failed attempt to save him, Jin-tae is also drafted into the army. With no prior experience and little training, they are both sent to the crumbling front lines where they witness the horrors of war. After a surprise attack during a meal break in which Jin-seok is injured, Jin-tae becomes all the more determined to send his brother home safely. Jin-tae is told by his commanding officer that if he can earn the Taeguk Cordon of the Order of Military Merit (the highest honour for a South Korean soldier), his brother will be honorably discharged from the army.

To win this medal, Jin-tae willingly volunteers for missions that seem suicidal from sewing land mines in the perimeter which results in the death of a soldier, then single-handedly charging a machine gun nest during a desperate South Korean counterattack. This desperation and courage earns him the title of a hero along with a promotion to the rank of Sergeant (Chungsa in korean), but Jin-seok observes his brother's increasing descent into cold-bloodedness. During the battle of Pyongyang, Jin-tae captures an important North Korean commander alive and is finally awarded with the medal; the operation, however, cost a good friend's life. Jin-seok, who is still unaware of his brother's intentions to save him, starts to question Jin-tae's morality. As the war continues, both brothers witness the aftermath of massacres perpetrated by the retreating North Koreans. Some of the bodies they find are booby trapped, which especially enrages the soldiers. The unit starts killing captured enemy soldiers, including a brothers' close friend that was drafted into the North Korean Army.

During the Communist Chinese offensive, South Korean and U.N. forces are caught off-guard and retreat south in chaos. In a bloody hunt for suspected communists (similar to the real-life events like the Jeju massacre), Jin-tae's fiancée, Young-shin is killed in a mass execution and both brothers are arrested for trying to rescue her. Later, during a Chinese artillery strike, a South Korean security commander who detests Jin-tae orders the place where Jin-seok is imprisoned in to be set on fire. Jin-tae loses consciousness in the artillery strike and mistakenly believes his brother is dead. He bricks the security commander to death and several months later, apparently driven crazy by the loss of his brother, he becomes a commander in the North Korean army with a deep hatred for the South Koreans.

In truth, Jin-seok is alive recovering from his wounds at a hospital having barely escaped the prison before it was destroyed. He goes back to work in the rear lines and sees communist propaganda showing his brother from a group of intelligence officers, but he dismisses it. He decides to look for his brother anyway at the 38th parallel after discovering a letter he previously wrote to him. Upon reaching the South Korean headquarters that was preparing to attack a hill where Jin-tae was supposedly in command, Jin-seok is refused by the commander who tells him to broadcast a message to the troops instead. But to the commanders surprise, Jin-seok beats up the other broadcasters and runs to North Korean lines in hopes of trying to find Jin-tae himself. The North Koreans nearly kill Jin Seok when they think he is lying and end up sending him to a security area when the attack begins. An elite North Korean unit commanded by Jin-tae counterattacks the contested trenches.

The two brothers meet again on the battlefield. Not recognizing his own brother, Jin-tae first tries to kill him. As Jin-seok is on the ground begging for his brother to recognize him, Jin-tae continues to kill the South Koreans who attack him while trying to kill Jin-seok. When Jin-tae is wounded by a bayonet thrust, his brother tries to carry him off the battlefield, but is then wounded himself. Jin Seok then tries to convince Jin Tae again but this time by mentioning family issues to get him to his senses. Jin Tae finally comes to his senses but then tells Jin-seok to leave immediately due to the number of North Korean troops closing in on their position. Jin Seok refuses, but then leaves after Jin Tae promises he would meet him again when the war was over with the same pen he gave Jin Seok earlier. As Jin-seok runs away with other retreating soldiers, Jin Tae loads an abandoned machine gun and starts mowing down the advancing North Koreans, until he is finally mortally wounded and on the brink of dying. He takes on last look at Jin Seok who's limping away before he dies in a foxhole.

The film ends with an emotional transition from the past to the present with the younger brother begging his older brother's remains to speak to him, citing the promises that the two made for after the war.

Critical and popular reception

At the 50th Asia Pacific Film Festival, Taegukgi won the "Best Film", while Kang Je-gyu was awarded the "Best Director". [1] It was one of four Korean movies screened at the 2006 International Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

At the 2004 Grand Bell Awards, the main awards for film in South Korea, Taegukgi won three technical awards, for art direction, cinematography and sound effects.

According to the numbers at Box Office Mojo, Taegukgi earned $1.1 million in the United States playing in limited release. It earned a further $68.7 million worldwide to finish as the 75th highest grossing film in the world in 2004.

In addition to its record-breaking reception in South Korea, the film has also achieved positive responses abroad. It currently hold a fresh rating of 80 percent at Rotten Tomatoes. Most positive reviews cite its unflinching portrayal of war and praise it for showing the brutality of both the North and South Korean armies.