Plot
A drama about the fate of brothers forced to fight in the Korean War.
Release Year: 2004
Rating: 8.1/10 (20,195 voted)
Critic's Score: 64/100
Director:
Je-kyu Kang
Stars: Dong-gun Jang, Bin Won, Eun-ju Lee
Storyline In 1950, in South Korea, shoe-shiner Jin-tae Lee and his 18-year-old old student brother, Jin-seok Lee, form a poor but happy family with their mother, Jin-tae's fiancé Young-shin Kim, and her young sisters. Jin-tae and his mother are tough workers, who sacrifice themselves to send Jin-seok to the university. When North Korea invades the South, the family escapes to a relative's house in the country, but along their journey, Jin-seok is forced to join the army to fight in the front, and Jin-tae enlists too to protect his young brother. The commander promises Jin-tae that if he gets a medal he would release his brother, and Jin-tae becomes the braver soldier in the company. Along the bloody war between brothers, the relationship of Jin-seok with his older brother deteriorates leading to a dramatic and tragic end.
Writers: Je-kyu Kang, Sang-don Kim
Cast: Dong-gun Jang
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Jin-tae Lee
Bin Won
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Jin-seok Lee
Eun-ju Lee
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Young-shin Kim
Hyeong-jin Kong
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Yong-man
Yeong-ran Lee
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Mother Lee
Kil-Kang Ahn
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Sergeant Huh
Jin Jung
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Sergeant Lim
Jae-hyeong Jeon
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Yong-seok
Min-ho Jang
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Old Jin-seok Lee
Yun-hie Jo
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Jin-seok Lee's grandaughter
Min-sik Choi
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North Korean Captain
Do-Hee Go
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Young-Guk Kim
Taek-ha Hwang
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Platoon Soldier #2
Dae-Hoon Jeong
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Doo-hong Jung
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Opening Weekend: $363,439
(USA)
(5 September 2004)
(29 Screens)
Gross: $1,111,061
(USA)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
(director's cut)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
One of four Korean movies screened at the 2006 International Fajr Film Festival in Iran.
Goofs:
Anachronisms:
A modern Canadian flag can be seen at the Military Hospital in Daejun among a group of other flags. The scene in the movie is dated July 1951, but the modern Canadian flag was introduced in 1965.
Quotes: Jin-tae:
[tears up the last will that Jin-seok was writing]
Wills are for dying people. You've got to be strong.
User Review
Better than any Hollywood production
Rating: 10/10
I have watched Taegukgi for the first time just yesterday, so my
impressions of the movie are still fresh. I have not known much about
the Korean War that took place at the beginning of the 1950's, but that
was a history lesson I will not easily forget. Taegukgi is really the
best (anti-)war movie I have ever seen. And believe me, I have seen a
lot. But no movie ever before has impressed me so much. In most
Hollywood productions there is only one perspective, the winners view.
Many directors tried to make a movie that shows both sides of the
conflict, but all of them failed. Until now: Taegugki is showing the
situation mostly from the south korean view too, but it is the first
movie which shows also the "other side". I was very surprised, that the
director showed also the crime that his own government committed to
their own people at this time. That movie is the first war movie that
is not glorifying war - it's horrifying, terrifying, scary - like in
reality.
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