‘Taegukgi Hwinallimyo’ also known as ‘The brotherhood of war’ is a South Korean war film directed by Kang Je-gyu. The narrative of the film follows the story of two brothers who are forced to join the army due to the outbreak of war between the north and south in Korea during the Korean war. The film tells a tale of: Brotherhood, love and deception. The film kicks off with an old man being notified by the S.korean (south) army that remains found have been identified as his own, however these remains actually belong to those of his older brother whom he had lost in war.
The old man reminisces of the 25th of June when N.Korea (North) attempted to invade S.Korea and the two brothers where drafted away to fight. Upon their arrival to the battle field the older of the two; Jin-tae aims to get his younger brother Jin-seok sent back home without having to fight in the war but he is told by the commanders that the only way this can be done is if Jin-tae himself excels in the army and earns a medal. Jin-tae after hearing this acts immediately to ensure this happens, he volunteers for various dangerous missions and succeeds and excels in his tasks. Due to his success Jin-Tae is praised continuously and becomes so blinded by his pride that he forgets the reason why he had done all of these tasks, Jin-Seok. Witnessing all of this his brother jin-seok becomes outranged by his brother’s arrogance and disowns his older brother because of this. Eventually both brothers are placed in an ugly situation in their home town where Jin-tae’s fiancée is accused of being a communist and is executed in front of Jin-seok and Jin-tae. Jin-tae in his anger kills the South Korean officers that murdered his fiancée and he and jin-seok end up being reprimanded. Jink-seok is held separately from his brother whilst Jin-tae is brought in for questioning by a security commander. The security commander then orders the prison to be set on fire where Jin-seok is being held. Jin-seok then joins the communist army and is now mentally unstable thinking that his beloved brother was killed in the fire when in fact his brother had escaped and was recovering in a hospital. Jin-seok finds out his brother has joined the N.Korean army so he goes to find his brother to tell him that he is still alive. After much fighting him finally finds his brother, however jin-tae does not recognise him. The two then have a quarrelled and Jin-tae finally recognises his brother when he himself gets injured from a blast. Jin-seok tries to carry him off the battlefield, but is wounded himself as well, but Jin-seok refuses to retreat without Jin-tae, Jin-tae then convinces him to leave, promising that he will meet him back at home. However Jin-seok is not reunited with his brother as Jin-tae never gets to return home as he ends up dying in a blast moments after Jin-seok had left him. The film then returns to present day where the ‘older’ Jin-seok mourns over the remains of his brother’s corpse.
Personally, I enjoyed the film and it brought me to tears, the film itself is amazing and historically accurate and teaches of the emotional aftermath of the Korean War. The film displays how the unity of Korea was destroyed by the outbreak of communism. The reality of the story demonstrates how a war over 50 years ago still affects families in Korea today as their loved ones were lost. The film helps me understand that today we, the unaffected of wars forget that around the world in all war zones many families are broken and separated due to war. Films, like “Taegukgi” help us to have a deeper understanding of how wars not only affect a nation as a whole, but singular individuals as well. It’s a film that I’d recommend to many as I feel it represents the truths behind the Korean War.
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