ID :
126166
Sat, 06/05/2010 - 15:24
Auther :

(Movie Review) As bullets fly, '71 Into the Fire' loses steam


By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- This month marks the 60th anniversary of the start of
the Korean War (1950-1953), giving gravitas to Lee Jae-han's timely new film, "71
Into the Fire," which pays homage to the 71 students who became bullet sponges in
the early days of the conflict when trained soldiers ran low.
Audiences probably expect to learn from the non-fiction story what was going
through the minds of the teenage boys as they were transformed into reckless
shooters during a 12-hour standoff at a frontline base.
But the film does not take enough time to develop the characters, and viewers are
told to satisfy themselves with shallow portrayals of their naivete, internal
rivalry and helplessness.
The drama also tries to portray North Koreans in human terms, but the results are
not so touching. The central character on the enemy side, played by Cha
Seung-won, comes off as an unblended, detached mix of good and evil as he tries
to balance his stone-faced belligerence with occasional moments of humor and
humanity.
The story opens with an order for Kang Seok-dae (Kim Seung-woo) that he leave a
frontline base to the youth squadron and hurry to the Nakdong River with his
regular troops to fend off infiltrating North Koreans. The only boy in the
squadron with battle experience, Jang-beom (Choi Seung-hyun, also known as T.O.P
of the idol group Big Bang) is named commander.
The only training they receive is a single shooting round. Jang-beom becomes a
subject of scorn to some of the uncontrollable bad boys, like Gap-su (Kwon
Sang-woo), who otherwise would be in prison on an attempted murder charge.
Horror descends unexpectedly one night as Park Mu-rang's North Korean army lands
on their base instead of heading through the expected route over the Nakdong
River on the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. The boys, scantily armed, are
left to fight the North Koreans and their rolling tanks until the regular troops
return.
The director's own take of the Korean War occasionally shows in the lines of the
characters, particularly in a letter from Jang-beom to his mother. Recalling a
dying North Korean soldier he had shot for the first time, he says, "The North
Korean puppet army that I knew was the monster with horns on its head. But the
North Korean soldier that I saw today was a human being whose last word was
'O-ma-ni' (mother)."
The movie works in conflicting thoughts about the meaning of the war, which still
hold today across the inter-Korean border. "Aren't you the bullet shields of the
U.S. imperialists and their minion, Rhee Syngman?" the North Korean commander
says to the boys. "Are you going to let the communists take our nation?" one boy
says to others in the squadron.
As the North Korean army commander, Cha Seung-won plays perhaps the most
interesting and complex character, but still falls flat. He is rigid, merciless
and forcefully charismatic on the battlegrounds but goes soft in front of the
piteous unarmed boys. But his inner conflicts do not come shining through.
In his screen debut, Choi Seung-hyun is one of the more poignant characters,
delivering a range of emotions from fear and despair to triumph and joy without
relying on many words.
The 11.3 billion won (US$9.4 billion) blockbuster, produced by Taewon
Entertainment, will arrive at local theaters on June 16.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

Delete & Prev | Delete & Next

X