The year is 1950 and despite
North and South Korea being on the verge of open war, Jin-seok hasn’t been
happier. As a high school student with college aspirations and a family that supports him, he has everything he
could want in this world. His older brother Jin-tae has hopes of opening a shoe
store, but for the time being he is content to shine shoes to support his
family and keep his brother’s college dreams alive. Their relationship is a
rare thing, unmarred by any strife whatsoever, one can only happy when the
other is happy too. The conflict eventually spills into their small town
however and when the younger Jin-seok is drafted, the older brother quickly
follows suit in an effort to keep his brother safe in a war that would claim
over a million South Korean lives.
Within days of forced enlistment
it becomes apparent that Jin-seok is overwhelmed by combat and in an attempt to
keep his younger brother out of the thick of fighting, Jin-tae makes a deal
with his commanding officer: he would volunteer himself for every mission as
long as his brother was kept off the front. This arrangement creates a rift
between the brothers that would test their once spotless relationship over the
course of a war in which the end is never in sight.
There are moments in The Brotherhood of War that feel like
they were lifted from an after school special. The film’s introductory scenes
for example, where we meet Jin-seok and Jin-tae, permeate sentiment and
optimism thanks to some very happy lighting and a lot of smiles from all major
characters and as much as I wanted to hate the filmmakers for handling the
exposition in that manner… It does work on some level. The portrait we’re given
of a happy family that is subsequently burned asunder by the fires of war is played
out and cheesy but the happy go lucky moments of the film’s opening are a necessary
evil. They serve as the bedrock which will hold up the mountainous pile of
emotional heartache that is the rest of this movie. Trust me, things go very off
course for these two brothers.
I watched this film with a friend
and references to Saving Private Ryan
were being made by both of us left and right, which is fair, as The Brotherhood of War tries its best to
bring Hollywood style action to South Korea. The set pieces are impressive in
scope and there were moments when my jaw dropped in amazement at the grand
scale that the filmmakers and director Je-kyu Kang were able to tell their story on. Unfortunately, it
wasn’t all entirely necessary. There are a disconcerting number of scenes that
feel like an excuse to show off the film’s budget surplus, not
to mention there are more tacked on scenes that are present
for no reason other than putting the horrors of war on display. And to what
end? Entertainment? Historical value? No, these particularly brutal scenes (one
of which is a forced bare knuckle fight between prisoners of war) come off as violent
filler. A shame considering the film has two incredibly strong characters whose
developmental stories are neglected in lieu of plot stagnating scenes.
The clock management problems
here are balanced out in part by strong performances from the cast as a whole,
but to be honest, it’s the two leads that steal the show. Dong-gun Jang as the
older brother is a stoic presence and is something like the ice to the fire
that is Bin Won’s turn as Jin-Seok. I had seen Bin Won in a couple other films,
but he puts a vulnerability on display here that wasn’t present in the other
pieces, and the effect is at times undeniably tear jerking.
I wish the writers had done
something about the love handles on their otherwise trim script, but there’s a
lot in The Brotherhood of War to
like. The story does rise to over-the-top heights and there are a handful of
eye rolling moments of sappy sentiment, but the movie earns these moment by
scraping together just enough character development for its two central
characters. And by the time the credits are rolling after a heart attack
inducing finale, I was happy with what I had seen, and obvious flaws aside, I
feel there is a great movie here that is worth tracking down on DVD.
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