The story of two brothers who are unwillingly drafted into the South Korean army following the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950.
The older brother strives to protect his younger brother on the battlefield, while struggling to find a way to have him discharged so he can return to their village and care for the family they left behind.
However, as the war progresses, the horror and violence they witness begin to take its toll on each man and severe their bonds as brothers and soldiers.
Trailer.
Watched this during Social Studies lesson.
Damm nice.
The Story:
While digging up remains at a Korean War battlefield to set up a memorial site, the South Korean Army excavation team notifies an elderly man that they identified some remains as his own. He believes that they may be those of his brother and drives over to the site with his granddaughter.
The story then shifts to Seoul in June 1950, where the Lee family lives. Jin-tae Lee (Jang Dong-gun) owns a shoeshine stand to pay for his younger brother Jin-seok's (Won Bin) education with the help of a boy named Yong-seok who Jin-seok teaches. Jin-tae's fiancée Young-shin (Lee Eun-ju) works with the Lee's noodle shop. On June 25, North Korea invades the country, and chaos erupts across the nation. Jin-seok is conscripted into the army and, and when his brother tries to get him off the train, he is conscripted as well. The two brothers are sent to a battlefield. They survive their first artillery strike though Jin-seok nearly dies of a heart attack in shock. Jin-tae is told by his commanding officer that if he can earn the highest award for a South Korean soldier which is the Taeguk Cordon of the Order of Military Merit, his brother can be sent home. Jin-tae willingly volunteers for many dangerously suicidal missions. He is promoted to the rank of Chungsa (Sergeant), but during a concert for South Korean troops, Jin Seouk talks with Jin-tae, expressing concern that his brother is risking his life for the glory of being appreciated and having attention. Soon American led U.N. forces invade South Korea from Incheon in assisting and the pushing out of North Korean forces out of the country and all the way up to China. The battle of Pyongyang soon follows, and many die on both sides. During the battle, Jin-tae captures an important North Korean captain and is finally awarded with the medal, but at the cost of the life of a close friend named Yong-man, frustrating Jin-seok.
The South Koreans' hopes of the war ending soon are shattered as China enters the war on the communist side, invading North Korea en masse and pushing South Korean and U.N. forces in a desperate retreat south. The unit sees the aftermath of a few massacres, and in turn massacres some North Korean units. Jin-seouk, witnesses the carnage and is sickened. Yong-seouk speaks with Jin-seouk, telling him about events at home, and tells him how the family is doing now that they are living under the communists. Jin-tae murders Yong-seok when some prisoners make a stand with a hostage-the prisoners had been forced to fight for the entertainment of South Korean troops, and whoever lost starved. Jin-tae beats Yong-seouk to death. On their way home Jin-tae gets his medal and Young-shin is captured and taken by the anti-Communists Federation before Jin-seok's eyes when it is later discovered she signed up for the Communist Workers' Party of Korea to get food for the family while saying that the South Korean government gave them nothing in the country's time of need. After Jin-seok escapes from a guard and Jin-tae tries to hold the anti-Communists back from killing Young-shin, who is furthermore accused of being a whore to the North, saying that "she was with every North Korean officer", a chaotic attempt by prisoners is made to escape. During the struggle, Young-shin is shot and killed by an anti-Communist, and the brothers are arrested for trying to rescue her. Jin-seok cries out as Young-shin's body thrown into the trench along with the other previously executed prisoners. In the jail, Jin-seok quietly mocks Jin-tae for Young-shin's death. Jin-tae is later brought in for questioning by a security commander. His request to release his brother is refused, and a Chinese artillery strike takes place. The security commander then orders the prison to be set on fire where Jin-seok is being held. Trying to rescue his brother, Jin-tae loses his consciousness in the artillery strike and wakes up to mistakenly believe his brother died in the fire. He brutally kills the security commander by bludgeoning him to death just before he is restrained by Chinese soldiers.
In truth, Jin-seok had been transferred to a military hospital. He barely escaped the burning cell with his life, and was saved by a soldier nicknamed Uncle Yang, a friend and squadmate. Despite this assistance, however, Jin-seok was shot in the escape. Uncle Yang also brings a letter that Jin-tae wrote, and says that Jin-tae was never found but he doubts Jin-tae deserted. When Uncle Yang hands Jin-seok the letter, Jin-seok is apathetic towards both the letter and his brother's uncertain fate. However, the next day, he learns from two South Korean military officers that his brother had defected to the North Koreans-a massive propaganda victory for the North Koreans. Afterwards, he Jin-tae's letter to their mother and is brought to tears. He immediately rejoins the army to fight at the 38th parallel, but is denied permission to fight and is assigned as a broadcaster, to speak into a radio to demoralize North Korean soldiers, but he beats the guards and runs over towards enemy lines, Surrendering to them and claiming that he is the brother of the "leader of flag unit". After being nearly killed by the North Koreans for being suspected as a spy, they send him with an escort to validate his claim, but a battle breaks out. U.S. fighter planes dive down from the sky and cause severe damage to the defenses in which many North Koreans soldiers are killed with an additional South Korean artillery bombardment. The South Korean troops charge towards the lines to engage the enemy. Jin-seok fights his way through the fierce hand to hand combat before the feared North Korean Infantry Unit known as "Flag Unit", commanded by Jin-tae, arrives to reinforce the North Korean lines. The fighting brutally escalates to South Koreans getting killed in large numbers, and eventually forcing a desperate South Korean retreat.
After killing a few South Korean soldiers and not recognizing his own brother, Jin-tae tries to kill Jin-seok in anger. The two fight while Jin-seok begs his brother to recognize him. When Jin-tae is about to shoot him, he is wounded by a bayonet strike. Jin-seok tries to carry him off the battlefield, but is wounded himself as well. Jin-tae finally recognizes his brother after Jin-seok reminds him of their mother, his dead fiancee Young-shin and the taking care of her grave as well as his dream to see his younger brother go to college. Jin-seok askes him to come with him but Jin-tae convinces him to leave, promising that he will meet him back at home. Jin-tae presents a silver pen, promising to give it to Jin-seouk as well as finish the shoes he made for Jin when they meet again. The wounded Jin-seok begins running across the battlefield as bullets fly across him and explosions erupt around him while retreating along with so many other South Korean soldiers. Jin-tae turns to an abandoned machine gun and begins to gun down North Korean infantry to cover his fleeing brother. The North Koreans finally manage to hit Jin-tae in a barrage of bullets. Jin-tae gives one last look at his brother before dying on the battlefield.
The film returns to the modern day, and the now aged Jin-seok is shown at the dig site begging his brother's remains to speak to him, citing the promises that the two made for after the war. Among the objects found with him were the silver pen that Jin-tae had promised to give him. His granddaughter looks on with empathy, realizing how much her grandfather had lost during the conflict. The film then returns to the past, ending in the aftermath of the Korean War, where Jin-seok returns to his mother, and sees the shoes his brother actually finished, and then heads off with the family's younger children in a peaceful Seoul. He reassures them that he will return to school, thereby fulfilling the promise he made to Jin-tae.
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