Korean Film "My Way"!

[radic202]

Hey gang!

I know I saw it mentioned on these Forums before but I thought I would add my quick short review of this awesome film.
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I really enjoyed this film. Now I am a huge Foreign Film Fan so it had an edge even before I started watching it,. but I absolutely loved it. Now barring some very staged dramatic scenes, it sure made for a very entertaining film. I am no WW2 Experts especially on the Japanese/Korean occupation so I still put some of my disbelief on hold and followed the story of teh 2 Main Characters. I still am perplexed on where and why and when the Japanese and Soviets engaged each other in Tank warfare (Russian side more so) during the early days of WW2, I thought they only fought each other or declared war like in 1944 or early 1945 but nonetheless they use it early on for this movie.

How they even got sent to a Russian Gulag camp all the way in the Ural Mountains or central USSR, survived and managed to meet over and over again is still a mystery to me. Even more is how they survived being shot by both sides during the take/defense of a Russian town plus is that they were not shot on sight by the German Wehrmacht when in an abandoned town as they could have looked like eastern Russian soldiers and not Japanese and Korean is beyond me?

Nonetheless the battle scenes are very good, very bloody and very dramatic, too much punching and fighting between the 2 main characters against each other in many many scenes also was a bit too much for me,

In the end though I found myself wanting to see more and more of what would happen to these 2 protagonist and found myself sitting back and saying, Finally a foreign war film worth seeing.

Just wondering if any of you can enlighten me on the historical accuracies or more so the inaccuracies of the film, plus your thoughts.

I am going to sit down next and watch the full 4.5 hours of "Warriors of the Rainbows"






Cheers!

[wodin]

Watched OK...I wouldn't say the battle scenes are realistic at all, but alot of fun, the actual film though is great, just the battles especially Normandy was abit cringe worthy...

It certainly isn't as good as Brotherhood, but I still say watch it.

[parusski]

As wodin said it is not as good as Brotherhood, but still entertaining...and true(sorta).

[Lieste]

Khalhkin Gol, 1939 - set the stage for the Russian-Japanese treaty that held until after the fall of Germany in 1945.
Zhukov was the commander at Khalhkin Gol and Vasilevsky for the invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, both of which went decisively in the Russian's favour.

[radic202]

Ok Thanks for the info putting this in perspective for me!

And I could not for the love of me figure out what the rave was for Brotherhood until I remembered it was the second part title of Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of war. That of course is a great film. I love War films that do not have or involve either the Americans or the British Military (no pun intended) but we are so flooded with War movies that Always involve the US or the UK and their "History is always written by the winners: kind of thing, it is so refreshing to see historical was battle setting/stories from another perspective. Minus some propaganda USSR WAR films, with strong exception to the phenomenal "Ivan's Childhood" (1962)to me a Masterpiece of a film, I truly enjoy Eastern European War Films as well. Maybe why I loved the other Korean film called "The Front Line" or even the Russian film "9th Company" about Russian soldiers during the Afghan War.

And of course just finished watching "Warriors of the Rainbow" a very nice story, somewhat cliched to please a North American and broader audience, but extremely violent with all those headhunting scenes plus the astonishing rate of suicide. In this film I was glad to see that they did not make the Nippon soldiers to appear as evil as in other films, they were simply conquering soldiers who did not more or no less than what we did to are North American natives, African lands and natives that were conquered or the aborigines in Australia. Simply a film about a proud people trying to claim back their way of life and land. In a way, very much like Apocalypto in a sense.I had never even heard of smoke bombs poison before seeing this film and the best part of it is that it got be to do some research on the history of Taiwan, always love to learn something form any film.

[warspite1]

radic202 - I am currently reading Antony Beevor's Second World War.

On the first page of the introduction is a picture of Yang Kyoungjong, a Korean who, at the age of eighteen was conscripted into the Japanese Kwantung Army. He was captured by the Russians at the battle of Khalkin Gol (part of the Nomonhan Campaign in the summer of 1939).

Initially put into a labour camp, the Soviets put him into their army in 1942. The Korean was captured by the Germans in 1943 at the Battle of Kharkov.

The Germans put him in an Ostbattalion and sent him to France to help defend the Channel coast against invasion. He was captured near Omaha beach by the Americans.

Amazing.

[Alan Sharif]

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

[jomni]

Now that's a story!

Anyone seen "71: Into the Fire"? It's a story about student-soldiers defending against the North Korean invasion during the early phase of the Korean War. Not a deep movie, but an entertaining one.

[nicwb]

I'll say - there's very few people that could hnestly say they fought in not only on more than one side but in most of the major theatres of WW2

[wodin]

I thought they found a dead korean at normandy aswell?

[Josh]

http://thomo.coldie.net/wargaming/korean-soldiers-in-ww2-german-army
 

 
 

[AlphonseZukor]

Fascinating! I'll have to take a look.

[SLAAKMAN]

Lieste,

Khalhkin Gol, 1939 - set the stage for the Russian-Japanese treaty that held until after the fall of Germany in 1945.
Zhukov was the commander at Khalhkin Gol and Vasilevsky for the invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, both of which went decisively in the Russian's favour.

(Actually Khalhkin Gol was a bloody exchange although results were a strategic Soviet victory. Im just pointing this out in order to be anal). [:'(]

[TulliusDetritus]

I very much suspect I won't be watching this movie. And don't get me wrong. One of the best movies I have seen lately IS the Korean film "The Yellow Sea" (2010) which I really encourage you to watch.

The problem I have with the Koreans and also Chinese is that they make war movies as if they were making Jackychanganesque movies... Too Fast Too Furious idiocies, you get the idea...

They have yet to learn to make war movies for all I care. Therefore gimme any other war movie but er, not this kind of "things". Thanks [8D]

[doomtrader]

Gotta see this movie.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

I very much suspect I won't be watching this movie. And don't get me wrong. One of the best movies I have seen lately IS the Korean film "The Yellow Sea" (2010) which I really encourage you to watch.

The problem I have with the Koreans and also Chinese is that they make war movies as if they were making Jackychanganesque movies... Too Fast Too Furious idiocies, you get the idea...

They have yet to learn to make war movies for all I care. Therefore gimme any other war movie but er, not this kind of "things". Thanks [8D]

I hear you... this was the bloodiest war flick I've ever seen. You nailed it... very "JackyChanganesque", but I really enjoyed it personally. And it's your loss if you don't give it a try [:)]