The Front Line (2011)

While skimming Netflix for something to pass the time, I noticed this war piece starred both Shin Ha Kyun and Go Soo. This pushed me, along with an interest in the subject, to give Gojijeon a try. I'm glad I did, because I spent the next two hours entertained despite some minor issues.

Probably the strongest point of the movie is the cinematography. Battle scenes are tasteful but tremendous; the scenes done on the infamous hill were especially eye-catching and must have been difficult to film. Some of the scenery ended up being quite beautiful as well, which is sad considering so much fighting went on in those areas.

Go Soo and Shin Ha Kyun definitely carried the performance aspect of Gojijeon between them. Shin is always a pleasure to watch and brings any character to life with ease, but Go Soo was shockingly compelling. He played Soo Hyuk with intense complexity, often making me question how I felt about his character: was he right or wrong? Also, the interaction between the two felt natural...which is great since a good chunk of the story rides on their characters and their involvement with one another. I have to say the rest of the cast was somewhat forgettable just because their characters weren't as necessary or developed. There were several familiar faces if you often watch Korean drama, though.

My only real gripe with this film is that occasionally it would feel preachy. This is definitely an anti-war film, and you can really feel the atmosphere of futility the conflict had. Usually the subject was handled with grace, but on the instances it was not, I felt as though I'd been pulled out of the story briefly. Other than that, though it's been done before in other films, it's always nice to see a non-American focus on the Korean war during this time period.

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War Trauma

I was hesitant to watch any war movies, but I started watching "The Front Line" movie out of curiosity. The story was attention grabbing with strong performance by all actors, budding actors and/or veteran actors across the whole generation spectrum. To say the least, I could not stop watching it until the end.

I am not going to tell the story but I would just say that the movie tells the story so vividly that generals or leaders from both North and South Korea decide to start a battle or a truce/ceasefire but the ground troops are the ones that have to deal with the casualty of war or death. The war itself is the enemy of any soldiers. The war scenes are so terrifying and dire to say the least. Each individual soldier experiences war trauma and also each one of them uses their own defense mechanism to deal with their own trauma.

There is a scene that is so heartwarming when character Kim Soo Hyuk (portrayed by Go Soo so convincingly) saw a snapshot of character Cha Tae Kyung and says "I am going to marry this girl" . It makes our hearts flutter because he keeps on looking at the picture so tenderly. But destiny and fate cannot be predicted and determined. There is a brutal scene where the platoon led by Soo Hyuk literally sacrifices a young new enlisted teenager to be shot by the sniper, almost like a sacrificial giving, so that Soo Hyuk could pinpoint the location of the sniper.

In my humble opinion, character Kang Eun Pyo (portrayed by Shin Ha Kyun) should have shot the female sniper Cha Tae Kyung (portrayed by Kim Ok Bin) when he knew he should do it, but he let the pretty and wounded sniper go. At the end, Eun Pyo is so pitiful and sorry that his inaction causes his college friend to be shot by the sniper.

I would give an eight out of ten overall because I cannot stomach to re-watch it, but I definitely give a ten out of ten for the performance by actors.

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