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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“You know what? I think I died a long ago. You, Me. Everybody in this war. Even Two-Seconds, she also died long ago. We’ve killed too many, we should be in hell. But hell can’t be worse than here…”

I originally watch this because of Lee Jehoon but I was simply amazed at how great this movie is. As a person who isn’t really a fan of war movies, it’s surprising to found myself liking this one. Truly one hell of an emotional war movie.

I really love the message that they showed in the movie. It really does slap you right in the face with powerful anti-war messages since the first minute. We’ll see how little the individual soldiers matter in the eyes of politicians and high-ranking officers. We’ll see how those soldiers are tired to make pointless war anymore. We’ll see how they are slowly losing their idealistic self. We’ll see how they are tired of deaths and killings. We’ll see how they don’t even know what is the purpose for the war anymore.

“Our enemy wasn’t the commies, but the war itself.”

The Front Line goes for a melodramatic tone more than I expected, but neither the score nor the acting goes over the top, yet it still left a deep emotional impact on its audience. Kudos to Shin Ha Kyun, Go soo, Lee Jehoon for their top notch acting.

I don’t have any comment on the cinematography, its already perfect on its own. That slow motion side scrolling shot of the battlefield is really bone-chilling.

I really held back my tears yet when the North Korean and South Korean soldiers were singing together, I just lost it. It’s really heartbreaking.

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