The Front Line
(South Korea, 133 min.)
Dir. Hun Jang, Writ. Sang-yeon Park
Starring: Ha-Kyun Shun, Soo Go, Je-hoon Lee, Ok-bin Kim.
The first Korean Film Festival in Canada’s capital began
with the Ottawa premiere of The Front
Line, a film that offers film buffs a historical account of a pivotal
period in Korean history and a good snapshot of the strength of contemporary
South Korean cinema. The Front Line,
which was South Korea’s official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film race
for the 2011 Oscars, is a war film of impressive scope. Featuring some
excellent battle sequences and a potent tale on the futility of war, The Front Line makes a worthy stand to
kick-off this week’s fête for Korean cinema.
Despite the stagnation of the war itself, both men have
moved up in the ranks. Eun-pyo, now an officer for internal affairs, is sent to
Alligator Company to investigate a potential mole and the odd death of a high-ranking
official. It’s at Alligator Company that Eun-pyo reconnects with his friend,
who is now second-in-command to a young, morphine-addicted captain (Je-hoon
Lee). Like the battle going on between the North and South, the years of the
war have created an irreparable distance between the two men. War, as The Front Line shows, changes people. It
reveals character, rather than builds it, as men become machines and do what it
takes to win and stay alive.
Hun draws out the pointlessness of the war’s epic
devastation in an impressive sequence in which the men of Alligator Company fight
to retake control of Aerok Hill. The sequence, which calls to mind Stanley
Kubrick’s death march to defend the Anthill in Paths of Glory or perhaps even the harshest moments from Steven
Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, sees
the hill change hands in a drawn out battle that wipes out the lion’s share of
men on either side. The struggle is realistic, gritty, and brutal. As the
cameras crawl in the dirt with the men and trawl the hill, the battle of Aerok
Hill stands as an epic centrepiece.
The sequence also reveals the sheer pointlessness of the
battle despite the victory of the South. As Soo-hyeok explains to his friend as
they wear off the shell shock of the battle, control of the hill exchanges
between the North and South with predictable routine. It’s become like a game
of returning a shuttlecock as the hill changes hands between two players. The
game of the hill has brought out a thread of humanity between the two sides,
however, as Soo-hyeok notes that whereas one side would literally leave their
shit as a surprise for the other platoon, the hill now comes stocked with
spirits to toast the victor, plus letters for loved ones from the losing party.
The war brings out the worst in men, but a common bond as well.
The Front Line
suffers somewhat in its overdrawn second half as Eun-pyo continues his
investigation following the battle. He, too, has been transformed by the war,
but his efforts to see through the binary “us” and “them” distinction that war
creates takes the film down an unsatisfying story of unrequited love and of
fractured fraternal bonds. The film nevertheless maintains a few riveting sequences
in its lengthy latter act, particularly a suspenseful turn of events in which
the men of Alligator Company are targeted by a legendary North Korean sniper
dubbed “Two Seconds” who has the ability to pick off soldiers with a stealthy
precision.
Impressive for its scope, resonance, and notable production
value, The Front Line is a compelling
anti-war film. It’s a smart look through the history of South Korea and a worthy
snapshot of where the nation’s cinema stands today.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
The Front Line screened in Ottawa at The Canadian Film Institute.
For more screenings
in the Korean Film Festival, click here.
