The Coast Guard

Perhaps the reason why this movie is getting such a bad rap is mainly a fault of its well-meaning, but still incoherent style and narrative structure. I have not read any articles on this movie or interviews with the director to know what his overt intention was, but in the end I think the movie falls short of its mark due to Kim's perennial fixation on obsession, whether it was his intention to delve into this subject matter or not. On most levels, obsession is a largely private affair, and any exegesis of obsession enmeshed within the loaded geopolitical situation that is now Korea would require a broader vision and canvas matched with a technical command of story telling than any that Kim has been able to provide here or elsewhere. However, one thing that I must praise Kim for is the reality with which he portrays military life in South Korea. It is, in my view, the grittiest, down-to-other depiction on the silver-screen of life as a grunt doing mandatory military service in Korea. I should know, since I've done my two years' service, as no doubt Kim also has. The situation might be unreal (a loose-cannon grunt suddenly acquiring the killing skills of Jason Bourne) but the military's reaction to it certainly wasn't. The ineptitude of the commanders to stop the problem, the fear of the soldiers and the conflict it breeds within, and, most important of all, the corporal punishment that gets amplified as it spreads down the chain of command.

So here's my recommendation: if you want a well thought out movie which pits issues of personal obsession against major geopolitical themes of our day, this movie is not for you. If, however, you want to see a curiosity piece about how troglodytic an existence military conscripts lead in South Korea, then you've come to the right place.

When an overzealous Korean Coast Guard soldier kills a local civilian at night when the civilian is in a restricted area, the officials give him a seven-day pass and he begins his descent into madness. Coincidentally, it's about that time that the movie begins its descent into absurdity.

Also the girlfriend of the slain punk quickly becomes a Korean Ophelia with no real Hamlet.

I'm not sure of Korean military regulations but I've never seen so many superior officers slapping, punching and kicking their subordinates. Whenever the superiors are outraged they also take it out on the entire platoon by having them run in the sea (mostly shirtless) and roll around in the mud.

I'm not so sure that this was a movie as much as it was some paramilitary fetishists idea of a porno.

Kang (Dong-Gun Jang) is a soldier assigned to patrol the border of the North-South Korea divide. His sole job is to shoot anyone that crosses the border, as they are to be considered North Korean spies. As it holds many rewards, Kang is eager to kill someone. One night on duty in town, he gets into an argument with a gang of youths having drinks, including Mi-Yeong (Ji-A Park). As a means of defying the soldiers who they believe are just living easy off the tax payers' money, Mi-Yeong crosses the border with a young man and the two have sex. Kang spots the man's head and opens fire, killing him, and throws a grenade that blows him apart. Mi-Yeong descends into madness, stalking the army camp and having sex with various soldiers. Kang also goes mad with guilt, and is eventually dismissed from the coast guard, only return with vengeance on his mind.

As good as the premise for this film sounds, I really did find it disappointingly amateurish. The interesting themes lying throughout the film are drowned out by bad plotting, and simply unbelievable incidents. How Kang, a relatively green soldier with no real combat experience, turns into a super-slick Jason Bourne-alike who can deceive a whole patrol overnight is just ridiculous. It's clear that director Ki-Duk Kim is trying to portray the soldiers as useless, but the amount of times they are disarmed by having their weapons simply grabbed out of their hands is unrealistic. And some scenes are just repeated over and over again, notably Kang appearing, ravaged by madness, not realising he has been dismissed, only to be told he is mad by his ex-fellow servicemen and punched and kicked away. It gets tiresome quickly, and appears that the director just ran out of ideas.

It's not to say that some parts of the film aren't effective. The tragic Mi-Yeong, having slept with many of the soldiers believing them to be her dead ex-lover, finds herself pregnant. Her brother, enraged, demands that the soldiers responsible come forward. Mi-Yeong kisses the guilty men one by one on the cheek, gleefully unaware of the gravity of the situation, only for her brother to stare horrified as one after the other step forward. The scene where she crawls into her brother's fish tank, bloody from a forced abortion, is truly brilliant. The water fills up with blood as she sits there, unable to grasp what is happening. It's a powerful scene in a disappointingly poor film.

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There is all possibility that "The Coast Guard" should be considered as an autobiographical tale.We all know that director Kim Ki Duk has never acknowledged this fact in media.As he has strongly depicted every facet of South Korean society,"Hae Anseon" must be hailed an offbeat film which gave him a once in a lifetime chance to depict South Korean military as he must have had witnessed disturbing events in the past. There is something unique about this film as its universal appeal makes audiences believe that whatever that has happened to South Korean soldiers might also happen to some other military men in some other country.Kim Ki Duk suggests that life at an army base is no joke.He has made good use of documentary style realism to draw a visceral portrayal of innocent,young military men whose job is to guard borders between North Korea and South Korea.Some scenes might be devoid of reality but it is hoped that they would be accepted by viewers despite their shortcomings as a film director needs some kind of artistic liberty. There are two major issues with this film.Common people have been shown in bad light.Some of the women audiences might also appear to be a tad apprehensive as their images have not been correctly depicted in this rather raw and violent film.

A south korean army men try to find a north korean spy who is never exists and one day he shoot one of the guy by mistake and his life became soo hard because of guilty..that death guy's girl friend became crazy and few army mens rape her.. Really dont knw what director tries to tell in this movie.. Really i dont understand even i watched movie expalnation... Better can watch for intelluctuals in movies..