Silmido

I like South Korea war dramas, and the premises of Silmido (in Korean - 실미도) seemed to be an absolute winning formulas. Sadly, the film is a major disappointment and failed on many angles. It is far too long, far too slow, far too predictable, far too pathetic, and it lacks any redeeming feature. Yeah, the real events of 6834 Silmido groups were tragic but one could depict them better and less that pathetic. Training scenes are far too prolonged and quickly become a real bore. Dialogs are often empty and also lack depth or any credit to them. The uprising sequence is also far too predictable and suffers a lot from high-blown phrases and long, very long final scene. The good things are again the exquisite depiction of Korean nature, the great camera work and an excellent sound production. Sadly, again, but hey do not deliver the film to a better level and only underline how generally poor the execution is. Can be watched and then discarded

As the South Korean movie industry matures, more of their feature movies should become of interest to mainstream western audiences. Silmido is one of these movies.

The Korean peninsula continues to experience behind-the-scenes low intensity engagements between the two nations. Set in the 1960's, the nK strikes at the ROK leadership and prompts a response. The KCIA sponsors the formation of a special army unit to strike back at Pyongyang. Comprised of civil prisoners and other outcasts, the movie follows their formation, training, and deployment.

The film covers a great deal of cultural ground. The viewer gets a sense of the male-dominated, hierarchical government with its intrigues and power brokers. The spartan living conditions, training and discipline are not inconsistent with ROK practices. The motto used in the film - "Loyalty" - illustrates the conservative bent of the military system and the social schism which exists between it and the South Korean people at large. The film could have used "Strength and Honor" from Gladiator to the same effect. As a code of behavior, the concept of loyalty is the thematic underpinning for the major plot turns.

While lacking some of the pacing and plot roll-out elements of first tier film efforts, Silmido still delivers an interesting story line and succeeds as an action movie. It offers a harsh indictment of the government's leadership, not unlike American Viet Nam conflict movies, and the viewer is left with a perspective of Korean soldiers as army ants whose sole function is to live and die protecting their society.

Korean film is blossoming, from the action thriller "Shiri" to the delightful romantic "My Sassy Girl." "Silmido" takes this ability to make excellent films in a political direction. "Silmido" is to South Korea as Costa-Gavras' "Z" was to Greece: truth-telling about terrible government misdeeds. Unlike "Z," however, "Silmido" is not only shown at home, but is hugely successful, demonstrating the increasing strength of Korean democracy. One hopes that films like "Silmido" are a sign of increasing openness, and better times ahead for the Korean people.

As was the case with "Z," the excellence of the film guarantees an international audience for the story, and the widespread attention may well lead to additional revelations. Although the details of the government plot are sordid, the film romanticizes the actions of death-row convicts, and one suspects that the filmmakers took some liberties in portraying some of their noble and comradely behavior. Nevertheless, an first-rate movie and highly recommended.

Firstly I must say that nearly there is no woman in the movie. Thats make this movie more strict and harsh. As you know the story, this is a hard movie also. You must have nerves like steel to watch this movie without getting upset. I get some stress while watching the movie and after watching it. Because everybody shouting each other and beating each other realistically and periodically.

This is a good movie. A good story. You cannot guess the end of the movie that has a surprising ending. Most of the emotions in the movie is at the tops. Acting is very very good. Effects are also okey,not the best but very good for a foreign movie.

Finally I think,war movie lovers must see this movie.Others with strong nerves also will like this movie. Better to watch before "call of duty".

In the 1960s a Korea controlled by its intelligence KCIA (guess where it came from ..) after a North Korean attempt to assassinate the South Korean president Park Chung-hee. South Korea responds by making a special force to kill Kim Il-sung, commander of North Korea. This force is made up of criminals judged to death sentence who get the choice of playing hangman or be in the force.

What we see from now on is people not treated as people, but are trained as machines of war for one mission which will take their lives in the end. The fact that this is based on a true story is very depressing and even more sadly, not so surprising.

This film was far superior to the more heroism focused 'Taegukgi' but received far less acclaim in South Korea, understandably so since 'Silmido' is very critical about recent happenings and has a much smaller budget. You on the other hand if given the choice, know what to pick. ;)