Pohwasogeuro

As I know little about the Korean War apart from MASH I didn't really know what to expect. I was very impressed and surprised at how good 71 is. The true story of the 71 students who defended their line for 11 hours against the might of the communist North is told with passion, humor, and action. It is somewhat clichéd - but this works in its favor - what we get is a Braveheart feeling for a small but very well-made war film.

The two main leads are competent, if a little OTT in their roles, but again by the end this pays off and I really have no complaints - if moving, and exciting war films are your thing then this is definitely worth viewing.

The true story, directed by John H. Lee (A Moment to Remember) about South Korean student unit of 71 soldiers who was left to defend the girls middle school during the Battle of Pohang during the peek of North Korea's invasion of South in 1950. That 71 students defended that position for 11 hours against a North Korean army brigade and the film was inspired by the letters of one of that soldiers. Out of 71 members of the unit, only three had combat experience, while others have not undergone any training before the battle, which makes their resistance unbelievable.

The story focuses on two soldiers, Oh Jung-Bum, frightened and lost commander of the unit who only got the position because of his experience that was minimal, and Ku Kap-Jo, convicted of murder who enlisted in the Army to avoid jail. A good part of the story rests on their conflict and on development of their relationship as well as their relationship with the rest of the unit. Character development is uncommonly done. Oh Jung-Bum changes from a scared kid who couldn't even shot from the gun to brave commander absurdly fast, while Ku Kap-Jo's path is approximately opposite and just as fast, if not faster. In this context, we can mention the North Korean captain Park Mu-Rang which is extremely difficult to characterize as he's almost like another character in almost every scene, while only he's egotism stays.

Performance is standard Asian, full of melodrama, highlighting the pride and courage, and a somewhat caricature acting that is pretty solid here. Cha Seung-won is far form being brilliant in lead role of Oh Jung-Bum, almost completely without emotions, as if he was forced to act in this movie. The rest of the acting team did a solid job. The pace of storytelling is perfect, not one scene is redundant, although movie could work without humorous parts they deliver, alongside humor, additional characterization of the characters. It's a simple, dynamic story with which time goes by quickly. There's no objections to the visual part of the film. A solid budget of 10mil dollars was well used, the effects look almost authentic. Final battle looks really impressive, although it can not be overlooked that it was somewhat idealized.

Film lacks historical context which is not surprising given that, as usually happens with Far Eastern cinema, it's made for their market so they didn't feel like it's necessarily to explain situation, but however, it does not affect much on the experience of the film since the theme is universal, and 71: Into the Fire is one of the better war movies lately.

War film action junkies sit up and take note, as 71: Into the Fire should be written into your books as a must watch if you haven't already made plans to do so. Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan may have set the bar and raised expectations many years ago with regards to the use of strained colours and realistic war violence being portrayed on screen, and in recent years even China too got into the act through Feng Xiaogang's The Assembly. While tales of heroism during WWII have been aplenty done by filmmakers from the West, I can only think of a handful done in the East to meet that kind of scale. This is one of them.

Directed by John H. Lee, the basis of the film reported came from a letter from one of the 71 deceased South Korean student soldiers, which chronicled their Alamo experience and moment as the few who had to stand up to the invading North Korean masses in very David and Goliath measures. Tasked with the strategically important defense of Pohang while the rest of what's left of the South Korean army and UN coalition defended the Nakdong River area, this is not 300 where a group of battle hardened soldiers led by King Leonidis tragically fended off the huge Persian army, but a group of rag tag students with little military experience being told to hold their ground for 2 hours against a fanatical, professional army before reinforcements arrive.

You can feel the sense of urgency and desperation throughout the film, as Lee doesn't forget to remind you how dire the situation was, with the tremendous loss of territory over a period of four months to the North Korean forces sledgehammering its way down south, and the reliance of students to take up arms in what could have been a tactical lesser of two evils. The UN Coalition is stretched thin, and the makeshift Captain of the ragtag student group, soft spoken Oh Jung-Bum (T.O.P), has some serious growing up to do if he is to lead the students, being one of three who have had some combat experience. Making things difficult is the inclusion of criminals like Kap-Jo (Kwon Sang Woo) who's just happy to be out of prison to lend his weight to the fight, but as with any army that requires discipline, here is one man and his two lieutenants who prefer the contrary.

From the get go you'll get thrown thick into the action with loud gunfire and pretty much everything exploding on screen from artillery and other big guns fire, as Jung-Bum wanders around his battalion doing errands like topping up and delivery of magazines and rounds to soldiers, only to find his side of the forces constantly retreating, and being caught up in a life and death situation. Clearly not the hero he thinks he could be, he soon gets sent packing into a truck and again the North, under the leadership of Commander Park Mu-Rang (Cha Seung-Won), is triumphant and merciless in their taking of additional territory.

More set action sequences are to follow, and each are carefully crafted to reap maximum effect for the film-goer as we root for the student soldiers as they stand their ground, and rely on their street smarts to come up with some form of defense system to protect their minuscule turf. While luck has them chancing upon caches of abandoned weapons, improvisation meant the welcoming of Molotov cocktails (still a weapon of choice for guerrilla styled riots), and various forms of gas/fuel+fire combination. Not being military strategists, the students are susceptible to the oldest trick in the book like ambushes, and each challenge they come up toward meant a reduction in their already pathetic numbers.

Perhaps it is their making of such naive mistakes that draw in on the harshness of war, where director Lee doesn't spare us much of the gory details from bursting wounds and machine gun fire from up close ripping up bodies. As the adage goes, don't die for your country but make the other bastard die for his. However this film depicts Koreans killing Koreans, so therein lies an opportunity to address some of this insanity why people ought to be killing their own comrades and countrymen, even having the North Korean commander at times exhibiting being a maverick willing to go against battle orders, albeit to satisfy his bruised ego that had been wounded by a bunch of students against his own troops.

There's no lack of drama and tension as well, brought on when Jung-Bum and Kap-Jo have to go head to head in order to earn each other's mutual respect, but before that the gangsters' shenanigans prove to be running against the grain of the student soldier's mission. For Jung- Bum, we witness how he matures from boy to man, while Kap-Jo learns about responsibility and what it means to be counted upon, in contrast to his selfish ways since the enemy is now real and right at their doorstep. Unfortunately while this film has 71 student soldiers split into two platoons, realistically you're not going to have to get to know all of them, so only these two fly the character development flag for the rest.

Well made with excellent production values and sets depicting the state of war affairs during the Korean War, 71: Into the Fire will go into my books as one of the best this year in its genre. Highly recommended, especially when viewed on the big screen!

This movie overall was really well made. The acting was great, the special effects were good, and the movie was easy to follow. Since this was based on a true event, the ending was not going to be a huge surprise. Compared to most American films in the past two decades, this film had a low budget (about $10 Million USD). Most of the critics comment TOP from Big Bang being casted just for pure publicity, but he is a good actor as proved from a past Korean drama he did called IRIS. The sadness of the Korean War and the desperation of the people at that time were wonderfully portrayed. We should take this movie as a harsh reminder of the Korean War and wars around the world in general. You may think that this might never happen… especially to you of all people but the harsh reality is that is can… There is no one to blame for the Korean War; not the soviets, North Koreans, South Koreans, Chinese or the anti communist nations. We only have over selves to blame for war, and no one truly wins one.

A heartfelt and passionate Korean War epic, 71 – INTO THE FIRE marks the epitome of self-sacrifice, brotherly love, and gung-ho soldierly bravery. It's a simple enough tale which, crucially, really happened: 71 schoolboys were tasked with holding back a North Korean division single-handedly during the Korean War in 1950. What follows – their holding-out against impossible odds - sounds too good to be true, but yes, it really happened, and it makes for great movie-making.

The only South Korean war movie I'd seen previously was the superlative BROTHERHOOD, so I had no idea what to expect from this production. I got it all: thoroughly engaging characters, an interesting storyline and typically stylish direction. Yes, it's a slow builder of a movie: it takes an hour and a half before things really get going, but then the climax hits and you've rarely seen anything so intense and devastating in equal measure. Solid performances throughout contribute to the overall feel that this is a great movie.