Welkkeom tu Dongmakgol

Whenever we think about war, the things that come instantly in our mind is ''Violence,Conflict,Tension,''. But this movie isn't about all these things, though this is a war movie. It about friendship and brotherhood despite having different nationality,culture,caste. This movie revolves with three nationality soldiers who have been staying in a village named Dongmakgol. Their warm relationship with villagers while staying in there and helping their out in their cultivation is so heartwarming. Except this, the comedy moments are unbelievable and cheerful.

What can I say about ending? Bittersweet is the perfect word it's ending. I'm sad and at the same time overwhelmed. I loved this movie though I haven't much expectations about this as I'm not a war movie genre fan. But,however, I must say,this is WORTH WATCHING.

The only thing that stinks about this movie is... what am I going to follow it with? Dongmakgol is such a memorable, powerful experience that I'm afraid to watch another movie lest the next one be a dud.

The only reason I watched this film was that I heard Joe Hisaishi did the musical score. He of course did a brilliant job as always, but that's not even the tip of the iceberg. For one thing, it's the first *colourful* war film I've ever seen. What is it with war movies and drab, bleached sepia tones anyway? Hasn't that been done to death? Well, the gorgeous opening scene of an angelic girl standing in a meadow and watching a fighter plane crash ought to be enough to tell you that this is no cookie-cutter war movie. I'm about to cry just thinking of it.

*sob* give me a minute, willya

OK... moving along...

I won't pretend to say I know anything about the Korean War. I'll leave the political bickering to other IMDb posters. For me, this told a very timeless, human story which could have been set in any war. It is the story of two violent enemies who find something more important than their conflict.

I didn't care who was wearing which uniform, nor did I care who the "bad guys" were, nor did I even flinch when I, a red-blooded American, found myself occasionally hoping for an American soldier to be shot (a truly bizarre experience). I ignored all that stuff; it's all purely incidental. At any time, you could swap flags, and the story would be the same. Magical, humbling, emotional, funny and profoundly affecting.

I strongly recommend that ALL Americans SHOULD SEE THIS FILM. NOW. It's not a history lesson; it's a human lesson. And the message is extremely timely with what is going on in the world today. Leave your personal political views at the door, and allow yourself to be swept away by the poetry of this wonderful tale.

Please excuse bad English, I am still learning :) This is excellent film but I think many Americans will dislike it because it shows American soldiers as "bad guys". In true war there is no "good guys". There is no John Wayne who is always right. This movie shows ugliness of war on all sides. But it is still very pleasant and happy movie to watch sometimes. It is not history lesson, it is fantasy. but still it tells truth about war which Hollywood has never done because Hollywood always shows good guys vs bad guys. Even though this is fantasy it is more real than any war movie I saw. I urge you see this movie regardless of what country you from. Pretend you take no sides. You will enjoy this movie.

Upon approaching this flick i was a tad sceptical - i knew with the cast, director and musical score covered nicely - there was no reason for it to be a let down, but i always find myself slightly dubious of war films. JSA was fantastic though so i gritted my teeth, held my breath and hoped for the best. Absolutely F'in glad i did, its such a well shot beautiful tale, the cinematography is highly original for the premise of a war film, the colours and dialogue were spot on and the actors all came correct. I found myself wishing that i could just F it all and go live in that cool village with that crazy girl for the rest of my days, ha ha. Thats not to say this film is completely void of any gritty (and sometimes gory) realism on the 'war' front but it just doesn't focus so much on the agony, more so on the individual and the reasons behind such atrocities. Its not a short film, but i found myself not wanting it to end. Some scenes in particular bring light relief and patch the whole thing up into a marvellous little epic. I highly highly recommend it to fans of beautiful cinema.

This movie won the 2006 Udine Far East Festival a big festival about Asian cinematography. At the end of the screening the audience applauded the director Kwang-Hyun Park and the movie for 5 minutes and gave him the audience award with a clear margin above the other festival movies (and many movies where very good!) This is a great film. The story is a great mix of dramatic and comical moments, with some interesting characters as the crazy girl of Dongmakgol (Hye-jeong Kang) and the northern and southern soldiers. Technically the movie is beautiful. Great visuals, simple but effective and good editing that keeps a good pace though all the film. The musics are good but there is no score that you are going to remember. The acting is very good and all the main actors can keep up well all the changes in the mood of the movie and they can do both good comical scenes and dramatic ones. I have no great experience in Korean movies, but this one is surely the best one i've ever seen and I suggest to try and see it, i'm sure that you will have no regrets in doing that.

(Sorry for my "stumbling" English, i'm Italian and i'm not so good in learning foreign languages :P )