Battle Ground 625 aka Welcome to Dongmakgol

The Korean film industry seems to be getting better with every movie I watch but this is pretty close to the top of my hit list. A superb technical production that can hold its ground against any of the mega-buck Hollywood studios. A delightful Shangri La kind of story where enemies become part of the same family in a village that time forgot. The 'stand off' scene is absolutely superb - how can a pointed rifle instill fear in people that have never seen one?

This film has it all: comedy, love, fear, danger, excitement and special effects to blow you away. You can see how they are done in the 'making of' part of the special features on the disk, which is a hilarious addition to the film itself that shouldn't be missed either.

I made it about 20 minutes into this before the overarching soundtrack and the twee fey mountain people drove me to switching it off. Some bad acting, bad writing and an obvious revisionist agenda regarding the Korean war - the commies being the good guys is an interesting but grating spin, North Korea being the shining beacon of freedom and acceptance that it is. Putting the inaccurate politics aside the is a difficult film to get interested in, the music is a distraction and it's difficult to tell what genre it's aiming for. There are plenty of good Korean films that deal with dramatic suspense well - Tale of Two Sisters, Oldboy, the Revenge films spring to mind, I'm a Cyborg is a good example of whimsy. This isn't a good example of anything.

Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) is set during the Korean hostilities in 1950 in a remote mountain village, you guest it, called Dongmakgol. For some reason, that’s never explained, it’s completely isolated from the outside world and has no idea that there’s a war going on. Into this remote community come an American fighter pilot whose plane crash-landed, three retreating North Korean soldiers, and two members of the South Korean army who are lost. During fracases between the two set’s of Korean soldiers a grenade destroys the villages food store, feeling a sense of guilt the visitors decide to stay and help the locals rebuild the decimated building. During the work they slowly forget their hatred for one another and build a sense of friendship. Meanwhile back at the U.S. command it’s believed that there is a major North Korean military presence in the area where the plane went missing and they decide to mount a major air strike. In order to spare the village from complete destruction, the soldiers decide to act together to divert the attack. Also known as Battleground 625 it has the normal Korean sense of the absurd but is a strangely uplifting, surprisingly good anti-war movie with some very sad and moving moments. It’s narrative is reinforced by some believable characterisation including the “crazy village girl” played by Hye-jeong Kang who won Best Supporting Actress at the South Korean Grand Bell Awards in 2006.

My boyfriend bought this film purely because it was released by CineAsia, I hate war films and tried to talk him out of it. I'm so glad he didn't listen to me, this film is wonderful.

Needless to say it's set during the Korean civil war - Two North Koreans and two South Koreans end up lost in the mountains and find themselves in a small villiage were the locals have no clue there's even a war going on. Throw in a crashed American pilot who seems to think talking slower and louder makes English understandable to everyone, and you have the recipe for chaos.

This is not really a war film, it's a beautiful comedy/drama that shows how people can pull together in an emergency despite their differences.

There are moments to make you laugh and cry in equel measure, and the ending leaves you with a new faith in the human race (and a fresh hatred of America).

The only bad things I can say about this film are 1: The American 'actors' are terrible, they are probably just regular Americans who happened to be in Korea at the time. 2: The music is, in my opinion, far too 'epic' sounding, I know that this film is supposed to be a sort of war epic but I personally don't think it looked or felt that way.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a gory war epic then look elsewhere, but if you like gentle comedy with some dark drama then is for you.

Loved this film. Whether visually, the dialogue or musically this is not a difficult film to care about - sure I think you can work out the plot quite easily, but the film's about the journey and this is a great travelling companion. More than a War film, it's about people.

Very moving and a treat. WATCH IT!