Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005)

In Kwang-Hyun Park’s film Welcome to Dongmakgol the protagonists, being two South Korean soldiers, three North Korean soldiers, and one American soldier, all arrive at the village of Dongmakgol and are thrown off by the isolation and ignorance of the villagers in terms of their attitude towards the conflict (they are unaware of North and South Korea as separate entities) and their reaction towards modern weapons. At the time the film takes place (around 1950) North and South Koreans were involved in heavy conflict and the prospects of peace were virtually non-existent. The films that were shown at the time were generally propaganda and depicted the enemy side as inhuman monsters. This film displays postsocialist ideas and provides a scenario in which a group of soldiers become displaced in their own time while staying in this village which results in their ways of thinking changing drastically. The acting from most of the main characters is very impressive. I say most because some of the Americans seem a bit stiff. Jae-yeong Jeong and Ha-kyun Shin (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) are particularly good and their scenes together provide some of the most touching and interesting character interactions in the film. The cinematography is beautiful and the lush green of the mountain spills into every shot. The village is depicted as a beautiful oasis in a world of war. Most of the events that take place, especially those involving the slightly crazy but entrancing Yeo-il (played by Oldboy‘s Hye-jeong Kang), feel very surreal. Everything that she comes into contact with is given a mystical quality (with the aid of slow motion).

There is one scene in particular that best shows the setting’s conflict with the times and also blatantly makes this film a representative of postsocialist cinema and that is the boar scene. Roughly halfway through the film all the protagonists are helping the villagers farm their fields after what is thought to be a dud grenade blows up their food storage. While in the field a massive boar shows up and heads towards one of the protagonists. It is at this point that the entire scene slows down to extreme slow motion; in some cases it’s practically a freeze frame. Both the North and South Korean soldiers realize that there is a bigger threat than their own grudges and begin working together to overcome it. The way the characters react to help one another is by pure instinct; as if to show that it is only natural to help another human being, regardless of their allegiance. The way that the scene is shot in slow motion and with only the characters in clear focus (making them stand out strongly against the backgrounds), it is almost as though because of the sheer idea that the two sides could unite to defend a higher cause, the laws of gravity and time no longer apply as they perform feats such as leaping thirty feet into the air to slay the boar or flying towards a former enemy to save him from being trampled. Even the American (Steve Taschler) helps out in the effort. The scene is very dreamlike and surreal through the use of slow motion and sound. The music takes dominance over the scene and there are very few sound effects. The scene presents an idea that despite the bitter hatred and mistrust the two sides feel towards each other, at their cores they are all Koreans and will unite for a higher purpose than their useless war. The unification of the North and South Koreans in order to save to non divided Korean villagers from danger marks the turning point in the film. After this scene the protagonists begin to like and trust each other. They all seem to like what the village represents, being a united Korea. They even cast aside their uniforms and wear villager’s clothing, literally shedding all that really made them different from each other.

The concept that there could be peace between North and South Korea is very much a part of postsocialist cinema. Before the 1990s, South Korea was under the impression that the North would invade at any time and force them to be communists. It was only after South Korea began to move toward open democracy that the directors were given more freedom to make their films and there were several films dealing with the idea that North Koreans are human just like the South Koreans such as Welcome to Dongmakgol and Joint Security Area (2000). The way that the North Koreans are treated in Welcome to Dongmakgol not only criticizes the soldiers fighting but is often humorous in displaying their conflicts. They have a stand off for days as the confused villagers grow bored from being their hostages and go on to do more important things like minding their beehives. The film shows a human side to the “enemy” and also gives off a feeling of hope that there will be an end to the conflict in the future. This kind of thinking was just not possible to show in films before even the 1990s. The change in the South Korean viewpoint of the conflict happened quickly and it is represented in their films. Welcome to Dongmakgol is an incredible and entertaining film that leave a profound impression on its viewers.