Welcome to Dongmakgol

Film

Welcome to Dongmakgol (웰컴투 동막골) is a 2005 South Korean film set during the Korean War. It was South Korea's official entry for the foreign language film category of the Academy Awards in 2005, and as of 2005 it was the fourth-highest grossing South Korean movie of all time. It was the debut film of director Park Kwang-hyun and stars Shin Ha-kyun, Jeong Jae-yeong and Kang Hye-jeong.

The story is slightly fantastic, and is definetely romantic in tone. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot find themselves in a secluded and fairly idealized village which is unaware of the outside world and the war.

The movie is based on the long running play by Jang Jin.

Plot

Vorlage:Spoiler A U.S. Navy pilot, surname of Smith, is shot down while flying over a remote part of Korea. He is found by local villagers who nurse him back to health. Time stands still in this village called Dongmakgol. They have no knowledge of modern techonology, such as guns and grenades, and no one has any idea of the conflict raging in the outside world. Meanwhile, not far from the village, a platoon of North Korean and South Korean soldiers have an encounter, and the ensuing gunfight leaves most of them dead. The surviving soldiers on both sides retreat. During the retreat, the surviving North Korean soldiers are found by a mentally retarded village girl. She leads them to the village, where to their astonishment, they find two South Korean soldiers and a U.S. Navy pilot already there. The unexpected encounter causes an armed standoff that lasts for several hours. The villagers have no idea what the stir is about, and wonder why the two groups of people are standing there pointing those "sticks" at each other. In the meantime, Allied commanders send a rescue team to recover Smith, whom they mistakenly believe has been captured by enemy units and is being held at a hidden base. After the rescue team finds and recovers Smith, a bomber unit will fly in and destroy everything, which means that the innocent villagers are now in grave peril. Back at the village, the two groups of soldiers have stood down and have actually become a part of the village. They have even become friends. The rescue team finally finds the villagers, whom they suspect to be spies for the enemy, and as such, treats them harshly, killing some of them. This angers the soldiers, who have become one with villagers, and so they defend the villagers, leaving only one man from the rescue party alive. They find out from the surviving rescue party member about the bombing plot, and take it upon themselves to save the village. They decide to create a decoy, so that the bombing unit will attack them instead of the village. Smith is sent back along with the surviving rescue party member so that he can tell them that there is nothing there to bomb, in case they decide to send more bombers. The decoy is successful. The village is saved, but at the cost of the lives of the enemy soldiers who had become friends.

Awards

Actress Kang Hye-jeong won Best Supporting Actress at the South Korean Grand Bell Awards in 2006.

Rating

• South Korea - 12
• UK - 15 (for moderate bloody violence)

References

• [1] BBFC rating page for Welcome to Dongmakgol

External links

• Official Movie Site (in Korean)
• Vorlage:Imdb title
• Review of Welcome To Dongmakgol at lovehkfilm.com
• Review of Welcome To Dongmakgol at lunapark6.com
• Review at koreanfilm.og

Vorlage:War-film-stub Vorlage:Korea-film-stub