Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War is an assault to the core of humanity. The depictions of war are much too raw, too real to ignore as gratuitous cinematic fodder. Instead, it is disturbing to acknowledge that these scenes of war are not distinctive of the Korean War but sadly echo the carnage in all wars – wars that recruit 18 year olds. In watching the entirety of Kang Je-Gyu’s war epic, I was stunned as how Kang was able to cause the viewer to empathize with Lee Jin-tae’s primal responses despite Lee’s savage actions. Though Taegukgi portrays the themes of war in dehumanizing the enemy, preservation of family, Darwinian tenet of survival of the fittest, loyalty to country and/or cause, familial sacrifice for the sake of one, as well as many other prevalent themes in literature – most notably in Ernest Hemingway’s many war novels, including A Farewell to Arms, as well as Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, may be suitable for high school aged students – after all Saving Private Ryan is often shown in history classes. Understandably we teach literature where young lovers commit suicide, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and a son kills his father and beds his mother, Sophocle’s Oedipus, the Korean War is not part of the Western canon of literature and Kang’s film would causes parental concerns. Yet with these reservations, I see the merits Taegukgi has in explicitly depicting the themes discussed in written word. While graphic, it is not vulgar and specific scenes such as the mass migration of refugees (01:34:00) would serve as great visual aid for masses that fled the war, or the opening credits of how countries share reverence for their fallen soldiers, but too much of the film is bloody. Perhaps, in a collegiate setting this film would be apt in complementing these themes, but in a high school setting, even with parent consent forms, this film is too striking in its display of war to be shown.
edited by crhude on 1/8/2016