Tae Guk Gi (2004) (2-Disc Set, Special Edition)

An Interesting Perspective on the Korean War

By ChristopherL  Nov 22, 2005

Pros: Excellent cinematography that llustrates the complexity of a civil war.

Cons: The story unfolds like a run-on sentence.

This is an outstanding peice of work from a Korean director and cast. It is well acted and directed with all of the effects of a large-budget film. More intriguing still is that it is a told through a uniquely Korean perspective--and not through the ...historical perspective of the western militaries. The problem is that I AM a westerner. I want the story to unfold in an expected, predictable format--an introduction to the issue, character development, a climax (read "change" here) and closure. And while "Flag" comes closer to this format than many other Asian/European movies, this story also rambles on through too many sub-plots. It has trouble deciding when to end...though the director does manage to tie the ending to the beginning very nicely. My only other gripe about this otherwise excellent addition to any war genre collection would be to say that it is not entirely historically accurate in that it pretty much omits the contributions of dozens of nati Read more Less