The Brotherhood of War

One of the first things I noticed in the opening few minutes of the film was the stark contrast between what Young-shin describes as the day she wishes every other day could be like and the following day, a day I can only imagine is one of the worst of everyone’s lives.  The first scene is filled with undeniable joy: Seoul is lively, bustling, there is Korean music playing, and the colors are bright and vivid.  In the next scene, the colors are bleak; only white and brown are visible. Anywhere you look, there is someone panicking or crying.  The juxtaposition between the two scenes back to back couldn’t be more clear cut. 

A prominent theme I have noticed present in our class discussion, the readings for this week, and The Brotherhood of War has been the concept and importance of blood relationships and lineage. As Shin reports, the majority of respondents in a survey conducted consider “blood” the most important criterion of defining the Korean nation, regardless of residence or ideology (2).  This is an exceptionally radicalized notion of nation (Shin 2).   Professor Cho told us to keep in mind was the different tropes of the Korean War portrayed by Korean War films released at different times.  It could be argued that it is a Korean War film trope to talk about divided families, brothers split, warring political ideologies with people just trying to survive; but, another trope that has become quite common in discussion of the Korean War is that of Koreans manipulated by superpowers.  I think that The Brotherhood of War touches upon both of these tropes.  It is very clear how the film illustrates the ‘divided families’ trope: the brothers end up separated in more ways than one.  Lee Jin-tae ends up fighting for North Korea after he believes his brother to be dead.  However, even when Lee Jin-tae and Lee Jin-seok were fighting for South Korea together, they were separated.  It was gradual, but the strong bond these brothers once shared had disintegrated.  The Brotherhood of War  also depicts the way in which the Korean War wasn’t a conflict that the Koreans on the peninsula had self-determination over, and how they became puppets of Soviets and US.  The concept of Korea as a victimized and repressed space lives up to the colonial experience itself. As the movie continued, it was clearer and clearer Lee Jin-tae was losing himself. It is quite possible he was a metaphor for the Korean peninsula itself, having no control over its own fate.