Welcome to Dongmakgol

Set in the Korean war period, Welcome to Dongmakgol, unlike other war-movies that represent a rather gory, bloody, and destructive depiction of the battlefiels, portrays a fantasy-like utopia in a small village with just a few villagers, whose biggest concerns are wild boars ruining their potato fields. Although some time is necessary, after spending some time in this ideal place with no political background but innocent and cordial villagers surrounded by magnificent natural landscapes, the North Korean and South Korean soldiers are soon able to return to their original    state where they are in fact from one ‘nation’. As Bevan states, a nation “creates citizens who have congruent identities and shared ideals”. From this point of view, dongmakgol somehow is a nation; a small, yet ideal and peaceful nation where citizens cooperate and have shared ideas, cultures, and values.  In the film, the South Korean, North Korean soldiers and even the American soldier all together wear hanbok, and harmoniously able to get along with each other where their friendships are able to “transcend national boundaries”. Their accoutrements are not necessary anymore. 

long shots of natural landscapes well depicted the villagers’ indifference purity and isolation where political background and war did not matter to them but the fact that they had just ‘enough’ to eat. The soldiers’ smile at the end of the movie suggests their satisfaction and happiness in the fact that they saved dongmakgol and they were able reunite and cooperate together. Perhaps what the movie title is suggesting to us is that(with the fact that it is in english-“welcome to”) it is representing to the world an ideal place where the division nor war is necessary, implying the director’s “desire for peaceful reunification”.