For the next few months I’ll be doing a “Spotlight on S. Korea” series, in which I discuss some of the most exciting films to come out of that country in recent years. First up is a look at Park Chan-wook’s JSA: Joint Security Area from 2000.
While recently suffering through a screening of Im Sang-soo’s interminable The Taste of Money, a ham-fisted melodrama whose trite sociological insights (money corrupts!) seem to only serve as a thin pretext for copious amounts of sex and nudity, I had to ask myself, “Is the S. Korean New Wave finally dead?” Is this really the best of the recent Korean movies upon which the likes of the Cannes Film Festival and IFC Films has to draw? Some would say that the death knell first sounded in 2006: that’s when the S. Korean government, as part of a new “free trade” agreement with the U.S., struck down a “screen quota” law that required theaters to show locally produced movies for at least 40% of the year. Yet great S. Korean films continued to be made over the next several years, even if they were less frequent in number than in the halcyon days of 2002-2005. It now seems, however, that the S. Korean cinema might really be going the way of the formerly mighty film industry of Hong Kong: among the top tier of Korean directors, several have recently tried their luck working outside of their native country for the first time (Kim Ji-woon with the poorly received Arnold Schwarzenegger-vehicle The Last Stand, Park Chan-wook with the superb but under-promoted Nicole Kidman-starring Stoker and Bong Joon-ho with the forthcoming international co-production Snowpiercer). Lee Chang-dong, arguably the greatest contemporary S. Korean director, has always worked at a slow pace, directing just three of his uniquely novelistic movies since his breakout success with Peppermint Candy in 1999. That leaves only the prolific Hong Sang-soo to keep the home fires burning with the dependable annual releases of his patented intellectual take on the rom-com. So now seems like a good time to look back at the remarkable burst of creativity that the S. Korean directors showed in the early 21st century.
Whenever I am lucky enough to teach contemporary S. Korean cinema in a class, J.S.A.: Joint Security Area is always the movie I screen first, even if it might not come first chronologically among the films I’ve chosen to show. This is because J.S.A.‘s political-thriller plot lays out the entire history of the conflict between North and South Korea in a way that is succinct, accessible and informative without ever being didactic. It is also ideal because it was directed by Park Chan-wook, who is probably the single most popular and critically acclaimed director, on an international basis, to come out of S. Korea since the 1990s. Park was born in Seoul in 1963. He majored in Philosophy at Sogang University, where he also started a movie club (and many critics have seen a dovetailing of these interests in his highly regarded, philosophically inflected “Vengeance trilogy”). It was while in college that Park first decided to become a film director, after attending a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Upon graduation, he worked as a film critic, then as an assistant director before he made his feature directing debut in 1992 with a movie entitled The Moon is the Sun’s Dream. Both this debut film and Trio, his 1997 follow-up, were met with critical and commercial indifference. J.S.A., his third movie, was released in 2000 and quickly broke all box-office records to become the highest grossing Korean movie of all time.
J.S.A. tells the fictional story of a shooting at the “Joint Security Area” on the border between the two Koreas, an incident allegedly perpetrated by a South Korean soldier, that has left two North Korean soldiers dead and another seriously wounded. Because this event inflames an already highly sensitive diplomatic situation, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission sends in a Swiss Army officer of Korean descent, Major Sophie Jang (Lee Yeong-ae, the future “Lady Vengeance”), to investigate. After interviewing participants on both sides of the incident and hearing conflicting accounts of what happened, Jang quickly realizes that nothing is what it seems. But who is lying and why? This present day story is intercut with lengthy flashbacks concerning the principles involved in the shooting — in particular, North Korean Sergeant Oh (the great Song Kang-ho) and South Korean Sergeant Lee (Lee Byung-hun). Without giving too much of the plot away, Park gradually leads viewers to realize that what both sides are trying to cover up is nothing more harmful than friendship, which pushes the story in directions both ironic and tragic.
One of the things that surprised me the most when I started exploring S. Korean cinema years ago was the degree to which its filmmakers expressed a desire for reunification and reconciliation with the North, a country with which they are still technically at war. J.S.A., a movie without precedent, was widely acclaimed by S. Korean critics as well as audiences upon its first release. In fact, the only sector of S. Korean society that seemed to disapprove of the film was the military (whose members objected to a sympathetic portrayal of the N. Korean “enemy”). The movie’s plea for tolerance and peace was clearly a message that resonated far and wide in a country whose inhabitants have been raised to hate and fear a neighbor they know little about, despite sharing a common language and culture. Yet because film censorship laws had only been relaxed in S. Korea a few years prior to J.S.A. being made, it was a message that would not have been possible any earlier. Fortunately, Park Chan-wook was well-positioned to deliver such a message in making J.S.A. (not only as a young ambitious writer/director eager to bust taboos but also as a member of the Democratic Labor Party, the most progressive political party in his country).
One of the central ideas in J.S.A., posited, as is often the case with Park, in mostly visual terms, is the tragic notion that borders are man-made and therefore arbitrary. The motif of borders, whether physical or psychological (sometimes the division is within a single character), is one that recurs throughout S. Korean cinema and Park’s movies in particular. The notion of “being divided” seems almost ingrained in the Korean consciousness and Park fully explores the concept here, occasionally with a dash of absurd humor, in the film’s many bifurcated frames. This is nowhere better illustrated than in the final shot of J.S.A., a doozy that haunts in its evocative ambiguity: in a flashback to an event that occurred midway through the movie, Park allows his camera to pan across and zoom in and out of — Ken Burns-style — a black-and-white photograph of all four of the film’s main characters in happier times; two soldiers from the North and two from the South, each standing on opposite sides of the border that runs through the Joint Security Area, are united together in the same frame yet separated from each other by a government-enforced line of demarcation — a moment that is frozen in time forever.
J.S.A.: Joint Security Area is available in a serviceable edition on DVD from Palm Pictures. An upgrade to Blu-ray, a format on which all of Park’s subsequent movies are available, would be most welcome.
White City Cinema 
May 13th, 2013 at 10:15 am
Excellent piece. Very helpful for cinephiles and film scholars. I am so looking forward to other posts in this series.
May 13th, 2013 at 10:41 am
Thanks, Suzi. I hope to have pieces on MEMORIES OF MURDER (my favorite Korean movie of recent years) and NOWHERE TO HIDE (a really wild experimental action movie) up here soon.
August 4th, 2013 at 8:40 am
[…] was totally ripped off by the Wachowski siblings for their third Matrix movie). If, as I speculated months ago, the golden age of South Korean cinema truly has come to an end, cinema lovers will still always […]
September 26th, 2014 at 2:41 pm
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October 18th, 2015 at 6:11 pm
I knew some Korean’s history as an Asian since I was young. I just heard and discussed some news about the North Korea with my friends few days ago. My friends told buying the import product in North Korea is crime. And only the president and some kind of important can use Internet to reach things outside the North Korea. I though they just kidding at that time, but now, I thought the reason may be the North Korea tried to stop their people compare themselves with the South Korean.
The movie J.S.A. seems told the audience the tension situation between South and North Korea was made by the last generation. One point is the major Sophie Jang who was a Korean but grew up at other country would not have those hard feeling to any side of Korean. Even her father is a victim of the Korean War. Her knew the situation between South and North Korea, so she chose to listen to herself instead of listen to Sgt. Lee, Private Nam, and Sgt. Oh.
Another point is Sgt. Oh and Private Jung chose to help Sgt. Lee instead of left or killed him when they first met. Sgt. Oh was a good and smart man. He seems understand the true of these two sides of the country. He was the first man to give a hand to both side people even he did it in private. He taught Sgt. Lee that they could be friend. Then Sgt. Lee would introduce Private Nam to Sgt. Oh and Private Jung.
Unfortunately, the fifth man broke everything. At the same time, the movie showed a cruel true to the audience. The influence from last generation was too strong to make these four men trust each other. The killing started, and everything went back to the tension situation.
October 19th, 2015 at 12:35 pm
The whole movie combines the traditional Korean specialties with a tragic ending, but not deliberately. A comment suddenly occures to me saying that Andersen’s fairy tale has a good development, but usually escape sa sad ending (daughter of the sea turned into foam, happy prince was sent to the furnace), it appears the ideal and the reality of the conflict. “JSA” is not a fairy tale, but it gives the same feeling.
When it comes to the battle waged, we often praise the friendship between comrades, but “JSA” tells a story about a relationship between the “enemy”. War is not out intention, they always placed close relatives’ photos in pockets, they raised a puppy in the post, they would carry sketch book and pencil close at hand …… but this time, they were only tools under authority. During the investigation, because both sides refused to say the truth, Sophie had no choice but ask both sides to meet together. They were sitting on both sides of the table, standing behind them is their support forces. Sophie took the model to reproduce the case, was present on behalf of man-puppet characters, then in front of them committed suicide jumping through the window to play the South rose plant video. When the time Wu Jing saw Lee Soo-hyuck shaken expression, surprisely he pushed the table, punch down with Lee Soo-hyuck, shouting “Long live the Democratic People!.” Scene immediately became belligerent, tables were overturned models scattered on the ground, as a support officer drew a pistol, riding in the man-puppet. However, soldiers, they are like those who have been twisted to pieces puppets.
Although the theme of war film, “JSA” contains only one scene of gun shoot. I always do not like no drama and bloody fight scenes, for this period, i was totally moved. Lens had been switched quickly. It is difficult to forget they flew across the border in the rain back to the post, drenched ground curled up in the corner of the room crying. Bullets flew across him, crushing glass and house utensils in one place; it is difficult to forget their anxious expression because they worried about whether Lee Soo-hyuck had returned safely; it is difficult to forget Lee Soo-hyuck’s limping leg, falling down as to run to the other side as fast as he can. One scene showed that he faced to the sky, at that moment rain mixed with tears .
The movie gave me a deep impression on those little details. For example, in Northern outpost tried to adjust the camera angle; when on duty they spat with each other; for example, when a gust of wind blew caused a little panic ; for example flashing back and showing that black and white photographs at the end of the movie ……
October 23rd, 2015 at 12:53 pm
Honestly, I did not know much about the history of Korea, but after watching JSA, I have a better idea on it. I know more about Chinese history because im Chinese, but Korean history is something very new to me.
Personally, I love the plot of this movie. The director, Park Chan-wook does a really good job at conveying emotion through relationships with other people. Even with all the conflict going on between North and South Korea, these group of soldiers from both North and South Korea managed to build a relationship that could not be broken. It was a strong relationship, like brothers. They were willing to sacrifice for each other and put their lives on the line for each other. I feel like that relationship made the movie a lot more interesting because we can all relate to that close bond.
One other thing I wanted to point out is the use of people smoking together out of respect. Smoking is emphasized in the movie to show one’s respect to one another and a sign that they are comfortable with each other. This aspect of the movie really caught my eye and I found it a very unique addition to the movie.
I really enjoyed this movie because it was very interesting and unique to me. I’m not a fan of Korean dramas or movies like this, but I can honestly say that this movie could make me a fan. Overall, this movie was great and I would love to watch more movies similar to this and learn more about Korean history.
October 23rd, 2015 at 3:56 pm
I first didn’t understand what was going on. This film consists mostly of a long flashback . I’ve never understood the difference between North Korea and South Korea. After this film I now have a better sense of how it is. North Korea is considered very strict and both sides are raised to hate each other and be enemies. Basically a civil war was going on. The director took advantage of the changing times and got this film made otherwise it would not have been possible. The introduction of the film we see a mysterious shooting and the shooter is presumed to be Sergeant Lee. I agree with your post about the imaginary lines made by man. In the film the borders are feared as expressed in the scene where Sergeant Lee attempts to introduce Private Nam to his North Korean friends. When these two North soldiers were introduced they seemed dangerous but they ended up helping Sergeant Lee out of the trap. Private Nam is scared to even step one foot over the line. I like how you said the original style of the shot of the photograph in the end. It’s nice to know how this inspiring film technique was imitated and was used well. It really emphasized the theme of the whole film in literally one picture.
October 23rd, 2015 at 8:13 pm
I am a big fan of Korean movies. This movie was really a great narrative about the South Korea and North Korea. I saw this movie, when I was a teenager before, but never really understood the story line of this movie. Now more than five years have past since I watched it the first time. Now I truly understand the movie. It is truly a tear jerker melodrama.
The scene’s are always evolved around the and at the border. Sgt. Lee and Sgt. Oh met at the field, when Sgt. Lee got stuck on a minefield. Ever since Sgt. Oh saved Sgt. Lee, they became friends, who would send each other letters, and even crossed the border to hang out and talk to Sgt. Oh and his other soldier Jeong. Sgt. Lee keeps sneaking to the North Korean border line to Sgt. Oh. Over the course of days and weeks they became good friends. They would play games with each other, and talk about their personal life. The end scene of the photograph of the four soldiers was a great technique zooming and out to show us the regular happy they were. Until the reality hit them with their country. Neither of them wanted to reveal the truth to protect the country.
Major Sophie E. comes in two solve what really happened between the four soldiers. Sgt. Lee and soldier and friend Nam Sung. They both were just normal guys, who were friends. Close friends. Sgt. Oh and soldier Jeong Woo were on the North Korean border.
Both sides were lying to Major Sophie. She tried to find out and tried to push both sides to find out, but she got stuck because neither soldiers wouldn’t talk to protect their side. In the end she found out that they were both side were lying, and they were actually friends.
This movie has a lot of the physical and psychological motif that appears through out the scene. When Nam Sung was questioned that his wapon was fired, he got scared, and tempted suicide. He threw himself of the window. Sgt. Lee kills himself in the end. Jeong dies, when all four of them got caught by the North Korean Sgt.
In this film we had the main colors of green, dark blue, brown, white, and black colors. The plot is that those four soldiers got entangled in their friendship with each other. The emotions are and feelings aren’t hold back in the end.
It is truly a sad melodrama,that shows the tension between North Korea and the South Korea film.
October 23rd, 2015 at 11:28 pm
There are very few movies that I will watch again and very few movies I will brag about. But J.S.A I enjoyed, and will watch again. Compared to what I’ve watched in theatres lately, I enjoy my Saturdays at HWC. I had an idea of the strife between North and South Korea, but only from a PBS WTTW view point. It was not until Private Nam jumps from the window do I become hooked. At first I thought the premise was a soldier gay love affair, and even thought it might have a resemblance to A Few Good Men (Reiner, 1992) – Even better, Park Chan-Wook does an incredibly thing,- J.S.A- an unlikely friendship between soldiers fighting/ standing for different sides, although they do share a language and culture, they are divided. They also share the psychological border that stops their boots in their tracks. I can agree Sargent Oh, is an extraordinary character, for example his loyalty as a person, as a brother speaks a bit- when he is indulging into a chocolate moon pie and Sargent Lee suggest that in being part of South Korea, he’ll get to eat as many moon pies as he’d like. Sargent Oh removes the entire pie from his mouth to say he would continue to eat the North’s horrible version of moon pie than convert. J.S.A does expressed the desire for reunification and reconciliation among both sides. I can agree this movie is a bold statement for peace. J.S.A a great thriller melodrama -I enjoyed it greatly. I am looking forward to see Stoker, the trailer was intriguing.
October 23rd, 2015 at 11:35 pm
Nice post, I really like how you pointed out how the boarder that divides north and South Korean being man made. Park Chan-wook did a good job in show casting the division amongst North and South Korea. I knew a little about the division of N and S Korea but I had no idea how serious it was. J S A gave me a lot of insight on this issue. It really doesn’t make sense to divide people of the same culture because of what happened in the past then to teach the future generations to dislike the other side. For them to have that hate it must be taught. This movie is very sad, people died just for having a friendship with the so called “enemies.” The final shoot of the movie is amazing. Seeing all four of them happy and looking right into the camera but only being divided by a government line is really sad.
October 24th, 2015 at 12:00 am
I truly admire Korean Films, and I never knew I would enjoy them. This is my first time watching a Korean film and I was wondering if Park Chan-Woo the director of J.S.A made this movie to send a message. I knew that North Korea and South Korea had been enemies for a long time. In the movie you have Major Sophie Jang trying to figure who was responsible for the death of two soldiers, and how did it all started. It’s amazing to see how the director showed the bright side of each soldiers, and that they seem tired of all the hate that is going on between N. Korean, and S. Korean. Sgt. Lee was rescued by a North Korean Sgt, which was Sgt. Oh. The director showed his viewers that one good act can change everything, just like it even made Private Nam change his view about N.Korea. In the movie you see the goofy side of all four soldiers. After reading your article I was not surprised that the military disapprove of this magnificent film. Especially when lots of hate has been going on for years.
October 24th, 2015 at 10:50 am
I didn’t think that I would enjoy a political thriller, but JSA was an excellent movie. The style of movie, as well as its script, was what made this movie so easy to watch. With the flashbacks throughout this film, its gives you a chance to try to figure out yourself with what really happened. As the story starts to unfold you realized how tragic it all was. It wasn’t so much as a political motive but the protection their friendship and the love that they had for one another regardless of the man-made boarder.
I also like that this movie was educational while entertaining. This film gives those who are unaware or know little of Korea’s history a chance to explore it and try to understand how one country turned into two. I think that it’s a tragic history. The North Korea people are in limbo, very unaware of the changing outside world. They believe in a great leader who has done little for them, even causing North Korean famine. As the North is left behind, South Korea became a thriving, technological, modern day society. South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced country in the world and they aren’t stopping anytime soon. They have come very from since the Japanese occupation of Korea/Korean War. And I think that only time can tell the fate of these two countries.
October 24th, 2015 at 11:03 am
JSA is a very obvious plea for reunification. The pivotal event in the film is the two North Korean and South Korean soldiers losing the ability to remain friends, and that event is made clear only after most of the film’s time is spent showing the depth of their friendship. From the initial building of trust with Sgt. Oh disarming the mine that Sgt. Lee was standing on to the seemingly endless nights of playing games in the guard house.
I agree that the film emphasizes that borders are arbitrary, but the ending makes it obvious that while crossing them is a good start, actually removing them is far more complicated than that.
The story is told largely in flashbacks, which is often done poorly and results in a frustrating and confusing film experience. This story, however, really benefits from this method because it uncovers the details as Mjr. Jean does.
October 24th, 2015 at 11:36 am
I haven’t really been familiar with Korean film and cinema but I was so amazed on how well this film really puts is the audience in such enjoyment and in some ways at “the end of our seat” throughout the film. The most important aspect of this film is that it is told through flashbacks and its like a puzzling type of way the film is made. We the audience put the film in chronological order since we are putting what went down with who in JSA. It is familiar to other American films that use the flashback techniques that has the audience intrigued and kept the attention all to the screen.
Another big aspect of the film that is used In a different Spotlight and different form of way is that it conveys the “forbidden love” but in this case it’s the forbidden “friendship” that separates the North and the South. The forbidden “feel” to it is similar to (for example) “Romeo and Juliet”. Just like in that case if they were seen together it would bring outrage and hate between the two sides. Just like in JSA, if the soldiers were caught in their opposing side’s territory, they would be in huge trouble and will most likely face severe consequences and maybe even death.
JSA is a film that stands out for itself and provides all types of emotion. Where it’s happy and good feeling such as the soldiers bonding and creating a “brotherhood” with one another. Then at other times it provides, sad and emotionally disturbing feels, such as the final scenes where they have to be done with each other for good and they even start to kill each other or themselves at a point. It really is a film to remember.
October 24th, 2015 at 12:19 pm
JSA surprised me. It was fantastically well-made, but that’s not what surprised me. Instead, it’s the idea, as you point out, that South Koreans pine for unification, especially since when I learned about the demilitarized zone in high school, and by learning about what conditions are like in North Korea, where famine is widespread and a dictatorship is in place, I got the feeling that North and South Korea truly wanted nothing to do with each other. And yet what this film and your lecture showed is that it’s not quite as clear-cut as that (it hardly ever is, right?), and that there is another side to the situation that gets ignored by western education and the media.
And so, the notion that South Koreans want to be unified with their people is tragic, since the border in place makes it impossible. And as you (once again) point out, it’s made even more tragic by the fact that the borders are man-made. In JSA, we get the notion that borders can just be arbitrary and silly. We, in a way, learn to fear them, because they keep things out, and sometimes give us the idea of being kept safe from something else. Much like when Private Nam first fears crossing the border; he has been conditioned to fear the North because of the border. And yet, when Sergeant Lee and Private Jeong begin spitting over the border and at each other, we see the true silliness of the situation; the border is truly just as absurd as that short interaction.
I have to say that I really enjoy more tragic films that have friendship as their theme, like Stand by Me, and JSA was not a disappointment. I really didn’t expect the flashback scene to be so long, but it was brilliant nonetheless, and really is the meat of the movie, in my opinion. Because of its tragic nature, I get the feeling that the film is calling for some sort of impossible change, as depicted by the scene in the outpost, where the murder takes place; human nature is near impossible to change, and someone will always get in the way, but there is always a small ray of hope that the impossible can somehow be achieved.
October 24th, 2015 at 10:01 pm
I had never watched a Korean political thriller before and thought I was not going to like it but I honestly really enjoyed it. At first I didnt undestand it because it showed the ending first then went on to a flashback but then I started to get it when the action started happening. I never knew Korea was divided into a north and south. I think its sad that its still going on today. It was a really good political thriller that showed the history of Koreans conflict between north and south being informative, funny, sad and intriguing. It was interesting how the man made border divided them and couldnt even show their shadow on the other side. The relationship of Sergeant Lee, Private Nam and Sergeant Oh, Private Jung was a strong bond of friendship that showed that their was no harm in bonding with the other side because they are all human. I thought the comedy in the film such as when the four guys would play around silly games like standing on one leg or the guards spitting at each other brought humar to the film instead of being all about depressing war. The ending was really sad because it was like the bond of like four brothers who had become soo close ended up with them shooting one another because they were discovered. The shooting was soo bloody and tragic. When Sergeant Lee said to forget the brotherly crap because at the end they were enemies something of that sort had me dissappointed because he had a point. Even though they had formed a friendship they were at war with one another. Even though Sergeant Lee and Sergeant Oh were on different sides they still tried to protect one another. They had a strong connection especially since Sergeant Oh had saved Sergeant Lee when he disactivated a mine he had stepped on. I thought it was a sad ending because Sergeant Lee killed himself and Sergeant Oh was discharged. The image at the end was really significant because it showed the four guys on their side divided by the border and was surprising to see that a picture taken during the film throughout the beginning would be used at the end closing up on the four of them. I thought it was key in the fillm because it was unexpecting and didnt occur to me that the ones who were at the front of the border line would have formed a friendship that ended up tragic.
October 25th, 2015 at 8:20 am
“J.S.A: Joint Security Area” is a South Korean movie in 2000. This movie is about sad Korean history which is divided by regime that communism and democratic. Our country is always hoping to reunification each other someday. When I was in elementary school and ten years old, this movie released and it was sensational at that time. I watched it with my family and I recalled that my father highly recommended to watch this movie because the atmosphere at that time most Korean should watch this film. South Korean government and North Korean government tried to reconcile and very favorable to each other at that time. The previous president Dae-jung Kim and Jung-il were close to each other and met several times for good relationship. That time was most peaceful time with South and North Korea after the Korean War. In school, teacher always highlighted that South and North Korea have to reunify as soon as possible and teacher let students to sing “Our hope is reunification.”
I think Korean movies are highly related to Korean politics at that specific time. When the government tend to open mind to distribution of any kinds of movie, Korean movie industry is very active and well make movie. During the Democratic Party’s president in South Korea, from 1998 to 2008 year, Korean movie was golden age. However, when the government controls the movie distribution, Korean movie technically make common story and common movie.
J.S.A is very well made Korean movie. The editing technique is really good and sound track is great harmonize with the sad feeling of protagonists. Specially, zoom in and zoom out technique is great. The scenes have overtones. The flashbacks are greatly organized and appropriate in whole story. The protagonists shares deep and sad feeling why our nations are divided by two. Sgt. Lee and Sgt. Oh are very close friends like family. They share same emotion of Korean song and taste of cookie. They both shared too many things except same nation. When they played like children, that scene showed natural and pure instinct of human being. Only physical barrier which is system is exist between them. There was no barrier in their mind.
It was third time I watched this film. First was when I was ten years old, second is three years ago, and last was 1 weeks ago. Every time I discovered new things in this film. This movie is one of my favorite. This movie is not just movie. It is our record of our country’s sad history and good example of introducing South and North Korea’s history to other country through movie form. Someday, I hope to make separated family in South and North Korea and I hope that movie impacts South and North Korea’s relationship and help to reunify as soon as possible.
October 25th, 2015 at 10:23 pm
I greatly enjoyed the personal touch you brought to this response, Y.J. 10/10
October 25th, 2015 at 8:25 am
The movie, J.S.A: Joint Security Area, is a war film made in 2000 by a famous director in South Korea, Chan-wook Park. This movie is about the friendship of four soldiers, Sgt. Lee, Private Nam, Sgt. Oh, and Private Jung. They are the soldiers guarding the border called “Military Demarcation Line (MDL),” which divides Korea into two, South Korea, and North Korea after the Korean War. The setting that the sympathetic between South and North Korea was the first attempt and fresh content in the 20th century, and it aroused the hope of reunification for many people at the time. However, it also showed the tragic reality in Korea that the conflict between South Korea and North Korea cannot be easily solved, through the setting that South and North Korean soldiers could not continue their friendship ever and that eventually the movie ended in the tragic conclusion, death and suicide.
The film, J.S.A: Joint Security Area, is special because it not only used a new subject matter, but it also used a new expression style. It distinctly revealed the personality and the emotional side of characters in the movie through actions and facial expressions of the characters, and it implicitly delivered a philosophical message through the object device. For example, Sgt. Lee and Private Nam gift a chocolate pie, a lighter, a shoe shine, and painted tools to North Korea’s soldiers, and it shows how much and truly they think about the North Korean friends. In addition, through the scene that four soldiers are kidding and laughing, it highlights that they are pure and childlike people. Also, in my opinion, the military demarcation line, which is simply drawn on the floor, seems like as a mental border not a physical border. As a result, people could be more shaken and got a stronger message after watching the movie, J.S.A: Joint Security Area. And this is a feature and attractiveness of contemporary South Korea Cinema compared with other countries.
November 13th, 2015 at 8:23 pm
Joint Security Areas in Korea connect the two political halves of North and South. The Bridge between the two checkpoints is a symbol between the territories and their undeniable connection. As the neutral Maj. Sophie is uncovering the truth about the relationship between these soldiers she ultimately encourages the suicide of Sgt. Lee and Nam. Honesty is innocent. It is purely itself and those who understand the truth bring weight to it. All Koreans have similarities the same as all humans have similarities. The boundaries we set, physically,mentally and institutionally, creates conflict.
November 15th, 2015 at 2:41 pm
The Korean films we have been watching in class lately have been very intriguing, interesting and entertaining. Before this class the thought of Korean films had crossed my mind, I always thought well I don’t know which foreign movies to look for so i didn’t. none the less i thought this movie was great very fun to see the different techniques used in films from here and film from Korea. So far I feel this film had been my favorite, minus the obnoxious song that gets repeated many times through out the film and the fact that the film was ended with that track(the song is good but it got overplayed). Great film I’ve already recommended it along with some others I’ve seen. p.s just figured out how to do these hence the late post.
March 21st, 2018 at 6:25 pm
J.S.A really surprised me,I was not expecting that much emotion and sadness from a movie that at first very much seems like a thriller. I do think it’s a thriller but it tackles a lot hard issues. Which would make sense since Park majored in philosophy, I think it is very apparent in the issue he tackles in this movie. Those issues being portraying North Korean soldiers in a lighter way than most of the world, as well as the unification of the two countries which for some is a grave thing to think. I think the use of Major Sophies character here was not only to bring a neutral party to look at this incidence but it also give us and impartial look into a friendship that should have never happened. The ending is very tragic. The four soldiers live in this amazing friendship that happens at night only to be broken up by the disruption of the reality that they live in. I’m looking forward to watching other South Korean films.
March 31st, 2018 at 8:28 am
10/10
March 22nd, 2018 at 1:26 am
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for choosing to show this film in our class. It could have been a slim chance that I ever hear of this film or director without your class or mention. Also, beautiful diction throughout this entire spotlight piece, as it certainly is a film deserving of the spotlight. Your attention to detail and ability to write events in the order you chose made this a very enjoyable and informative read.
Touching first on the history aspect of this film, I may have been completely lost with the plot had you not briefed the class prior to showing this film. That is not to say I didn’t understand the conflict between North and South Korea, but the way you explained it made it much more clear and fresh to me.
I thought Park Chan-wook created the perfect fictional narrative to illustrate the underlying compassion present between North and South Koreans. The main plot, the characters, and the way it was all pieced together, revealed the unspoken truths behind this pointless and tragic situation. As you mentioned in your text above, the people of Korea were “raised to hate thy neighbor” despite having so much in common and essentially being a part of the same land. It pained me to have to witness the circumstances the film explored these men fighting against.
One part that really stuck out to me was when the four men were sitting around a table in the border house on the North Korean end and Jung Woo-Jin was explaining to Sgt. Oh that they should have the two South Koreans certified. I didn’t fully understand the meaning of what he meant, but it was right after the conversation of if they had to shoot each other came up (which shook them all with the fear of having to kill a friend). What really spoke to me was what Sgt. Oh responded with, basically saying that they were all pawns in these Yankee war games and if a war erupted at any moment, they would all be obliterated. This revealed such a cold truth to these soldiers and made it clear that they were just being used to fight against each other.
On top of the density of the history within this story and the deep emotions tied to it, it was an all around suspenseful story that made the viewer want to see how it all unfolded. The film contains high intensity, blood, and violence. I love how each shot was meticulously calculated (reminiscent in my head of the great Claude Chabrol) and how Park did the scene of Private Nam jumping out of the window (playing with the camera and glass shards). I was very pleased with this film and thought it was an excellent choice to begin our journey through South Korean film.
March 22nd, 2018 at 11:09 am
So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your detailed thoughts on JSA as both meticulously crafted thriller and history lesson! 10/10
March 22nd, 2018 at 1:48 pm
J.S.A was a really good movie to start with because I am big into these type of history movies even though it was more of a understanding of the separation of N. and S. Korea borders. It was a little confusing at first because I didn’t know part of the movie were all flashbacks. But it was constructed very well and kept me engaged. When filming it you can see a lot how the censorship really played a key role in the movie since before they couldn’t get away with a lot of the parts they shot. I can see why too a lot military personal didn’t like this movie because I would think it would be an embarrassment to both sides.
March 31st, 2018 at 8:30 am
Good but a bit short. Using a detailed example or two to underline your points would help. 9/10
March 24th, 2018 at 12:44 am
J.S.A. is a great movie in so many ways: it lends itself to the French New Wave’s Left Bank group. This story tells the true story of the way it is in Korea with the real life situation that North and South Korea find themselves in presently. Then the way some of them want life to be enters into the picture in a whimsical way.
The plot begins with beautiful scenery, homage to Korea, like Paris for the Nouveau. A soldier getting separated from his troop, finding himself in the tall grass of danger. He feels something under his shoe and realizing it is a landmine. Humor is infused throughout the film as Sgt. Oh and his comrade reminded me of the guards in the Wizard of Oz, as they offer a lifesaver to the opposing soldier, who is quick draw McGraw. another high point is when they were instructed to take the dog to the butcher. Some people eat any and everything.
Some references to the pretty Demy movies with the downward rain and umbrella shots.The Hitchcock turns and twists making the truth finally squeezed out in the end through the aid of Sophie, the Korean born Swiss woman,who acts as an impartial investigator. Who done it? she says and figures out why.
As if in a daze or unable to talk about the incident, he is mute. Like a hypnotist, our guy remembers the cigarette lighter and with a whistle he remembers these guys used to be his friends and he has shot him on his birthday. What a birthday gift. The ugly cat is out of the bag. Underlying hostilities seemed to come back to haunt him making it hard to forget and even harder to live with.
This gives you something to think about especially the last scene. Death before dishonor, or the pain of wanting something so bad which was the freedom to speak to his brothers and live in a place united instead of separated by a zone.
March 31st, 2018 at 8:33 am
10/10
March 26th, 2018 at 3:27 pm
Initially I believed that transitioning from the French New Wave into the S. Korean Wave was going to be very sudden, possibly a full 180. However, after watching J.S.A. I realized that the main essence of the French New Wave is sticking around a little longer. Mainly the idea of combining comedy and tragedy, resembling real life. J.S.A. exemplifies this by taking a real situation, the border between North and South Korea and the tension surrounding this, and showing how even those 24/7 guardians that appear rough, and emotionless are also partaking in life’s balance of comedy and tragedy. The S. Korean film moves away from daily life that the public could connect to, such as Antoine growing up in “The 400 Blows”, or following Cleo around as she waits for medical results in “Cleo from 5 to 7”, and instead focuses on a more specific section of life. It is distant from the public, the lives of officers at the border, but stays relevant and relatable, the tension between both areas with multiple opinions and methods of resolution. The film even ends with the photograph of all main characters in the same frame, which to the viewer, reminds them of the tragic that ensues afterward, but not without the comedy of their borderless friendship.
March 31st, 2018 at 9:06 am
10/10
March 26th, 2018 at 8:56 pm
The history between North Korea and South Korea are apparent, everyone knows the tension between the two countries. The dispute between both countries has been and still is a sensitive topic to talk about. There have been incidents, when army personnel from opposite countries, attempted to cross the boarder and have been shot and killed. The ongoing feud between the two countries is recurrent and no signs of the two compromising. The article brings up a good point of how the South Korean cinema filmmakers try to “express their desire for reunification and reconciliation with the North”, even though they are still at war. This was a sign of peace and tolerance from South Korea to North Korea.
I enjoyed watching J.S.A. In the beginning of the movie, my perception was that it was going to be about the war between both sides, but I was wrong. This movie showed, that even if the two countries are in war, people could be civil from opposite sides. It was nice to see how the four soldiers from opposite sides became such close friends. However, I did not like how the movie ended with most of them dying. I wish the movie ended with all four soldiers surviving.
After watching J.S.A, I am really thrilled to learn and watch more about South Korean Cinema. This movie was entertaining because it had a variety of different genres. The movie was a thriller but it also had some comedy and drama. The ending was unpredictable and very sad. This was definitely my favorite movie that we have seen in class.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:11 pm
I loved the movie!
It is about the boarder between North and South Korea and the issues that going on,but still there was as real friendship, but sadly that friendship was not going to continue, even so it was so honest. I liked the idea that when the story was showed as flashback, and it all make sense at the end. It is also very interesting because they show the movie from each person point of view. However,the last scene was amazing that all four were together in one picture! and when the girl was kind of afraid to get her hat that flew near solider Oh, in my opinion that picture shows that they are in fact good people and not what other people think! I also liked the investigator Sofia a lot,her personality was so real and honest!
The movie is one of my favorite I was really excited to watch more and more! usually i’m not a big fan of political and history but this was different and now I have more knowledge about the issue that was going on in Korea!
March 31st, 2018 at 9:08 am
10/10
March 26th, 2018 at 11:15 pm
JSA is now officially on my top 5 movies – along with Old Boy.
When I first watched the movie, all I could think at the end was that it was very well made and that it was amazing how they could make a movie that is so unrealistic in a situation that is so real. The fact that they could make a movie regarding a war that is on going and really connect with the audience is amazing. That is really hard to see in a lot of movies these days especially here in America – unless it is a documentary.
After reading your post, I have realized that there is actually really a deep meaning behind it. Yes, it may be about a friendship but the idea that you mentioned on how it talks about the border being manmade. That is so true.
Due to the fact that they were friends, they were willing to risk it all. Over time, the border really no longer was existent to them; the bridge was not a bordering zone but rather a path to reconciliation and friendship. The JSA was rather the bridge that gapped their differences.
I still cannot get over the fact that Park Chan-Wook could shift my emotions from one end of the spectrum to the other in a matter of minutes. Truly, it was a wonderfully done movie.
March 31st, 2018 at 9:11 am
10/10
March 26th, 2018 at 11:19 pm
JSA was an outstanding movie, I liked everything about it. I have never seen a South Korean movie; thank you for showing us this movie in the first place. It showed us the relationship North and South Korea had with each other because of the history they’ve had in the past. In the starting I thought that the movie would not have that much emotions but throughout the movie the characters in the movie had a strong bond with each other which kept me engaged. The ending was surprising because I didn’t except all the conflicts to happen to the soldiers in the story. This tells us that all humans are same, with some common interests, and mutuality we all can be positive to each other. I like how they combined tragedy and comedy, felt like it was real because the comedy was between the character and tragedy was between the two countries which split their friendship in the end as they die. I am pretty sure why the some of the military people don’t like the movie because it shows the weakness of the country’s side. Park Chan Wook used clever flashbacks in the movie which had the truth behind them, and then the clips throughout the movie shows how or why the things actually happened in the movie. I like when Sgt Lee was with sophie and he explains her what is important in a war situation with a gun, as he told her that its not about how fast you shoot but how accurate and calm you are with the gun; those were the words he knew from Sgt Oh. That was the moment I knew their friendship they had was strong. Overall I think the movie was well done, I didn’t really except such good content from a South Korean movie but after watching this movie I am starting to appreciate a lot of foreign movies.
March 31st, 2018 at 9:12 am
10/10
March 26th, 2018 at 11:23 pm
I agree with what you said about the late 90’s and early 00’s being considered the “golden age” of South Korean films. As someone from the Asian ethnic group I have witnessed the rise of Korean films in Eastern Asia. All throughout my life, I had the privilege of watching oriental films, everything ranging from films from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Indian, Mongolian(yes, we have films) and South Korean. However, South Korean movies definitely started to dominate TV programs and movie theaters in the early 00s, I would say. I also remember being very “Korean culture influenced”, due to South Korean films being aired so much. It’s like you said, “Hong Kong was considered the Hollywood of the East, and supplied movies all over the continents of Asia”. In the late 90s and early 00s South Korean films have “supplied” movies not only in Korea but all over East Asia.
However, I have never seen the film Joint Security Area by Park Chon Woo growing up, maybe because it came out just as I was starting to develop consciousness, nonetheless I enjoyed the film very much. It did seem to me, that “JSA” was somewhat more Hollywood influenced, than the other South Korean films I’ve watched late in the 00s.I also saw this film had some relevance to Claude Chabrol’s work, maybe because, both Chabrol and Park were admirers of Alfred Hitchcock’s work. Which maybe a reason why I also noticed some similarity between the French New Wave films and South Korean films. I feel like the South Korean film directors absorbed lessons from French New Wave films as well as Hollywood films and added their own style and touch and created a more enhanced work of art. Overall, the film JSA was educational, humorous at times, suspenseful and thrilling.
March 27th, 2018 at 4:18 am
I found it very interesting how the portrayal of the four soldiers who serve as the main protagonists of the movie both deviate from and fit the expectations that you might have for soldiers posted at this warring border. Whenever they are in public they show the stoic and unintimidated appearance of hardened soldiers at war and ready to do battle. As we watch the two pairs of soldiers come to know each other more and more however, we see the facade fall away as they come to see fellow Koreans with much more in common than their respective governments would like them to believe. Even the characters seem surprised by this unmasking when the two soldiers from the North first meet Sgt. Lee and find him crying and begging for his life. As the four change from a group of soldiers sanctioned across from one another to a group of friends wasting the nights together, the soldierly stereotype we hold crumbles to reveal and almost childlike playfulness between the new friends.
Some of the most striking moments for me were when expectations are reinforced in contrast to the general refutation that goes on through the movie. These moments would happen whenever the subject of the war or more serious political situation was broached among the friends. The casual friendly atmosphere would quickly give way to intense tension. The offer to defect for easier access to the Yankee Moon Pies, Zippo lighters, and other such luxuries available in the south (that the group had been enjoying in their nights together) immediately angers Sgt. Oh and suddenly they change back to warring soldiers from playing brothers.
Overall I enjoyed the interplay of the moments of extreme tension and those of casual playfulness. I will certainly be looking into more of Park Chan-wook’s work in the future.
March 27th, 2018 at 8:22 am
J.S.A is a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. My eyes were glued to the screen as my brain was tangled in the story trying to understand what was going on. If I’m being honest, I was a little confused throughout the movie but, by the end I understood it and fell in love! The movie really shows the separation been the two countries which makes it a great Korean movie. To anybody who loves war and action movies I wouod highly recommendnthey watch this! (I told my father to watch it because he might like it..turns out, he loved it so much!!)
March 27th, 2018 at 9:38 am
Park Chan-wook’s movie JSA humanizes the conflict between North and South Korea. The movie concerns a made-up event that occurred at the border, but the underlying emotions and ideas of reunification are authentic. Park Chan-wook directed the movie with a new perspective that focused on sympathetic characters from both sides of the conflict, which as mention in your article was a taboo. The use of flashbacks in his story structure mixed comedy and tragedy that had me in an anxious captivation. Part of the movie was a child-like story of friendship, but masterfully mixed with the bitter morbid reality of the conflict between the North and the South. Park Chan-wook did not focus on the politics or ideological foundations of each country, rather the people who are impacted by them. The North and South Korean’s government were sparingly used throughout but were the driving forces of the separation of the characters.
JSA captured the emotional repercussions of the ongoing war between the North and South Korea. The Swiss Major Sophie Jang, the neutral main character that the audience was supposed to associate with, objectively views the case and discovers that friendship and peace among the people are possible, but not if there is a violent separation of ideologies using man-made borders with an antagonistic view of others. Park Chan-wook created a masterpiece that depicts the natural friendly and joyous nature of the Korean people, and the effects of the tragic conflict between them. This movie, like many of the others seen in class, lingered in my mind forcing me to think about real events and relationships with a new perspective.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:05 am
Joint Security Area – JSA (2000)
People may not realize it, but this movie is radical. The ideas behind it are progressive and it is clear what Park Chan-wook’s opinions are, when it comes to reunifying the two Koreas, just like Mr. Smith mentioned in his essay. The characters, two from South Korea and two from the North become unlikely friends. If this filmed was screened in theaters today, it would be interesting to see how soldiers from both sides react.
One other point that Mr. Smith makes is that a central theme in the movie is that borders are manmade. The borders are often drawn by the countries and there oftentimes isn’t a wall or fence dividing them, and people find a way around it. The characters do become friends, but we also see Sgt. Oh remind Sgt. Lee and the others, as well as the audience, that he remains loyal to his country and their ideals. The idea of unification for Korea is possible but we must keep in mind that people have certain ideals and opinions and those can’t be changed. But peace can be at the top of the list. And of course we can see that in the movie and as Mr. Smith says, it resonates “far and wide in a country whose inhabitants have been raised to hate and fear a neighbor they know little about, despite sharing a common language and culture.
March 27th, 2018 at 11:46 am
It is indeed radical! Thank you for reading my essay so closely. 10/10
March 27th, 2018 at 11:26 am
I found myself really enjoying this movie;however, it was heartbreaking! The whole idea of a group of men that end up creating almost an unbreakable bond to have it end so tragically was devastating. The whole story was beautiful in funny ways and of course in tragic ways which made he movie have great balance and suspense. It made you grow to love the characters and feel for their troubles that they all had to face.
April 3rd, 2018 at 12:57 pm
Back up your observations with a bit more concrete detail! 8/10
March 27th, 2018 at 11:46 am
I’m impressed by this article, especially ” The movie’s plea for tolerance and peace was clearly a message that resonated far and wide in a country whose inhabitants have been raised to hate and fear a neighbor they know little about, despite sharing a common language and culture” part. After I read this, I remembered from the movie, there was a scene when sir Lee Soo-hyuk and Oh Kyung-pil meet again at Panmunjom. They lied to save each other, and Song Gang-ho, who eyes were filled with ears, kicked the table. It was sad, but they couldn’t do anything other than that in real life. What kind of sin is it that human beings meet as human beings? What is the crime of being smiled at the same people? I suddenly could not endure the question of watching movies. I also remembered when Lee Soo-hyuk said that “It would have been really fun if we did not like this and met differently in different places.” They may have been the closest friends, but it is sad because they had to pointing the gun each other in real life. Anyways, I think it is the best movie that shows North Korea no longer the enemy. It is a tragic movie created by the sadness of division, but I think it is a rare Korean masterpiece that is a mixture of comic and humanism.
April 3rd, 2018 at 12:57 pm
10/10
March 27th, 2018 at 11:54 am
JSA (2000)
This is a very interesting movie. The ideas that are portrayed within the movie propose the realistic events that occur within Korea. With an educated guess, the two characters from North Korea and the two characters from South Korea are not supposed to be friends, but risk everything in order to remain their friendship even after the fact that they got caught. If they were to get caught they would be either killed or imprisoned, which was the sad truth to the divide between the two Koreas.
One point that Mr. Smith explains is that borders are manmade. There is supposed to be a border so that there is clear division between North Korea and South Korea, but there is always around it which is seen in the film. It starts off that South Koreans cross the border to North Korea because of previous event between a North Korean Soldier and South Korean Soldier. The South Korean Soldier crossed the border to see his “new” friend, who also saved his life previously. The North Korean was surprised to see the South Korean Soldiers in North Korea. Without ruining the film, the friendship remains even though it is to say the least, a tragedy.
April 3rd, 2018 at 12:58 pm
10/10
March 27th, 2018 at 12:01 pm
Something I think this movie touch on very well is the arbitrary nature of borders, but on a deeper level it focuses on the borders created in a war between the superpowers of the world. What I mean to say is that like many of the most conflicted borders in the world the line was drawn by someone foreign to the culture and people whose lives have become defined by it. JSA has a lot of themes of people being agents for an agenda of foreign design. The two pairs of soldiers are supposed to interact with each other based on what side of the compass points to them and if it weren’t for a few chance encounters their behavior wouldn’t change, but because they met and forged a relationship the line disappears and the years of viewing each other as other float away.
The relationships forged in this movie mirror another one of the major themes of this movie, the controlling hand of foreign superpowers. The whole conflict that created the border in the first place was just another proxy war so Russia and the United States didn’t have to nuke each other and because of that once each puppet master had taken enough pot shots at the other to feel good about themselves they left but the effects of their control linger. The lives of the people of Korea have been changed ever since. An arbitrary line was used to divide to culturally identical peoples because the powers at be made it so. To this day foreign powers exert control over many aspects of Korean policy as we see with the trade agreement or China’s relationship with the North. These echoes of foreign pupeting are what or characters are defying in JSA. They are looking past the arbitrary line put up between people as well as the land and saying “who thought this made sense?”.
April 3rd, 2018 at 12:58 pm
10/10
March 27th, 2018 at 12:25 pm
As a student who were born and raised in S. Korea, J.S.A was movie that reminded me how tragic two same nation with similar culture and same language are divided, and they have view each others as enemies and can’t be changed. Park Chan-Wook did amazing job on portraying Korea’s political view on both side. Park built all those details of Pan Moon Jum for his movie. The actor Song Gang-Ho’s (Seg. Oh) performing was beautiful and powerful. There was one scene where he yells worshiping Kim Jun ill to cover his crime with his pal Seg. Lee. It portrayed how N. Korean are forced and brainwashed to worship their dictator Kim Jung ill.
This movie shows its audience how two same nations are being enemy and that can’t be change. I think Park Chan-Wook was hoping for two Korea being united again when he was making this movie.
April 3rd, 2018 at 12:58 pm
10/10
March 27th, 2018 at 12:29 pm
Reading your “Spotlight on South Korean Cinema” was a great review of what you talked about in class. If I wasn’t in your class, and I watched this film, I wouldn’t have understood the significance of the film. I’m really glad to have watched the film. I even watched it again with my family. Throughout the enter film I was on an emotional roller coaster ride. I think that because I was able to learn a little bit about Korea and the movie beforehand, made things more enjoyable.
March 31st, 2018 at 9:15 am
Too short/slight. Why is the film a a “roller coaster ride?” What do the filmmakers have to say and how do they say it? 7/10
March 27th, 2018 at 12:59 pm
Back in Mongolia (my home country), Korean movies were very popular. It was like Korean movie era kind of like French New Wave. As I noticed JSA included very creative shots, and location shooting etc which are all from French new wave movies. The director of the movie tried to show us the life at DMZ by making a movie about it. The whole movie was about connection between divided country. Once you are connected to the other person it is really hard for them to be enemies. In the movie, they were bonded like brotherhood calling each others brothers, and shared their personal life. But when it comes to their country’s rivalry, it become very hard on which side to be on.
March 31st, 2018 at 9:13 am
Can you cite specific examples of the “creative shots” or the locations that made a big impression on you? 8/10
April 3rd, 2018 at 8:24 pm
I love reading all of your reading assignments because I learn new information I didn’t catch in the movie.This movie was very interesting in my opinion. It was my first South Korean movie ever and I never thought I would watch films like these, so thank you for opening my eyes to another side of the world. This film showed us the relationship between Northern and Southern Korea in the past. The movie started out pretty plain and I thought it lacked emotion and thrill. Two characters from North and two from South are supposed to be enemies yet choose to keep their friendship a secret.
Sadly because of the divide between them, if they were to be caught they would either be arrested or killed.
I love how they combined comedy and tragedy. The comedy made this film seem more realistic. The tragedy was between the two countries and their friendship. The bond of the friendships made it easy to relate to the characters. This film was heavily based on the problems and conflict in the military with the soldiers. The conflict between these two sides created border. The border was created by war. The border is supposed to be a clear division yet is the exact opposite.. South Koreans cross the border due to previous incident between a North Korean soldier. Southern character crossed border to see the friend who saved his life. This shocked both sides because no one was supposed to cross the border, nonetheless become friends. Because of the friendship, the border between them ceased to exist.
Even though you would suspect this films theme to be about friendship, but with your article, I agree with you and how borders are manmade. I loved how we could see each characters perspective throughout the movie and it was clever to use flashbacks that eventually made sense in the end.
I can not wait to watch more films! They did amazing on this
March 28th, 2019 at 12:24 pm
After watching JSA I felt like I knew so much more about North and South Korea. Before watching the film and learning about the fighting before the lecture in class I felt like I did not know much information about the places except what we’ve learned in high school history classes which after watching the film did not do very much justice to the issue. After watching the film you learned how serious it was for them to be friends during the fighting between North and South Korea and you got a look into how all the characters felt about the fighting and also how they felt about each other even though they were suppose to be enemies. It was a very good film because I felt like it gave the viewers the true story about what has happened to people in North and South Korea due to the fighting between them.It give you an inside look on the friendship that can happen and how quickly that friendship can end due to beliefs instilled in people. It also gave the viewers an inside look on what serving your country and killing someone can do to a solider at the ending of the film where one of the main characters, Sgt. Lee, ends up taking his own life because of all the pressure and possibly PTSD from what happened during the shooting. Park Chan-Wook had a very interesting form of directing. Another thing I thought that someone in our class brought up that was very interesting was the conversation behind who actually shot Jeong Woo-Jin and then who shot him several times in the “overkill shooting.” One student in class said that he though that Sgt. Lee shot Jeong Woo-Jin first which killed him but then he felt that Nam ended up shooting Jeong Woo-Jin several times over and over. The student thought that had happened becaise Nam had a crush on Woo-Jin. I felt that the student bringing up that arguement was very interesting and one thing I never thought about until it was mentioned in class. I thought it was very interesting to see how we all saw the same exact movie scene but got so many different ideas behind what actually had happened. One thing I really liked with his directing was the way he would gave a character opening a door and then a totally different character will be opening a door and they would go to grab the handle of the door and then a different character would be shown opening the door in a different time and different setting even, which I feel is common in many Hollywood films today. The movie was really good and I felt I learned a lot from it! It was very interesting to see how everyone got a different idea from the whole movie. I am excited to see what other movies we will watch and learn more about our S. Korean New Wave lesson!
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:38 pm
10/10
March 30th, 2019 at 10:03 pm
That was a rather bittersweet yet dynamic slice of life. I agree throughout the movie that there is a central theme of division, and that goes beyond the high stakes tension between North and South Korea. From the very beginning, the generals on opposite sides are initially divided between what they think happened as displayed as the incomplete and/or incorrect flashbacks leaving out critical details such as the reason for Lee’s leg injury as the camera flickers as if it was rained with flashbangs or the number of bullets spent in the guns during the fateful shootout. This even trails into the end when Sophie Jang is divided on who shot Private Jin first until made clearly apparent in the climax. I also believe that the director succeeded in presenting the two clashing mindsets between North and South Korea even in this forbidden friendship. We have Sergent Oh undying loyalty to his dictator’s regime, unwilling to leave and eager to talk down the “capitalist scum” in an instant yet is quick to help Lee and Nama flee from the incoming reinforcement as if they were his family as well to appreciate American made goods. There is Private Nam who is quick to realize that Sergeant Oh and Private Jung are feeling humans as well yet he cannot seem to let go of the paranoia that his new blood bonded brothers are trying to ambush him despite the numerous times of camaraderie shared and the fact they spared Lee, risking their own hides from an explosive demise. Whether the four admit it or not, they all yearned for peace but tragically couldn’t defy their own separate of indoctrination of pride and paranoia when the chips hit the table. I believe this movie captures the chaotic nature of life as the director Park Chan-Wook creates this surreal emulsion between crude humor and cold tragedy. Another recurring theme is about crossing lines. We have Sergeant Oh’s and Lee’s playful banter as they stare down each other numerous time at the famous border despite having no malevolent intent towards each other, just maintaining the one rule they share. Even in the end after all the heartbreak and bloodshed, the movie ends with a memento of the photo of the border, the proof that friendship could bloom on the battlefield.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:38 pm
10/10
March 31st, 2019 at 8:50 pm
JSA was a really entertaining and enjoyable movie to watch, it was most definitely my favorite movie this semester and a great start to the unit, I found it much more entertaining than the French new wave movies. I liked that it was revolved around such a huge conflict of North and South Korea which really helped me understand the film better. I also loved how serious and funny the movie was at times, it made you laugh but also tugged on your heart strings with some emotional moments.
When Sgt. Lee and Private Nam shot and killed Jeong, I was absolutely shocked, because those four guys seemed like they were brothers, they spent so much time together, a lot of laughs and serious talks; it broke my heart that he turned on him so quick, and just shot and killed him with almost no regret it seemed. When Private Nam left Sgt. Lee right after because Lee couldn’t walk, that also made me kind of mad and wonder how someone would leave there friend who is almost like a brother in the middle of the road, I wouldn’t be able to do that.
When Nam attempted suicide it made you wonder how serious the killing of Jeong was eating him up inside and that he couldn’t live with the regret any longer. We see how Lee and Oh also get very mad at each other towards the end of the film, and Oh basically calls Lee a coward, I feel like the theme of the movie went from friendly and funny to serious and critical really quick, and the movie was able to keep my attention and on my toes which shows how good it is. I really enjoyed the moments of when the two guys would just look at each other and laugh, and then they just started spitting on each other, it was so stupid yet very funny.
As well as the moment when Sgt. Lee hit the trip mine but Sgt. Oh helped him out and saved his life, it’s like you wanted him to help him, but you wonder why he did since they were fighting for different nations. Something that also stand out is when Sgt. Oh would light his cigarette and whistle, I’m not sure why but it stood out to me. The end when Sgt. Lee kills himself was very sad as well, it showed the pain he was facing from Nam attempting suicide, him killing Jeong and then Sgt getting mad at him. He felt like he had nothing. Overall the movie was really good and took me through so many different emotions.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:38 pm
10/10
March 31st, 2019 at 10:13 pm
JSA (Joint Security Area) was a movie that depicted friendships and war within a light that is most definitely deemed controversial. Not many would choose base a movie on forming friendships between two enemy sides. Park Chan-Wook did a wonderful job. The sets were very dark and gloomy, showing each scene with a mysterious background. The use of rain most definitely added to the set-up. Some of the most memorable parts of the movie, in my opinion, were the most innocent ones. for example, when Sgt.Oh, Sgt.Lee, Private Nam, and Private Jeong are all hopping around on one foot playing what I believe was said to be the chicken game? At many points, the movie itself reminded me of those silly videos military men would post on YouTube. They would be laughing and dancing, and some would criticize them for doing so. Within the military, there’s a stigma that every soldier must be a tough, serious man. But, what many may forget and what the movie depicts, they have child-like qualities. I believe, in order to not go crazy in high stress situations like war, you must have fun and act goofy. Forget that the world around you exists at all. It’s the same reason some have an automatic reaction that causes them to laugh when everything goes wrong. Seeing this naive, dare I say cute, behavior from these tough men, in such a tragic setting of tone, was lovely to see. It was almost a sort of yin and yang moment. The good within the bad. Some may argue that this may not be the easiest movie to relate to. I digress from that opinion. The movie depicted both sides loyal to their home country through out the movie, yet they stayed very close friends despite this. For example, when Sgt. Oh tells Sgt. Lee to come to the North, Lee gets upset and in short says No. All because of the loyalty he has for his dear country. Many adults and teenagers alike, may have many different views and beliefs, and are able to stay friends through that. For example, politics. If maturity is prevalent, two people with completely different political views can be friends. Teenagers deal through a situation of choices because of college. A teen may want to go to a local college, to stay loyal to their city, as well as the community of friends and family they have created through the years. The movie, especially the end with Sgt. Lee, was hard to watch. On the other hand, the movie itself was sweet and pleasant at times. The scenery reminded the viewer that this is in fact a movie about war and death. Although, the innocent scenes did a great job to distract a viewer from the sadness around them.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:39 pm
10/10
April 1st, 2019 at 2:14 pm
JSA was a great movie!
I never actually watched a Korean film and I think this movie spiked my interest to keep watching them, or at least to keep watching more of Park’s films. I think this movie was pretty emotional because even though this film is about raising “hate and fear” as said in the article it shows love as well between the 4 friends. They all begin to care for each other and become really great friends. Of course their friendship is in vain and they live with the fear of being caught, but the times they spend together they don’t worry or even focus on who’s from the South or who’s from the North until they get caught. The friendship dream ends and they definitely part with their side. I think Sgt. Oh carried with the fault of how things carried out because he was the one to initiate the friendship to why he ended up killing himself at the end which made it really emotional because he only has 3 more months left to leave and reunite with his family.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:40 pm
10/10
April 1st, 2019 at 3:09 pm
J.S.A. (Joint Security Area) represented more than just the border war between North and South Korea. Politics aside, it is clear how physical border are no real barrier when it comes to emotional lines, regardless of what side your on. This can be applied not only to North and South Korea, but pretty much anywhere in the world, regardless of what political state a country is in. However, North and South Korea being one of the most intense and long lasting cases of civil war (though it’s since calmed down), Park Chan-wook does an incredible job highlighting the emotional trauma and distrust for their own “brothers” (as they often refer to each other in the film) that both sides had been forced to go through for the sake of protecting and properly representing their side of the border. An example of this is when they are playing a version of Jacks, a game often played by younger children. Though they are playing it with bullets as opposed to typical playing jacks, they are still enjoying their time just as though they were younger and just regular friends playing an innocent game. They’re also seen jumping together outside on one foot, seeing who can last the longest during a game of “chicken”. In addition to this they mostly engage in activities that younger teenage boys are more notable for participating in. Beyond just playing youthful games with one another, they also drink and look at porn together, something you would not expect grown, adult, kind of violent and defensive soldiers from opposing sides of the Korean War to partake in. They also grow meaningful relationships with each other. When Private Nam gives Private Jung a set of paint brushes and a notebook, it’s a big turning point for the audience that makes us realize they aren’t just friends who happen to disagree, they do actually see each other as brothers who have been denied access to one another due to the tense political climate. After Lieutenant Choi walks in on them all hanging out together, they realize that their fantasy must end and unfortunately they go back into their soldier selves, remembering that they must do what is necessary to defend and represent their respective side. Park does an incredible job highlighting just how extreme people tend to take politics, as they should because they often determine their livelihood, however Park emphasizes that sometimes politics can sometimes be so extreme that they become detrimental to our own sanity and our own innate need to be social creatures and bond with each other. J.S.A. tells more than just the story of the Korean war, it tells of how politics create a divide amongst people purely for the sake of power and control.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:40 pm
10/10
April 1st, 2019 at 3:25 pm
This was a very enjoyable film, and I am glad to have been introduced to Korean cinema. One of the most important lessons learned from JSA is about borders, or boundaries. Park Chan-Wook did something bold and politically questionable in directing this movie, and in a way crossed a boundary himself, but the message is hard to miss: boundaries can be completely arbitrary. This is expressed in the film in many ways but one of my favorite examples is when Sgt. Lee and the southern troops are walking through the bush very seriously and one of them checks their location and realizes that they have crossed over. They immediately retreat to their side even though this boundary is invisible and no one is there to tell them to leave, and in doing so they leave Sgt. Lee behind. This is when the boundaries are crossed: Sgt. Lee, Sgt. Oh and Pvt. Jung meet and instead of them leaving Lee for what would likely be death, Sgt. Oh helps him and in doing so forms what becomes a most unlikely friendship. This moment is a great metaphor for the entire conflict of North vs South. They are not very different at all, but just following societal rules and what they were taught in their upbringing, yet in one simple act of compassion Sgt. Oh removed years of historical barriers. Pvt. Nam is being introduced to the North men by Sgt. Lee and is hesitant to cross the border, it only takes Sgt. Oh to come up and hug him over the line to show Pvt. Nam that these boundaries are meaningless. The friendship of the 4 men is interesting because they do not become so loyal to each other that they desert their armies or become unloyal to their respective sides. These loyalties remain and they keep their acts up even throughout rigorous investigation and scrutiny, yet when they are together they are friendly, goofy, playful, and just regular people getting along. It is interesting that so many of the scenes in this film were shot at night or in dark ominous settings. To me it shows how many forbidden acts take place at night in the cover of darkness. The ultimate test for these men is staying loyal to their sides while also trying to stay loyal to each other; they know the consequences if what they were doing got out. Ultimately Sgt. Lee is unable to cope with the fact the he introduced Pvt. Nam to these men and thus got them him in so much trouble as well as caused Pvt. Nam to try to immediately commit suicide when the truth of the events began to come out. Sgt. Lee committing suicide is to me a metaphor for the punishment that is received when you have done something wrong. Lee may have felt as though he betrayed his side, harmed a good friend, and even killed Pvt. Jung in the heat of a tense moment of being caught hangout out with friends on the other side. He also may have felt as though he wasn’t strong enough to keep this secret while Sgt. Oh was, so he removed himself from the situation before it could follow him the rest of his life. It is interesting to note that Sgt. Lee warned Pvt. Nam not to ever go to the North side alone, showing that he still had skepticism and distrust either for the north in general, or even for his northern friends.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:40 pm
10/10
April 1st, 2019 at 5:26 pm
The director, Park Chan Wook, opens the film with a close-up of an owl. This is perhaps a reference to Alfred Hitchcock’s short film “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Park was fascinated by Hitchcock from an early age and perhaps gave a nod to this film that took place during the war between the north and south armies of the US in the Civil War.
Today in Korea, there is a lot of talk of peace, reconciliation, and reunification between North and South Korea. It has become a topic that is in the mainstream of Korean politics and media, but this was not the case when Park made JSA in 2000. Back then, it was still quite taboo to broach these subjects, and definitely controversial to posit the North Koreans as sympathetic characters. Park was making quite radical statements in this movie.
The 2 South Korean and 2 North Korean soldiers found a way to be friends and build a bond across borders. South Korean Sergeant Lee even asks a question to Private Nam, “What’s so wrong with people of the same blood wanting to play games together?” This is a question that Park brings up to the audience. In the end, only one of the 4 soldiers is alive. This is truly sad, because, in the end, what was their true crime? Friendship? Playing games and smoking together? Eating chocopies? Perhaps this is the most upsetting part of the film. North and South could be united, but “peace is best preserved by hiding the truth.”
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:41 pm
10/10
April 1st, 2019 at 7:39 pm
I enjoyed this film a lot more than I initially expected! It had a more modern action genre feel to it, which is something I missed during the movies of the French new wave. However, I did not think it would also make me laugh as much as I did. It was beautiful to see this innocent friendship form between soldiers of the opposite sides. It was also quite annoying to think that the only reason they couldn’t be friends publicly is because they belonged to different sides. I kept imagining all the more fun they could’ve had if the division wasn’t an issue. I’m super happy with the fact that this is the first South Korean film we saw in class, because I had never really seen a S. Korean film before. J.S.A. is definitely a movie I will be watching when I get the chance. I showed it to my dad as soon as I could knowing he would like it, and he absolutely loved it as well! This film was mostly a thriller, because you never knew what was going to happen next about whether or not this friendship would be discovered, and when. It also had some comedic scenes which were so enjoyable, like the montage of these friends playing games, or even the fact that there was an adorable puppy involved. This movie gave the audience the message that you can find your best friends anywhere, and despite any current situation or separation, true friends will always find a way to be there for each other. It felt like they were becoming some what of a little family to each other where Sgt. Oh was like the older brother, or father figure in the group, and Pvt. Jang was like the silly younger brother who made everyone laugh. I can understand why this movie was so controversial when it first came out, and still could be. However, there’s no doubt that it tells a brilliant story about friendship.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:41 pm
10/10
April 1st, 2019 at 10:52 pm
JSA was a real eye opening movie. Park Chan-Wook does a great job of showing how the whole dispute between the two countries is so artificial. The separation of the two countries was initially intended to only be temporary but just ended up lasting forever. Sure, each sides’ political views and governance vary greatly but at the end of the day everyone there is from the same original country and peninsula. The speak the same language and like a lot of the same things and this movie does a great job of showing that once you can ignore the predisposition that you have towards the other side that you can get along. You had mentioned in class that children aren’t born with prejudice, they learn in from others. In the movie the four soldiers are like children. They play these games and hang out with the opposing side and don’t care where the other person is from. They visit each other likely for the ability to get some perspective from the other side and also because they enjoy it. That’s what makes them childlike. They don’t care where the other people are from and their pleasure drives their actions rather than their prejudicial opinions. This childlike state is only reinforced by showing the four soldiers take part in children’s games and activities. Most notably, when they are jumping around in the dark on one foot trying to knock each other over. They are laughing and yelling and just having fun even though they are caught in the middle of a nasty conflict. Another game they play that has a very strong message is when they are playing jacks but using bullets instead of jacks. It does a great job of showing that they are together and goofing around but also doesn’t let you forget that they are soldiers and not children and most importantly they are soldiers of opposing sides. As much as they may want to just be children messing around on the playground in reality they aren’t and the bullets are very symbolic of the theme of the movie.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:41 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 7:49 am
I can definitley see that idea of psychological seperation play out through the entire film. This is a perefect film for our current society to revisit because of all the line and borders we are self imposing within ourselves. We all believe we have to endevour on a search on what makes us unique, enthralled in that journey we create our own mental barriers of associations, where anyone who seems to oppose one aspect, is deemed an enemy. We create a shortage of friends, you can see this in the moment sergent Lee starts to create an attachment to Oh. He seemed to enjoy the person he is despite the fact that they were divided based on belief. This also cuts deep at one of the largest issues that plagued the war littered 20th century, the whole idea of the old men in charge propagating war and the young men dying for those false ideas and beliefs.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:41 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 10:35 am
I found this film very interesting. It gave an interesting perspective over how some of the South Koreans view over the situation with the North. The Film really highlights the silliness of the matter by cracking childish jokes during some of the most suspenseful moments. For instance when Sgt. Lee proposes to Sgt. Oh, that he should come to the south and that he could eat all the moon pies in the world. This moment you can feel the tension because of Sgt. Oh is from the North. Rather than Oh saying something offensive of the South, He says that He wishes one day that the Korean peninsula can make the best sweets in the world as one. This was funny because here Lee asks sort of a challenging question that is hard to answer and used a comical perspective to break that tension. Through all these similar moments the filmmakers really said that a lot of the tension between the two countries is almost childish and that they both should get over the past and move together as one country.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:41 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 12:48 pm
Joint Security Area was an enthralling film and very different from everything we have watched in class thus far. I believe that the movie had a very powerful story and that it helped everyone’s general feelings about the movie, however, I do not think that this movie could be only applied to North and South Korea. I think that the story could be adapted to include any two given groups of people who disagree and that it would be just as good. I think that the director’s choice of telling the story in different scenarios where the viewers really don’t understand what is going on until the end of the movie was a really good way to make sure that the audience stayed engaged in the movie. The director’s use of very graphic shots also helped with capturing the audience’s imagination.
Reading through your essay on the movie, I think that your discussion of how the film censorship laws had been lifted only a few years ago was very evident in how the movie was put together, because as we discussed in class, oppression leads to over-expression and that was rather evident with all of the super graphic scenes in JSA.
I think that this film was also an effective modem through which to show what it was like on the border of North and South Korea, with fields and trees instead of built up areas that one would see going to the U.S. & Canadian or Mexican borders. There is a lot less security on the Korean borders and it appears as though it would be very easy for people from one side to move to the other. It appears that the only thing holding the back is just the political rhetoric that has been instilled in either side, that whichever side one is born on is the better side. I think that this film has a lot of value in that it tells the story of those who we here in America rarely get to hear.
I also think that the way in which the director decided to portray the North Koreans as being in some way better than the South Koreans at different points was very important. It seemed that the North Korean side was more extreme than the Southern side and that the Southern side was much more alike to itself than was the North Korean side. I don’t know why the director chose to include a puppy in the movie because I don’t think that it really added anything to the story or brought up any important political points. The most that it did was just show that they can enjoy the same types of things, which was already shown when the soldiers were playing their childish games on the Northern side of the border.
I really enjoyed the movie and I think that your article on it provided some great insights about the situations in which the movie was produced.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:42 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 12:59 pm
J.S.A was the first movie we saw in our South Korean new wave lesson. I have never seen a South Korean movie before and it was overall a different experience. I wasn’t positive on what to expect but I really enjoyed this movie despite it involving politics. J.S.A is a South Korean movie directed by Park Chan-Wook in 2000. I definitely agree with you when you said that “the borders are man made”. After all, they’re all the same people at heart sharing the same culture and language. It’s honestly a shame to see these people killing and hurting their own kind. I believe Park Chan-Wook did an amazing job portraying such a sensitive topic and to break the taboos. I can easily say this was one of the most touching and emotional I’ve seen in class thus far this semester. It was specifically emotionally towards the end when all of them are in the same picture so full of life and happy. There is a scene that caught my attention and I still remember vividly, it was when the North Korean soldier was trying to get his dog to cross the border to the South but the dog refused and kept coming back. He ended up kicking the dog but I understand why he would want to do that because he didn’t want his dog to be dinner for him and the other soldiers. At that scene, I could feel the pain and angry of letting go of something that has so much value to you. Overall, I thought this movie was well made and I wouldn’t mind watching another movie by Park Chan-Wook. I learned a lot about the reasons why there are two koreas. In the end, the story is mainly about friendship and how the soldiers became close friends despite being “enemies” or from the other side. I’m curious to see what else is in store for this South Korean new wave film lesson.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:42 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:05 pm
This film was really interesting. It was cool how it showed the perspective of how the South Koreans viewed things compared to the North Koreans. that one scene when that one guy was scared to cross the border and go to the North side with his friend. That one scene where Sgt. Lee from the South side said to Sgt. Oh from the North side ” why do not you come to the South side and eat all the moon pies in the world.” I thought that was cool because they were all having fun and then Sgt. Lee said that and everyone just stared at him. I loved how Sgt. Oh said that he wishes that the Korean peninsula can make the best sweets in the world as one. I really loved how they played like little kid games even though they are adults. I loved how they played with the bullets like they were jacks. In these scenes i can feel the tension between both sides. I feel like the South side and the North side should get over the past and come back together as one country.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:42 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:12 pm
Joint Security Area or “JSA” was a great film by making a very serious topic into a comedic/tragic film. This film shows us the relationship between South and North Korea and how tense things are in the border. The film starts out very serious but later on we are introduced to main characters: Sgt. Lee from South Korea and Sgt. Oh from North Korea. These two start by laughing and essentially spitting on each other across the border showing us they are just serving their country and don’t have actual hatred towards one another. As the film progresses the four officers two from the south an two from the north grow a close bond to one another. They play games together and are eventually caught by a North Korean officer which leads to a tough situation between friends. Although they have pride regarding their country they still have love for one another. In conclusion this film shows North and South Koreans are still human but they have so much pressure from both sides and showing which side is “stronger” that it gets in between everything. This film does a good job in telling a story about friends on each side of the border and it can be seen a controversy film for many but it still shows you a lot about the situation in a comedic and tragic manner.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:42 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:33 pm
I found this film very comical but at the same time, very deep, you can tell throughout the film that the four soldiers are close friends even though they are on opposite sides due to them always being together every night and messing around with each other. Another time in the film that showed their friendship was when Sgt. Lee gave a birthday gift to Pvt. Jung. I, of course, knew before this movie that not every South Korean soldier hated every North Korean soldier and vice-versa but I did not realize that some had such a close relationship. Now obviously this a movie based off of true events so it is definitely not 100% accurate but it still gives the viewers of the film a good idea on how close these four soldiers (Pvt. Jung, Sgt. Oh, Pvt. Nam, and Sgt. Lee) and so I definitely learned about the devastation some soldiers had to deal with due to the split with the country. Towards the end of the film, we see the soldiers start to shoot each other all because another North Korean soldier walked in and found out about what was happening and so they knew they would be in trouble and of course they couldn’t let word about this get out and they panicked and ended up shooting each other which of course was sad. They still couldn’t let anyone find out about this so they made out to be like it was a firefight and that Sgt. Oh was shot in the shoulder. Long story short, this film taught me that regardless of the huge civil war, some North and South Koreans continued to be friends and be together anyways.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:42 pm
10/10
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:39 pm
I found JSA to be a very interesting movie by the end of the film. This film takes on a very sensitive subject that could have backfired heavily on Park but I think his execution on the way he portrayed both the North and South Korean soldiers was key. Having Sgt. Oh and Pvt. Jung. be kind and sympathetic makes you form a connection with them that goes beyond politics and by the end of the film will make you get teary eyed. I like how the soldiers treated the visits as a sort of retreat from everything that is actually happening. The scene where Pvt. Nam is taking a picture of the other three was humorous and used to show how they didn’t want to associate these memorable time with reality. Overall this film is great and I think is definitely worth rewatching.
April 2nd, 2019 at 1:43 pm
10/10
April 4th, 2020 at 8:53 pm
JSA was a very interesting and informative movie for Korean cinema and history. JSA shows how countries and borders are meaningless to true friendship and that it can cause more division than unity at times. JSA follows the story of a group of both North and South Korean soldiers as they befriend each other and build a relationship despite the conflict between their nations. A shooting breaks out and creates even more tension between the countries. That is when a median from Switzerland with a Korean origin. It was eye opening seeing this view of the political situation in the lens of a native and really made the movie more realistic. It was interesting to see the different stories that were thought of and how their political views influence their side of the story. I felt the relationship the soldiers had was a relationship that both countries wanted to have with each other. The Korean peninsula has had a long history of disputes and violence, but I think the people of both North and South Korea want everyone to be together and the stop of the conflict. I had some knowledge of the history between the two nations, but the movie helped me understand the dispute more and see how politics and different ideas cause issues. I agree that the last frame where all men involved are in a picture together but separated by their nations border and interests. I also agree with your article about how it is ironic that they are covering up their friendship since there friendship is against the the ideas of their countries.I also liked how there was a lack of lighting to create suspense and add more to each scene. I also think the actors for both Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok and Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil did a great job in portraying soldiers from both sides. I was sad to see how it ended since all of their friendships were ruined over their countries’ disagreements. Overall, this movie is a great portrayal of the border tension between the both North and South Korea and was a beautiful shot and directed film. I thought it was a great introduction to the Korean cinema and I am excited to see the other movies in this era of cinema.
April 6th, 2020 at 4:04 pm
Even though the film is fiction, we still learn a lot about the conflicts between North and South Korea. The most important idea that the film portrayed was friendship because of what was happening between Sergeant Lee from the South and Sergeant Oh from the North. I thought you brought up a good point about the borders. The borders represented the division between the two sides, but to Sergeant Lee and Oh they did not mean anything because they still found a way to have a friendship. The ending shot is a great one because of what was shown which you talked about. The ending shot showed all four main characters on their side of the border at the JSA. Another important thing that you said was how thhis film wouldn’t have been able to be released a few years earlier because of censorship laws in S. Korea. This reveals the importance of this film since it demonstrated that North and South Koreans can be friends despite the division between the two governments as a whole. Overall, this film was very important to South Korean Cinema because of the relevance to the people who live there.
April 6th, 2020 at 4:58 pm
Park Chan-wook’s film J.S.A. was informative as it was dramatic. With the underlying conflict between North and South Korea, the film uses an unlikely friendship as a catalyst for the movie. After the shooting between the two sides, the use of interviews and flashbacks inform us on the situation and allow us to really feel for the characters involved.
In the article written above, the information about the censorship being lifted so that South Korean inhabitants could watch and reflect on their own feelings about the film is a very interesting aspect. It was said about South Koreans that “inhabitants have been raised to hate and fear a neighbor they know little about, despite sharing a common language and culture”, and this quote is evident throughout the film itself. These four soldiers who developed a bond with one another are forced to hate and fight each other simply because their country orders them to. However, once interaction between the parties occur, they are able to put aside their differences and have their own ideas of each other.
Another point that really stands out from the film is the transition from Soo-hyeok’s suicide to the photo with all four main characters standing in the same photo with each other. After watching the downfall of this friendship, it is through the photograph we get to see that division is what ultimately led to its demise. While the four may have had a bond together, it was the division between the two governments that their bond could not withstand.
April 6th, 2020 at 6:05 pm
I was quite excited when I heard that we would be covering South Korean movies in our class because of all the exciting artists, actors and other entertainment entities coming out of Korea. After watching JSA, I’m as excited as ever. JSA showed how four soldiers of the same ethnicity, but different nations, become friends and are seen as criminals for doing so.
This movie gave a good portrayal of what the Korean conflict is and shows its complications. The Lieutenant in the beginning clearly stated that “you’re either a communist bastard, or you’re their enemy,” implying there’s no neutral ground. Although they are from the same ethnic group and share similar cultures one of the soldiers says, they’re enemies and may need to kill each other when it comes down to it. Unfortunately, that’s what takes place. At first, I automatically thought that the North Koreans in this movie were going to be “the bad guys,” and I guess that’s what so beautiful about this movie. It exposes our tendency to believe what people of higher power say about other nations and their people, but that does not always directly apply to our individual relationships.
In the reading assigned with the movie, it discussed man-made borders and the physical and also psychological dividers they create. The idea of division is “ingrained into Korean consciousness” the article states. This idea of division was shown when the North Korean soldier came into the room where Lee, Oh, Nam, and Jeong were hanging out and the friends struggled to make decisions. Inevitably, Lee ends up shooting and killing Sgt. Jeong, in which he says that Nam shot him. Detective Sophie eventually tells Lee that from the words of Sgt. Oh, Lee killed Jeong. The guilt then destroys Lee, as he goes out and kills himself. My favorite aspect of the movie is how it makes such an innocent friendship between fellow Koreans lead to such a brutal and tragic ending.
The style of shooting this film caught my attention. Instead of scene cutting, the camera often followed the actors around and filmed with a continued shot. One scene I remember specifically is when the four soldiers were sitting on a round table, and the camera would go around in a 360 motion to film each soldier as they speak.
April 6th, 2020 at 6:48 pm
Taking a look back at what I watched, JSA by Park Chan-Wook was a visual representation of the conflict between North and South Korea. This was my first Korean film I’ve seen and it was quite interesting. In the movie, Park Chan-Wook decided to take a different route while showing the controversy between the two. He decided to show forming friendships between a couple men from both sides. To start off the movie, the tone from the beginning was quite dark and gloomy, with the addition of rain. With all these in combination, Wook was trying to visually symbolize the sadness from the whole controversy and basically set the tone of the film. This movie was quite emotional because no one wants to be in a war. We can see how the four men who became friends were able to look over the hate created by each nation. They grew a bond together and cared for each other like nothing was happening on the outside. Although, this is where it got tough. They lived in fear due to the fact that if they got caught they would most likely be killed. Sadly, they reached a point where they had to part ways as their lives were in jeopardy.
In the movie, the most significant scene to me is when Sargent. Oh killed himself. This was because he believed that he first started the friendship and risked all of their lives. He felt guilty for ignoring the reality of their future if they got caught. The reason why I found this scene so significant was because it is extremely hard to kill yourself and the fact that he only had 3 more months until he would see his family was quite sad.
Overall, the film had many funny and happy scenes but the choice of scenery by Wook reminded us that they were still part of a war. What was really interesting to me from your breakdown was that the film isn’t accepted by the South Korean military. This is sad because the two people do share a lot in common and the fact that the higher powers don’t want to unite the people is unfortunate. To end it all, this wasn’t my favorite film we’ve seen so far but I was happy to see a film that wasn’t just another love story.
April 6th, 2020 at 11:58 pm
Just personally want to thank you for choosing this film because I’ve always known the tension between North Korea and South Korea, but I’ve never truly looked into the history behind it. I’m the type of person who’s never truly been into history nor politics, but this movie honestly grasped my attention and truly showed me that there are major issues going on outside the US. J.S.A was my first Korean film I have ever seen, but nonetheless it was very interesting and honestly grabbed my attention right away. It was very well directed and showed all the perspectives and each person’s point of view which was very unique to me and allowed me to understand the movie as a whole.The dark scenes and dark camera shots were a very cool addition to add a cool effect to the scenes and the emotions involved in those scenes. This truly made the thriller have more emotion. With these specific scenes it added more sadness with dark scenes and kept the audience engaged because of the tension.
The movie J.S.A was honestly an amazing Korean movie which was made in 2000. The way that the director was able to edit the scenes with the soundtracks to add the sad emotions and to give that feeling to the protagonists. The one cool thing that was very unique to me was when the camera would zoom in and zoom out and then there would be a flashback with one of the characters. These flashbacks truly made me understand the story more and the whole history of the Korean history. The one character who was super chill was Major Sophies because he was there to bring a neutral look into the incident that was happening in Korea. The sad part to me was when the four soldiers built such a strong bond, but it had to be separated due to the fact they live in a place with a lot of tension such as Korea. Nobody wants to go to war, but they made some light out of this situation and created a friendship out of it. This movie truly was friendship and realizing that at hard times we truly can come together and care for each other. This movie did have more meaning than just the history and the war that was going on.
Park Chan-Wook does a really really good job at conveying the emotions between the characters and the other people. Despite the war going on Park Chan-Wook was able to display that friendship is more important and even though there was a conflict between North and South Korea these soldiers were able to build such a strong bond. The reason that it was one of my favorite films that we have seen in this class so far is simply due to all the emotions involved with it. I am a very emotional person. This movie brought out my emotions as it had drama and comedy to bring some light to the very sad and unpredictable moments that were also going on. The sad times were that there was a war still going on through all of this and they had to be put in that horrible situation.
One thing I truly want to bring more light to is those flashbacks. They were so well done that they had the truth behind each flashback. These flashbacks would show how and why the things in the movie did happen. This was where the comedy and drama would play a role because in these flashbacks were when they were structured in and it truly made sense once the movie was over.
April 7th, 2020 at 1:37 am
If I have to summarize this entire movie in a single word, it would be ‘rollercoaster’ because this movie has made me go through a rollercoaster of emotions. The amazing chemistry between all four soldiers, the love and brotherhood that they shared made me happy but at the same time holding up guns against each other and even shooting one another and giving up the bond they created was disturbing.
It is challenging to understand war from a soldier’s perspective because they are the ones living it every second. The article states that Park Chang, the director of the movie, was a member of the democratic labor party. This is evident as the movie has a personal touch to the political matters and is throughout the movie expressing the urgency of reconciliation between the two parties. It is shown throughout the movie that soldiers have to suffer a great deal in the name of war. A line from the movie that melted my heart was “ What’s wrong with people of the same blood getting together and playing some games. Is that such a crime?” The anger in the eyes of the soldier while saying these lines was beyond amazing. Once again it showed the need for both parties to come to a settlement as they had the “same blood” and hence were supposed to stay united. I agree with the article that this paper repeatedly talked about reunification and presented the tolls on a soldier’s heart when they are at war. An example of extreme mental pressure that these four soldiers had to go through was when one of them asked: “if war broke out would we have to shoot one another too?” This shows that the scene where they finally shot one another must have been an extremely difficult decision. It was only because of the loyalty to their forces that they had to hold the guns up.
The transitions between the deposition meetings and the scenes at war were just amazing. The use of flashbacks throughout the movie created a sense of suspense and beautifully connected the dots between the lies presented in the deposition. The soundtrack harmonized with the emotional scenes. The zooming and blurry captures throughout the movie showed the amazing skills Korean cinema had.
In conclusion, the picture, in the end, having all four of them together in a single frame, forgetting the physical barrier is heartwarming. Like the article beautifully stated, “it is the moment that is frozen in time forever”. That picture also summarizes the entire movie. Just like the soldiers shared their taste in music and even the cookie, they also wanted to share the nation but there was always a barrier, the border in this case that forced them to make tough decisions. Looking at the way these soldiers used to fight by the border and talk about their relationships prooved that the barrier was solely physical, not in their mind and hence proved that the border was indeed meaningless. The close-up shots, the slow-motion camera movements, the transitions, the love to reunite as one nation and most of all the friendship and brotherhood throughout the movie made it one of the best movies I have watched. Being the first actual movie I have seen from the Korean new wave, I can’t wait to explore their movies further.
April 7th, 2020 at 4:15 am
JSA is a film that causes you to feel many emotions in such a short amount of time. Sgt. Lee as well as Sgt. Oh, Pvt. Jung, and Pvt. Nam all form a friendship that makes you feel hopeful for the Koreas because even at a small scale, it has proven to be true that they can coexist and even get along quite well. You feel happy for the four soldiers when they are together and having fun and sad when their friendship is ultimately ended due to them being found out. There is then an investigation by a neutral party and the person put in charge is Maj. Sophie. She is a Korean woman who grew up in Switzerland since her father defected from Korea after the Korean war. She plays the role of uncovering the truth about what exactly happened that fateful night not knowing quite what she was getting herself into. This film is heavy and does not skip on the visuals whether it is the gruesome deaths of characters we have come to care for over the course of the film or the specific scene where Sgt. Lee kills himself, which by the way I was watching with bated breath wanting and waiting to see what happens and then being in a state of shock as Lee puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger with Maj. Sophie attempting to make her way downstairs to stop him while being just too late. The way that Park uses the fact that these soldiers are from North and South Korea to show the struggles between the two sides on a much smaller scale is brilliant. An example of this is when they are playing around outside and Jung and Nam are having a sort of arm wrestling match while standing and that shot literally shows the back and forth struggle between the North and South. This is the first Korean film I have ever seen and it makes me want to watch more because of how incredible and thought-provoking this film was.
April 7th, 2020 at 4:28 am
JSA provides the viewer with a fictional narrative regarding the North and South Korea conflict. With this narrative, director Park Chan-wook, gives an education about the general community’s thoughts upon the separation of North and South Korea; while also going into another conflict of political vs humanity.
Through the steps of Major Sophie E. Jean, the viewer learns as she does the truth behind the difficult case she must investigate. The storyline of the film is both very emotional as it is non-linear; being presented with multiple takes on the same story until the ultimate one rings clear… The four soldiers involved were simply trying to keep an impossible friendship together until the very end.
As all parties involved are trying to protect each other while not wanting to showcase themselves as ‘defectors’ or ‘traitors’ to their own countries; The audience is thrown through multiple loopholes as Major Jean is. Where all their lives; they have been taught to hate each other, our four soldiers find to slowly re-humanize the other side once again, knowing very well that true war could still erupt at any moment. Through this, it shows that with understanding and friendship; borders can be erased.
I find that this film can ring true throughout the history of the world, and likely will for many years and generations to come. I say this a lot due to how our soldiers act in this film regarding their attitude towards the opposing side; and due to reading that the film unsettled the South Korean military. As human behavior is standard to flee instead fight in most life threatening scenarios; soldiers are trained to somewhat dehumanize their target so they can carry through orders and missions. This film shows that even with such training; human nature still often prevails and shines through, blurring and greying the lines, showcasing the conflicts between politically and morally correct. And with that being said; I believe it is just one reason why this film could be an important lesson to society as a whole.
Overall, I enjoyed this film. While I’m not one to watch war-based movies much, I do enjoy the psychological take on it and seeing historical events in cinema. I’m interested and excited to see what the other films of the Korean New Wave will provide.
April 7th, 2020 at 9:00 am
In the Korean film Joint Security Area, we follow the storyline of a diplomatic mess between north and south Korea. Leading an investigation between the countries is Swiss Major Sophie Jang. Jang works hard to bring understanding to what happened between the two countries’ soldiers connecting clues and stories from the witnesses. Due to the high amount of emotion in the film, communicating about certain topics becomes more difficult as clues are brought up. We learn the entire storyline of the film is by the use of flashbacks, memories and even in a few cases post-traumatic stress.
The film’s message focuses on the idea that all men are the same no matter the politics and tension between them. Tensions between the countries have separated families and cultures creating political bias. We experience the emotions these tensions have caused to the shoulder of both countries and political viewpoints. The characters use their human nature in the film to bond and share relatable moments becoming close friends while being close rivals. From enjoying cakes together to playful wrestling these characters showed a bond held together by love and human nature to care for one another.
The director’s stance on the movie was neutral, recognizing the overall seriousness and respect for the political situations. Balancing a healthy amount of humor, action, and politics, I believe the director did an outstanding job of bringing light to the tensions in these countries. In the article Spotlight on South Korean Cinema: Park Chan-wook and J.S.A. Michael Smith does an outstanding job covering the film’s message and the overall situation of the movie. Michael explains “The movie’s plea for tolerance and peace was clearly a message that resonated far and wide in a country whose inhabitants have been raised to hate and fear a neighbor they know little about, despite sharing a common language and culture” (Smith). This stood out to me as many of the people who have a shaped opinion of what to believe are just following what the government sees to be true. Having a neighboring country so similar in culture and language makes it hard to believe that cultures so close could have war within.
With the creative use of transition and action scenes, the cinematography builds a strong message. Using flashbacks and memories the movie unveils the layers behind each emotion the character holds and has to live with. This is the same as Major Sophie Jang finds clues in the movie. With these emotions, we can truly understand the issues at heart between the neighboring countries
In conclusion, film can represent many messages and ideas, in this case, the film represents emotion and the frustration of segregation. The director shows that man can forgive and forget the past. The film also shows the dark true sides of what dehumanizing one another can do but it also shows what love can do.
April 7th, 2020 at 11:22 am
JSA is an incredible film that did what other South Korean films couldn’t do at the time: try to reconnect the North and South. While Park Chan-wook might’ve made the South Korean army mad at him for making the movie, he was able to get so many other South Koreans to wish they could reconnect with the North and end their long lasting battle. To be able to change the minds of the majority of the people is amazing because the South Koreans were raised to hate the other side of the border and vice versa. It almost doesn’t even matter that he couldn’t change the mind of the army, because the army is the government and they don’t want to befriend the North unless they change their ways.
That’s the beauty of JSA though, these 4 soldiers were able to see past their countries hatred towards each other and see the good in them, after all they all consider themselves Koreans. It was really sad to see how different their required military time was though, the South having 2 and a half years, while the North having 13 years. I do wish they would’ve at least brought up how controlling the North Korean government is to their citizens. They kind of did when they talked about all the American things that the South Koreans had, but the Northerners didn’t seem to want them (besides the lighter) because they were making fun of them while talking about how good everything from the North is.
I also really enjoyed how the bond between them was told through flashbacks so they didn’t have to hold anything back, like how they did when they were getting interrogated.
Overall I really enjoyed watching JSA and I love the message behind the story.
April 7th, 2020 at 1:15 pm
The film Joint Security Area was an interesting movie that was a rollercoaster of mystery in my opinion. The film had me thinking of different scenarios that could have happened with Lee Soo-hyeok. I liked how Sophie E. Jean was trying to crack the mystery of how this even began, and it would transition to flashbacks of Lee So-hyeok becoming friends with the north soldiers. In the beginning I thought he was captured, and I then went on to see alternate scenarios of the story, which then led to the end. At first I thought he really was captured, but later realized that it was just a friendship that was broken up because of the split between 2 countries’ different ideals of a government.
Park Chan-wook did a good job showing off how the characters had a good friendship that built up. But it couldn’t go on much further than sneaking into the bunker because each side hated one another. The most impactful scene however, is when Sophie bring in Segrent Oh and Lee Soo-hyeok into the same room to see Nam Sung-shik attempt of suicide. It broke both characters but, it made Lee cry while Oh wasn’t crying but angry and attacked Lee. Oh was blaming Lee for everything and made Oh realise that friendship between the North and South could never happen. I think that’s what drove Lee to killing himself at the end. It’s all because he never wanted to kill anybody but he did at the end and he ruined his own chance at happiness with everyone he cared about. He might have also been mentally scared in the end of the bloodshed. Last thing i want to touch on is the frozen frame at the end. It was confusing to me because I saw the 4 characters again. But after reading the article I see why the director did it that way. He wanted to show off the soldiers in a happier time. Even though the division factor is there the soldiers were happy and definitely more peaceful when they were divided because they didn’t have to hurt one another. I see why this film is so important, it is even said in the film, that they are all the same people. Even though divided by the government they are all Koren at the end of the day, they still should care for one another.
April 7th, 2020 at 1:31 pm
When I heard that we were studying South Korean Cinema I was intrigued and watching JSA was an experience like no other. I was invested in these characters and how they bonded as friends even though in their countries eyes that they were viewed enemies and traitors. Park Chan Wook is a powerful director and JSA is an exquisite masterpiece that is an essential watch for South Korean Cinema. Park has created a powerful film with a vigorous message of how friendships can be formed even when countries are separated by borders but bonds can also be broken in a blink of an eye and in a moment’s notice.
This movie showed how war changes people for better and for worse and how enemies can show compassion and sympathy for others. Just because you live in a country with a bad reputation doesn’t make you a bad person as shown by the character Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil played by the amazing Kaang-ho Song. Sgt Oh’s character struck a chord with me in a good way and was one of the many standout characters in JSA. His best scene is when he tries to be humane after they get busted and he tries to reason with the general. Normally an enemy would just let the general kill the enemy and traitors but he stood up and told both Sgt. Lee and his General to “Put the guns down together” showing a sign of unity and a sign of peace. Unfortunately it doesn’t work out and Sgt. Lee brutally shoots his friend Shin multiple times even after he dies. At that moment I thought he would shoot and kill both of them but he lets them go back across the bridge to their side and that act of kindness even in the darkest moments feels very sincere in my eyes and seeing their friendship tear apart after all this time is gut wrenching and heartbreaking to watch but it’s understandable why he holds a grudge but eventually he moves on.
Director Park Chan Wook shows how Maj played by is a empowering female protagonist through cinematic camera angles. When Maj is walking down the hallway the camera is shot to make her look extremely intimidating with a low angle shot to show how she is the officer in charge and the officer with the most authority. Notice how everytime she is investigating Sgt. Lee the camera spins around the room in a 360 degree shot not rapidly but slowly to build suspense and to make her the dominant person in the room. One of the shots that caught my eye visually was the shot of her examining the missing bullet as the camera main focus is on the bullet but it’s between her face and her eyes to show how she pays attention to tiny details and that’s how she quickly and efficiently cracks the case that the 4 soldiers were friends. I understood her choice to fail and make sure that her replacement doesn’t know that they are friends. It shows how much she cares about Sgt. Lee and Nam and Maj is willing to risk her job to protect them. That’s why it was so tough for me to watch the scene of Nam jumping out of a window and Sgt. Lee commiting suicide. Sgt. Lee and Nam couldn’t live with the fact that they killed Shin and that scene shows how friendships can end in tragedy.
This quote from Michael Smith’s article basically summarizes the main point of JSA: “One of the central ideas in J.S.A., posited, as is often the case with Park, in mostly visual terms, is the tragic notion that borders are man-made and therefore arbitrary. The motif of borders, whether physical or psychological (sometimes the division is within a single character), is one that recurs throughout S. Korean cinema and Park’s movies in particular. The notion of “being divided” seems almost ingrained in the Korean consciousness and Park fully explores the concept here, occasionally with a dash of absurd humor, in the film’s many bifurcated frames.”
What Smith is saying is that the stunning cinematography and visuals in this film highlights JSA key point of showing that unlikely united friendships can be divided by waring countries and the atrocities and horrific events of war and that leads to tragic outcomes. Even today in a global pandemic we still have borders and the United States aren’t uniting together to try to stop this pandemic. Park directed JSA to show that countries are better when they are united together instead of being separated and divided and raised to hate a country or a race of people without even getting to know them first. That’s why the scene of Shin and Oh helping Sgt. Lee get out of a minefield and setting a dog free instead of eating it for dinner is such an impactful scene showing how humanity is way better when humans are working together rather than when they are split apart and JSA shows the true horrors of war through brutal, bloody and intense sequences of gunfire and shows how bonds can be broken due to a war and how it can impact a soldier’s lifetime and mental health.
To conclude, Park’s masterpiece JSA opened my eyes and made me think about all these characters and how they risked their lives to become friends over a act of kindness and how their friendship was shattered to pieces like broken glass because North and South Korea couldn’t get along and were deemed enemies by society and the public thought everyone in these countries were awful people. But JSA showed how some enemy soldiers got along even in a war setting. They had fun and laughed together, compared their wives and felt like a family to me. That’s why it was unfortunate that their friendship ended in bloodlust and hatred for each other and JSA showed how time can change someone forever.
April 7th, 2020 at 1:55 pm
I’ve recently been recommended the movie “Old Boy” by a friend and have been enticed to check it out since I watched “Parasite”. After watching “JSA” by Chan-wook Park I am even more excited to watch it because I was blown away by this movie. “JSA” is a story that may initially seem like it is about the divide of two nations, and to a certain extent, that assumption isn’t wrong. It tells its story and plays out in a way you would not expect.
A neutral team of agents from Sweden are sent to the border of South and North Korea to investigate a shooting incident. Agent Sophie Jean is the lead investigator of the case. The case involves Sgt. Lee from South Korea and Sgt. Oh from North Korea. As the investigation proceeds it is obvious that something else other than what was claimed happened. It is found out that more people were there. The beginning of the movie does a really good job of enticing you with a mystery. You want to know what happened, and you might suspect that the nature of the event or hatred due to Sophie pointing out that one of the bodies had 8 bullets in them. My initial suspicion was that this was an assassination of some kind, if not, some kind of act of aggression. The mine scene is, in my opinion, the best scene of the movie. Lee stalls too far behind and has lost his group in a grain field in the middle of the night. The setting of the scene and the ambiance reminds me of death. Eventually, Lee is found by two soldiers on the opposing side. After they realize that Lee holds the high ground because of the mine the soldiers turn to leave. Lee begs them not to leave him behind. He is petrified, scared to die, and I believe we are all the same when faced with death. We want to live. He has none of his allies around and is so desperate that he asks for help from the very people he is out there fighting. Oh frees him but not before Nam Sung-shik makes fun of a grown man crying. A notable moment regarding that Nam cried when he was given a present from Jeong. Lee was crying due to fear of death and Nam cried because of unlikely friendships sprouting. They all soon became close friends and even considered themselves brothers. Another scene that really stuck out to me was the shot of the post they spent time in. At the beginning of the movie the post is shown at night and one flashing light was seen for a quick second. At the beginning of the movie, I thought that to be a bullet and nothing more. Although, by the time you get closer to the end the crew decides to make some kind of oath and commemorate the moment with a picture. When the flash of the camera struck and I saw it from the same perspective, I realized what I got from this movie. It is about external and internal borders. These two great nations are at war and the story takes place at the one physical place that divides them. The protagonists of the story are from two opposing sides but once faced with a universal factor such as death, find comradery. Comradery grew into a friendship. Something you wouldn’t expect this movie to be about.
Coming out of this movie I knew a lot more about the conflict between South and North Korea and it did not feel like a lecture or like I was being crammed information in order to understand the story. I think it is also interesting that Park did not go to film school but rather he studied philosophy. One of the directors of the South Korean new wave also did not go to film school just like some of the directors of the French New Wave. The transitions this movie uses are absolutely amazing. My favorite has to be the spitting contest across the border that turns into a scene at the gun range.
April 7th, 2020 at 1:57 pm
Joint Security Area
The tension between North and South Korea is strongly present on the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone) which stretches across the Korean Peninsula and serves as an armistice between the two nations. Joint Security Area (2000, AKA JSA), a political thriller, explores this tension and the people caught up in it as a murder on the north side of the DMZ arouses suspicions amongst both sides as well as the neutrals.
The movie follows a murder of two North Korean soldiers on the north side of the border. Major Sophie E. Jean (Yeong-ae Lee), a Korean Swiss Army Major, is sent to investigate the murders as a diplomat investigator. Her higher up Major General Bruno Botta (Christoph Hofricther) sends her in to investigate a couple of soldiers from both sides who have been tied up in the crime scene. The film opens up as these murders occur but the director, Park-chan Wook, leads the audience to believe that these murders occurred as an act of hatred and grizzly violence through shots that highlight particular people and by leaving out a few key shots from the scene. This sets up the movie in a whodunnit way while the audience has an answer in regards to who did it, but no the how or why. Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok (Byung-hun Lee) is being investigated as the killer along with his colleague Nam Sung-shik (Tae-woo Kim), both being South Korean soldiers. On the other side, Private Jeong Woo-jin lies dead along with a commanding officer while their comrade Sergeant Oh Kyeong-pil (Hang-ho Song) is wounded. Sophie is sent to interrogate both parties to piece together what actually happened at the DMZ with both parties not complying. The movie sets itself up in a non-linear fashion as the chronological timeline of the movie is broken by Sgt. Lee’s flashbacks of how he met Sgt. Oh and Private Jeong. While on a patrol, Lee’s company crossed into the Northern border not realizing it. While Lee was taking a bathroom break, his squadron made haste to get out of the area leaving Lee none the wiser. Confused and alone, Lee accidentally stumbles upon a land mine and in order to remain whole, he stays still. A small puppy stumbles upon Lee and Jeong along with it. Both soldiers, instinctively, raise their weapons at each other. Oh sneaks up behind Lee and threatens to kill him until Lee mentions that they are in the minefield. He convinces Oh and Jeong to help him and Oh gives him the pin of the land mine as a memo that they saved his life. Entranced, Lee secretly starts sending messages across the border, along with his gratitude, to Oh and Jeong and the three quickly become pen pals. Soon enough, lee starts sneaking out from his post at night and joins his new friends on the other side of the border, a crime punishable by death. Their friendship blossoms and Private Nam catches wind of this as he spots Lee coming back from the north side one night. Convinced by Lee, Nam joins the trio and they all become closely knit together. They play games, share stories and laughs, and overall try to make the most out of their time on the DMZ. One night, a North Korean sergeant stumbles upon all of them as they were paying the North a visit for Jeong’s birthday. Both sides scatter across the room and are at gunpoint ala a Mexican Standoff. Oh tries to convince his higher up that the two wanted to come join the north and has them put their weapons down. Nam, scared and restless, shoots the commanding officer as he was reaching for his radio and proceeds to kill Jeong and shoot him several times as he is caught in a trans-like state. Oh, realizing what kind of mess they all made, still tries to help his new ‘brothers’ out as he takes the gun from Nam and shoots the commanding officer again, finishing him off. He lets Lee and Nam escape and in order to create a believable alibi, he tells them that the story is that they were kidnapped and has Lee shoot him in the shoulder. As Lee stumbles in the middle of the border, both sides engage in a firefight with Oh seeing Lee getting dragged off by his people. After an attempted suicide, Nam is rushed to a hospital and Lee tries to strangle out Sophie out of anger to which she retaliates. After a couple of smart maneuvers, Sophie gets both Oh and Lee into the same room to confess the truth so that she could piece the whole story together. Even though both consider each other brothers, Oh gets enraged and shoves Lee away and swears to the communist party in front of his officers. Both Lee and Oh try to save each other but Sophie wants the truth. Major General Botta reveals to Sophie that her father was a former North Korean POW thus removing her from the case as she is no longer considered neutral. Sophie then implores that she learns the truth from Lee and Oh as she can no longer incriminate either. Oh passes her a lighter that was gifted to him by Lee earlier and has her deliver to him, signifying the final goodbye. After wishing him the best, Lee is taken away by Southern soldiers and before entering the armored vehicle, Lee takes a gun from a soldier and proceeds to kill himself. The last shot of the movie is framed as a picture that pans from Oh to Jeong, Nam, then Lee, thus ‘revealing the bigger picture’ and the truth.
The major theme in the movie is division as it resembles the actual separation from North and South Korea. South Korean filmmakers liked to explore the idea of reconciliation and unification between the two countries (Smith) and it is evident through the actions of Lee Soo-hyeok. His desperate attempts to unify with his ‘brothers’ leads to their, and his, ultimate demise. Through a few instances in the movie, Lee keeps suggesting that the pairs unite and that Oh and Jeong should come to join the south. These scenes proved to be tense as they showed stances which characters were willing to take. For example, Oh would scold the idea of joining the south as he would take southern food out of his mouth and claim that he will fight for the nation until they make the same food and even better. Both parties acknowledge their newfound camaraderie and the dangers that come with it. They all believed, as the South Korean filmmakers believe, in a unification between the two. Lines of division are prevalent throughout the film. Whether it be the bridge on the DMZ or the metal bar in the ground dividing two buildings (where the photo in the last shot is taken). These lines constantly showed the polarization found between the two sides and how Oh, Nam, Jeong, and Lee desperately try to blur these lines.
JSA is a beautifully haunting movie as it portrays an issue in the Koreas. Many people there are taught to hate the opposite side even though they share the same culture and language. It is a sort of blind hate that the four soldiers try to overcome, but due to the two nations’ tensity and struggle, they fail. The final shot of the movie is eerie in a sense that it concludes the events of the movie in a manner that speaks to true life – these are people who are unwillingly stacked against each other and on the other side of the spectrum.
Work Cited
Smith, Michael Glover. “Spotlight on South Korean Cinema: Park Chan-Wook and J.S.A.” White City Cinema, 13 May 2013, whitecitycinema.com/2013/05/13/spotlight-on-south-korean-cinema-park-chan-wook-and-j-s-a/.
April 7th, 2020 at 3:23 pm
Joint Security Area directed by Park Chan-wook does a amazing job being able to tell the story of the conflict between North and South Korea. It is very interesting to be able to see both sides of the story. This is my first watched South Korean film and I wasn’t expecting to watch the North Korean Soldiers being painted in such a friendly manor. In Particular, Sgt. Oh and how he saves Sgt. Lee and becomes friends with him instead of leaving him to die or shooting him. Early on in the movie we are showed the aftermath of the blood bath and who was involved. The film does not follow a chronological timeline and instead the story is told by the flashbacks of the soldiers who endured the event. We are told the ending of the film and have to fit the pieces together on who committed the murders of Jeong Woo-jin who was the talented artist and the other comrade of the North Koreans. In a way, we are left guessing just like the investigator because we are shown the truth in bits and have to put it together like she does.
The films main character is Maj. Sophie E. Jean who is brought in by both North and South Korea as a investigator by a neutral Swiss and Swedish team. As the investigation proceeds everyone Maj. Jean talks to is giving her a different story South Korea blames North Korea and accuses them of kidnapping Sgt.Lee who fought in self defense. North Korea blames South Korea and says their soldier attacked the base over the bridge unprovoked. After Maj. Jean is able to deduce that there was more shots fired then a single gun could my then just one gunmen in the crime. After testing the inner barrel of Pvt. Nam for blood, Maj. Jean, knows that he was present in the shooting. We later learn that he was afraid of giving up the relationship with his two North Korean friends. The ending is also very sad because even though Maj. Jean’s investigation was successful it caused Sgt. Lee to commit suicide because I think he was very ashamed for exposing the truth about his North Korean friends.
In conclusion, it is clear to see the risk the director took to portray the North Korean soldiers in the way he did. In the same way, it is very cool to see the character development of both the North Korean soldiers but also the South Korean soldiers and them becoming brothers. After watching the film, I feel that both South Korean soldiers resent that they didn’t trust their North Korean counter parts, and it ended the worse way it could’ve for all parties. J.S.A is a great watch and has you on the edge of your seat the whole way through the movie as a thriller should. My favorite scene is the rotating eye-line match of the four of the soldiers as they sit around the table. The cinematography in that scene as well as in all of the flashbacks is really great. This film is highly recommended.
April 8th, 2020 at 2:30 pm
J.S.A Movie
This was the first south korean movie I’ve watched and it was awesome. It was a movie, but I felt like I was watching it in real life. The screen shots, the camera movements, and the animation they did was so cool that it felt so real for me. The first part of the movie was thrilling and then slowly it began to show more parts and understand the whole story with an ending sad part.
The movie started on the border bridge between north and south korea. Sgt.Lee and Nam Sung on the south border, Sgt.Oh Kyeong and Jeong Woo on the north border. The south korean army goes into the forest travelling towards the north koreans and one of the people sees I they’re close to their territory and they backs off, but Sgt. Lee was doing something else and didn’t see that his army had already left. He then turned around and couldn’t see any of his members. He then stepped on a mine accidentally, and started calling for help on his radio but couldn’t get an answer back. After a minute he sees a dog and then comes Sgt. Kyeong and Jeong Woo. They disarmed Sgt. Lee and were about to leave and that is when Sg. Lee asked for their help. I thought that he would die, but they saved Sgt. Lee’s life. From the next day, Sgt. Lee and Jeong Woo started throwing notes across the border and started interacting. Then one day, Jeong Woo invited Sgt. Lee to cross the border and come over to their place. Bravely, the next night, Sgt. Lee crosses the border and enters their place. Sgt. Kyeong and Jeong Woo were both in shock when they saw him. They interacted and Sgt. Lee was about to leave and that is when Sgt. Oh stopped him and they started talking and making a bond between them. A couple days passed by and Sgt. Lee crosses the border everyday and they have fun. One day Sgt. Lee was sitting with Nam and he asked Nam if he wanted to meet his new friends. Anyway, later Sgt. Lee took Nam on the bridge to cross the border to show his new friends. Nam Sung was scared to cross the border, but Sgt. Lee takes him anyway to his new friends. Nam was scared first when he saw Sgt.Oh and Jeong. Later, as time passed by they started becoming very good friends and even called each other brother. Without giving too much of the plot away, Park gradually leads viewers to realize that what both sides are trying to cover up is nothing more harmful than friendship, which pushes the story in directions both ironic and tragic(Article). Their friendship got so strong that they don’t care anymore about the consequences if they get caught. It was then one day, Maj. Gen came to their place and saw all four of them together and took his gun out immediately and right after him Sgt. Lee took his gun out too. They both started pointing out at each other and that is when the tragedy happened and they started shooting at each other. It ended with Maj. Gen and Jeong died at that place. Sgt, Oh and Sgt. Lee could’ve killed themselves but their bond was so strong and they still had their brotherhood between them. Sgt. Oh told them to go away and that is when the both armies came and the war began. After that the interviews and confessions were made between Sgt. Lee, Sgt. Oh and Nam.
Nam jumped from the window to commit suicide, but was taken to the hospital. The movie ended with a sad part of Sgt. Lee committing suicide with a gun.
April 8th, 2020 at 2:31 pm
work cited
https://whitecitycinema.com/2013/05/13/spotlight-on-south-korean-cinema-park-chan-wook-and-j-s-a/#comment-68090
April 14th, 2020 at 10:58 am
J.S.A. is directed by Park Chan-Wook and it is about 4 guards at the DMZ of North and South Korea on each side getting into trouble which almost got the two countries to the brink of war. The audience later realized that the 4 guards were meeting up not as enemies but as friends putting aside their political differences.
When first watching J.S.A., my first thoughts about just the cover poster and the opening act of the film which reminded me of those action movies that go straight to DVD with the mix of Steven Seagal for some reason. Within the cover of the movie there’re three faces floating while beneath them are some explosions and helicopters flying by. Generic action movies were my first thought. Even the introduction of the movie was full of action. Nevertheless, I was wrong to judge a movie too soon. This really took me by surprise on how much humanity some scenes had and how clever some scenes played out.
In the introduction of the movie a Swiss and a Swedish UN investigator came to the DMZ to inspect the crime scene to find who is at fault in starting the conflict. We later discover that the four guards from both sides of the north and south of the countries were coming together and becoming really good friends. The guards would talk, play games, eating and drinking together like a family reunion. Even though both Koreas were split apart 75 years ago after the end of WWII, the longer both countries are apart, the more the identity will change and will end up having little or no similarities. It will be harder to come together as one in the future because of how different both cultures are, and the growth of hatred for each other. Making the other country as the villain makes things difficult to see each other as human.
May 7th, 2020 at 11:31 pm
The film Joint Security Area in my opinion is a classic Romeo and Juliet story told through the environment of Korean soldiers at the DMZ. The story begins with a gunshot in the night and two North Korean soldiers dead. This leads both sides to launch an investigation using a neutral Swiss mediator. The film begins with the ending and how the mediator investigates both sides. She take information for the different parties but nothing is given away until the flashback.
The flashback begins with a South Korean Soldier out on patrol when they stumble into North Korea. His squad retreats back and the protagonist finds himself stranded with his foot on a landmine. He then is greeted by Two North Korean soldiers who save his life. Later in the story he starts to befriend the two enemy soldiers and they pit their differences aside. He eventually brings his friend over the border where they all really start to bond.
All their fun and games come to an end when a Higher ranked North Korean solider catches them all. This is what immediately sparked the gun fight and ultimately led to the death of the North Korean soldiers. The soldiers from the south live but are so distraught by what they have done to their friend that they are both led to insanity. The end of the film is bleak and depressing because of the grim reality they were living in. The audience truly wanted this event to bring peace to both the Koreas but knew deep down that nearly nothing will bring them together.
The message in the story is all about human compassion. It goes into depth about how anybody from any background should be able to find common ground. This is especially apparent because of how similar the characters are. They even goes as far as to say they are brothers. The bond the created was not based on anything but love for another human being even if that relationship was shunned.
June 12th, 2022 at 11:30 pm
I came across this site by accident. I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ll make a point to watch it, especially given that from February 1976 to March 1977 I was assigned to the 2nd Platoon, JSA (which was officially known as the U.S. Army Support Group, Joint Security Area). When the NKPA killed my Company Commander, Captain (Major) Arthur Bonifas and our 1st Platoon Leader, First Lieutenant Mark Barrett on August 18, 1976, 2nd Platoon was off duty, but on August 21, 1976, our platoon surrounded the Tree as the 2nd Infantry Division Engineers cut it down. Thus, it will be interesting to see how accurately the movie portrays the JSA in general.