Opening in September of 1950, after U.S.-led forces had landed in Incheon, turning the tide of the Korean War, Welcome to Dongmakgol tells the (fictional) story of a remote little village where the residents have never seen guns, and are completely ignorant of the conflict going on in their country. Their simple, quiet lives are disrupted when an American pilot, Smith (Steve Taschler), crashes just outside the village. While the kindly villagers tend to Smith's injuries, a pair of North Korean soldiers, young gung-ho Seo Taek-gi (Ryu Deok-hyeon) and the older Jang Young-hee (Lim Ha-ryong), and their commander, Lee Su-hwa (Jeong Jae-yeong), as well as a pair of South Korean soldiers, deserter Pyo Hyun-chul (Shin Ha-kyun of Save the Green Planet!) and medic Mun Sang-sang (Seo Jae-gyeong), all find themselves stranded in the little village. There's a lengthy standoff, but when the soldiers accidentally destroy the town's food supply, they all reluctantly agree to work together to help the town restore the food so they'll survive the coming winter. Before long, the soldiers begin to connect with one another and form a strong bond with the locals. There's even a budding romance between Taek-gi and a kooky, carefree village girl, Yeo-il (Kang Hye-jeong). Unfortunately for everyone, UN forces believe that Smith was shot down by North Korean forces, and are prepared to bomb the region to protect an important supply route. Welcome to Dongmakgol was a surprise blockbuster in South Korea. The film marks the feature debut of writer/director Park Gwang-hyeon, and is based on a play by Jang Jin. It had its U.S. premiere at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
While it may seem an odd mix of slapstick comedy, realistically violent war film, and wistful melodrama to Western audiences, it's not really that difficult to understand why the sunny, unabashedly sentimental Welcome to Dongmakgol was a tremendous hit in South Korea. Perhaps a comparison to
Steven Spielberg's work is instructive in this regard. Welcome to Dongmakgol could be seen as a combination of Spielberg's grittiest work (as in the battle sequences that open
Saving Private Ryan) with the forced whimsy of his segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. It's an unwieldy brew, but when combined with the film's culturally specific, hopeful approach to the Korean War (and, by extension, to current relations between North and South), it makes for a uniquely powerful viewing experience, for audiences that are willing to buy into the film's premise and endure writer/director Park Gwang-hyeon slick but somewhat ham-fisted approach to the material. Certainly, it's beautifully filmed. The acting is good, though for the most part, the English-speaking performers offer a glaring exception. A sequence in which the villagers team with the soldiers to bring down a massive wild boar offers a good example of the film's skillful technical credits, and also encapsulates its essentially humane themes (though animal lovers disagree on that point). But problems arise in the last third of the film, when the level of unnecessary brutality and the contrivance of the film's final showdown overwhelm the goodwill that has been generated to that point. While flawed, Welcome to Dongmakgol has its strengths, and its remarkable success offers some valuable insight into Korean culture. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide