A ragtag group of North Korean soldiers led by Commander Lee (Jeong Jae-young) are ambushed. Only Lee, Private Jang (Im Ha-ryong,Arahan, The Big Swindle) and teenager Taeg-ki (Ryoo Deok-hwan) survive. Encountering a strange young girl Yeo-il (Kang Hye-jeong), they find a temporary refuge in her village, called Dongmakgol. Its residents are blissfully unaware that the Korean War has been raging on. The villagers also offer refuge to South Korean soldiers, Lieutenant Pyo (Shin Ha-kyun) and the medic Moon (Seo Jae-gyung, the young monk from Spring, Summer, Winter... and Spring) as well as Smith, an American pilot (Steve Taschler). After a tense standoff, resulting in the blowing up of the village's warehouse, the soldiers agree to a reluctant truce, at least until the warehouse and its contents are restored.
Based on the long-running play written by Jang Jin (Someone Special, Guns & Talks), Dongmakgol is directed by Park Kwang-hyun, previously responsible for the beautiful "My Nike" segment in the Jang-produced omnibus film No Comment (2002). Based on this short, I had some inkling of Park's skills with visual imagery. Nonetheless, I confess that my immediate reaction upon reading about the film was "How could he possibly pull this off?" A feel-good fantasy about the Korean War?
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