‧Directed by Lee Jae-han
‧Genre : War & Drama
‧Starring : Cha Sung-won, Kwon Sang-woo
‧120 Min.
Do you know about the Korean War? The Korean War was a national tragedy between South Korea and North caused by the invasion by North Korea. At 4 a.m. on June 25th in 1950, the Korean War that no one expected broke out. The sudden attack by the North Korean Army forced the South Korean Army to retreat to the most southern region of the Korean peninsula. The South Korean army assembled all its forces to defend the line at the Nakdong River. They did not want to leave the Pohang camp completely empty while defending the line of Nakdong River, so in Pohang they placed 71 student-soldiers as reserve forces, who had never touched a gun before, instead of regular army. Soon after, the North Korean Army’s 766 commando unit lead by a General Park Mu-rang captured Youngduk city, which is located near Pohang. This unit headed for Pohang, disobeying the order to capture the line at the Nakdong River. General Park’s strategy was to take the last destination, Busan, as soon as possible: going through Pohang is the shortest way to Busan. Seventy-one student-soldiers fought the North Korean Army and most gave their lives or got injured. Some died attacking tanks with only grenades in their hands. The sacrifices of those student-soldiers delayed the North Korean Army about 11 hours and saved millions of people's lives in Pohang. Those sacrifices also helped the South Korean Army and the Allied Forces achieve victory. Forty-seven student soldiers died and 17 student soldiers got injured. Furthermore, they had insufficient armament with which to do battle, only receiving 250 rounds of ammunition.
Today, missile launched and nuclear experiments in North Korea threaten the safety of South Korea and world. The bond between South Korea and North Korea is getting worse. Also, adolescents who do not have experience with war have a tendency to think war is just like a video game. I hope this movie will remind people of the effect and horribleness of a war and the noble sacrifices of the brave student-soldiers.
