- Actors: Dong-Kun Jang, Bin Won, Eun-ju Lee
- Directors: Kang Je-Gyu
- Format: PAL
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 2
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Premier Asia
- DVD Release Date: 5 Sep 2005
- Run Time: 150 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0009VJY48
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 28,709 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
A big, bruising epic of the Korean War, Tae Guk Gi or Brotherhood smashed box-office records when it played in South Korea in 2004, almost as though the country needed to re-live the trauma at a 50-year distance. For the rest of the world, this movie looks like a ground-level reckoning in a melodramatic key, with an authentic feel for battle lines as well as home front. It follows two brothers--one uneducated and forceful, the other intellectual and reserved--as they are united and then divided by the conflict. The broadly emotional story has some of the power of tales of the American Civil War, when family members found themselves on opposite sides of a battle. Director Kang Je-gyu , who made the lively female-assassin hit Shiri, takes a blunt approach to the material (including a Saving Private Ryan-style framing device). And at 150 minutes, he has plenty of time for head-splitting, blood-spraying combat. This movie is meant as a punch in the stomach, and it connects. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"We Live And Die Together",
By
This review is from: Brotherhood [Special Collector's Edition] [DVD] (DVD)
Korea 1950.Two brothers are press ganged into the army after the North invade the South.The elder is determined to protect the younger but he becomes a fierce fighter and with history and honours beckoning the man becomes beast.
Framed a la Saving... by a contemporary beginning and end,Brotherhood is a broad,heartfelt and ferocious piece.Outdoing Ryan with epic combat sequences that are utter carnage the director Kang Je-Gyu(who also scripted) captures the confusion and the insanity of war with startling clarity. Overwhelming at times and not without flaws - a contrivance too many and a final battle that is a little too like greek tragedy,Brotherhood works through it's sheer visceral nature(one scene where a crazed soldier starts shooting his own is hard to watch) and a heartfelt depiction of sibling love(both brothers are first rate). Critcism from other quarters seems harsh to me(enjoying"world cinema" isn't just an exercise in being condescending and intellectually detatched,we all like a bit of the wonderful Alain Resnais and Jean Cocteau but not Scorcese's overblown and ponderous remake of the superb Infernal Affairs)and being manipulated emotionally for something as stirring as this seems a fair trade off to me.Anyway everyone knows that a good war movie is the male tearjerker(apologies to all ladies who enjoy war movies) Highly recommended.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Up there with the best,
By
This review is from: Brotherhood [Special Collector's Edition] [DVD] (DVD)
What can I say except this is a great war film. This film is about the Korean War, a bloody civil war where brothers turn into enemies, it was the first time I was watching an eastern made war film and didn't know what to really expect, all I can say is the east can do it to. The film visually is great with lots of great war scenes and is also emotional and will have you really feelling for the characters. Just how Saving Private Ryan was a great western made war film this is a really great eastern made war film and is definetly up there with the best of war films.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An epic war film of great emotional depth and complexity,
This review is from: Brotherhood [Special Collector's Edition] [DVD] (DVD)
For those you who usually make a point of only watching Hollywood movies, this might well be the film to make you change your mind about non-western cinema. The is a big-budget, highly professional film about the fate of two brothers through the chaos of the Korean war. The acting is first rate throughout, with the elder of the two brothers worthy of particular note. The story moves from the accidental and involuntary enlisting of the brothers into the South Korean army, their rude introduction to the horrors of war and the gradual deterioration of their relationship. The battle scenes are spectacular, capturing all the messy confusion of the front line and the visceral brutality and intimacy of trench warfare, and the evolution of the brothers relationship is gradual and credible. One of the films particular virtues is the wealth of background characters who give the viewer a sense of the sheer variety of personalities within a single unit, and the way in which the war affected each individual differently. They also provide many of the films most comic and tragic moments. For those who might be concerned that a film about the Korean War produced by South Korea would be somewhat partisan, let me assure you that this film is anything but one-sided. The film portrays both sides with great sympathy and at the same time an unflinching willingness to convey the brutalities committed on each side. Honour and love, hatred and violence are all depicted with equal candour. To describe the ending as heartbreaking is no overstatement. All in all, a modern masterpiece, easily the equal of A Thin Red Line or Saving Private Ryan. Watch this film. You will not regret it.
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