Joint Security Area 4K 2000 KOREAN Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

In the truce village of Panmunjom, located on the North-South Korean border in the so-called Joint Security Zone, there is an incident with fatalities on the northern side and casualties on the southern side. A representative of the neutral side is invited to look into the incident.

Review 4K Movie

And yet, paradoxically, the beginnings of Buddhism can be seen here and there in Pak's films. The heroes of his films, scrolling through the wheel of samsara, carry parts of this worldview, following the four noble truths, and Pak, with only a slight nod of the camera marks the key points of his narrative.

The First Truth - The Truth about Suffering...I came across this movie quite a while ago but just couldn't bring myself to watch it, even though I have to admit that Park Chang Wook is my favorite director. I was scared to even start watching it as the subject matter was too difficult for me, and considering the director's features, I just can't stand it.

The film stars my favorite Park actors Lee Byung Hun, Shin Ha Gyun, Kang Song, and of course Lee Eng E. By the way, these actors now practically make up the elite of Korean cinema, continuing to star with Park, and not only him.

The second Truth is the Truth about the origins and causes of suffering... Unfortunately, there is little music in the film, with almost no of Pak's trademark violins and cellos, sprouting only by the finale, making it even more poignant. And the cameraman is different, although there are also a lot of close-ups, the camera, all the time rotating, as if trying to find in the characters' faces the answer to the question: why and why they are here. And the characters' images are only more vivid because of that, the director raises a rather touchy subject - the modern man doing, but not understanding why. A lost hero with a machine gun in one hand and a piece of cookie in the other, a sort of chewing biomass obediently obeying commands.

The third Truth is the Truth about the true cessation of suffering... And suddenly these puppet-soldiers begin to think and act in their own way. There is something Russian in these sentiments, I can't even explain, but it's a subtle sense of life, love for one's neighbor, comradeship. People with their souls etched in patriotism suddenly become children again, not distinguishing between territories, but accepting the world and the people in it with all their faults and sorrows. And Park Chang Wook, with a bitter, ironic chuckle, adds light for us to get a better look at these newly reborn souls. In no other film have I been so pleased with the staging of light, the subtle changes of color in the frame, the heavy shadows on the characters' faces. The play with color and light in the scene with the mine in the field is worthy of Cannes or an Oscar.

The Fourth Truth - The Truth of the Ways to End Suffering... Unfortunately, the celebrated Korean director's almost theatrical film leaves the characters with no chance for a normal life. Conditionality takes over the characters, and I felt an almost palpable horror in the finale. Perhaps they choose the only true way out of the situation - death, having for the first time recognized each other as human beings, it is impossible to see them as enemies again.

The strength of Pak's films is the combination of touching human relationships and implacable cruelty to self. In his eyes we are only children wearing ugly masks, afraid to take them off and get to know each other.