"Welcome to Dongmagol" 2005

Welcome to Dongmakgol is a surrealistic, magical look at a fictional village surrounded by a war raging around them. They are innocents in an Edenic setting. Dongmakgol becomes a microcosm where the outside war is brought in by a crashed American pilot, some South Korena deserters, and some North Korean soldiers who have gotten separated from their troops.


There’s so much going on in this small, charming film that I will break up this discussion over a couple of posts. Today let’s just talk about this movie's cultural impact. Originally, this was a play. Cinematically it has more in common with surreal films lie Amélie and Donnie Darko. Unfortunately, Americans do NOT come across very well represented and rightfully so. The crashed pilot is anything but a goodwill ambassador, shouting profanity to the point that the children around him begin repeating. Fanz Fanon wrote that true colonization begins with language. In a film where America is suppsoed to be fighting the spread of COmmunism...it's obvious the message after 50 years...Americans are still in orea...the Communists are not.

No matter how tense the Korean soldiers get, threatening each other with guns (no bullets though), the villagers continue to try daily life as usual in some very funny stalemates. Unfortunately, the Korean soldiers accidentally blow up the village’s food supply and are circumstantially forced to help them replenish the supplies. While doing so, the soldiers and the American find a common bond…who’d ever think killing a wild boar would focus such emotions?

The film is beautifully shot (lots of CGI) and the acting is impeccable. It’s so easy to play fantasy over the top, but director PARK Kwang-hyun manages to steer his cast clear of clichés. Making a film about the Korean war will always be a touchy subject, but given this idyllic setting and fantastical plot, even up to the ultimate sacrifice the soldiers decide to make in the end, this film is a great one for any American wishing to see from a Korean perspective what the Korean War was about…the disconnection of human emotion in the name of duty and idealism and how it’s possible to regain some dignity in the face of war atrocities.

Easily one of the top ten Korean films ever made.