J.S.A.: Joint Security Area

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000): In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier.

After watching the Vengeance Trilogy by Park I have been a fan of him. So I have now tracked down his earlier movie JSA. This is a great story about the two Koreas, that takes an unexpected turn.

At first this film presents itself as a mystery, complete with an investigator, his assistant, the suspects and even their different versions of the story, ala Rashomon.

This was interesting to me, but certainly not groundbreaking. However around halfway through the truth about these characters relationship is revealed, and the story changes from a mystery to a character drama.

The friendship struck between these 4 characters feels real, and even though I am not aware of the detail political situation in Korea, it is not necessary to understand these people.

This is a drama, but as all Park movies there is plenty of comedy as well. They are not laugh out loud jokes, but they are amusing/funny scenes of interaction between the leads. They all help making the characters real.

Towards the end the real events are finally revealed, and they are devastating because we are now attached to these characters and we like them. Not to mention the final scene, also heartbreaking.

Another great movie by Park, can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us.

Rating: 4 Stars