KANG JE-GYU

"War has two faces," says Kang Je-Gyu. Sitting in a meeting room at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, he explains, "There's violence but there's also a very emotional side. It's human. That's why my movie delivers both aspects‹to convey the reality of war."

Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War is the director's third film, a 140-minute epic about two brothers who are conscripted into the South Korean army during the Korean War. Family ties heighten the tension when soldiers are slaughtered and bodies are bagged, and the relationship also allows for some potent melodrama‹namely a drawn-out separation scene at a train station a misty-eyed graveyard visit by a senior citizen.



Although the balance of brutal battle scenes and hardcore tear jerking has proven to be a local hit, the war isn't exactly a popular topic in Korean cinema. Most Koreans aren't educated on the war nor are they interested in it. To further his cause, Kang cast Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin, two of the country's most popular male actors who give breakthrough performances. Kang used jump cuts, quick edits, and other stylistic tricks to make sure that young audiences wouldn't tune out once they grabbed their seats in the theater.

Kang didn't mind getting dirty for his movie. "There are a lot of scenes with black smoke in the sky," he says. "Hollywood special effects smoke is quite expensive, so I burned 200 tires a day. When we'd open our box lunches, the rice would blacken immediately."

He won't admit to coughing up black stuff, but he says, "I didn't have time to get sick. It is important to reach young people and let them know that war is not a videogame."

Shiri, Kang's previous film, also dealt with tensions between North and South Korea. The action thriller humanized the typically villainous communists, and won multiple awards in Asia.

His anti-war and pro-unification messages are getting through. The most expensive film in the country's history (US$15 million) has also become its most popular (12 million admissions). Roughly one third of the adult population in Korea has seen it. Tourist agencies are shuttling fans to locations where scenes were shot.

In addition to conquering the South Korean box office, Taegukgi has been a hit in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan. Kang thinks it has a chance in the United States as well. He says, "Although audiences in America may not be familiar with the war, everyone can understand the messages about the violence of war and the importance of family."

Kind of like how M*A*S*H touched viewers in the '70s? "I understand that television program is very popular in the United States, but I never saw it," he says. "I don't think it ever showed in Korea."