Joint Security Area
Short description
Joint Security Area is set in the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea, where two North Korean soldiers are found dead inside the neutral truce village of Panmunjom. A firefight follows, and each side blames the other: the North alleges a raid, the South claims a kidnapping that went wrong. To keep the incident from escalating, a neutral body sends Major Sophie E. Jean, a Swiss army officer of Korean descent, to question the soldiers stationed there. The surviving sergeant is identified as the shooter, but the accounts she collects on either side of the border do not fit together, and her inquiry turns on details that neither government wants examined.
Park Chan-wook directed and co-wrote the film with Seong-san Jeong and Kim Hyun-seok. It was his third feature as director and the first in the run of films listed after it, followed by Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance in 2002 and Oldboy in 2003. The cast is led by Lee Young-ae as the investigator, with Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Kim Tae-woo, Shin Ha-kyun and Herbert Ulrich among the thirty-three credited performers.
Made for about three million dollars, the film took roughly twenty million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.7/10 from around 38,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.8/10 from 879 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 7.5/10 from twenty-five reviews, so critical and audience responses sit close together.
What's left behind the scenes
- During the conversation on the bridge, one can hear loudspeakers installed on both sides of the demilitarized zone, broadcasting non-stop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. The adversaries relentlessly attempt to convince soldiers from the opposing camp of the merits of their political system.
- At the beginning of the episode with the South Korean patrol, around the 31st minute of the film, a small hill is visible. In reality, this is a grave.
- It was impossible to film in the actual unified security zone, so a copy of it was built.
- After landing a role in the film, Song Kang-ho visited the Joint Security Area for the first time to look a North Korean soldier in the eye. When the soldier offered a slight smile in return, it deeply touched the actor.
- During the final scene with the photograph, a melody from the Russian folk song 'Luchinushka' is played.
- During a conversation on the bridge between Major Sophie Chan (Lee Young-ae) and the Swede, an incident that occurred on August 18, 1976, is mentioned. Several UN mission personnel entered the demilitarized zone to cut branches of a poplar tree that was obstructing the view from the guard post. There, they were attacked by North Korean soldiers armed with axes. Two U.S. soldiers and four South Korean soldiers were killed. Four Americans were also injured.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
