Less than 100 years after the American north and south fought their own civil war, a post-World War II smug America began to stick its nose in everywhere, allegedly fighting communism but pretty much claiming that they were out to protect world peace and prevent a third world war. Controversy concerning both the Korean and Vietnam wars have stirred up film makers in their own anti-war campaigns, and this one, directed by the controversial Samuel Fuller, is one of the best. Its story is simple: a troop of American soldiers hide out in a Buddhist monastery as they are slowly surrounded by North Korean soldiers. Capturing one of them who killed one of the troops, they hold him as a prisoner of war, but when one of them goes ballistic and takes his own means of silencing the enemy.
This war drama has political, psychological and spiritual themes, opening with a young Southern Korean boy waking up the troop and guiding them to the monastery. When one of the soldiers comes across a dead American soldier, there are arguments over collecting his dog tags. One soldier, an angry officer hater, sees no point. Once your dead, nobody cares, he claims, and as everybody stares at him in horror, the officer tells the soldier who found the body to collect the dog tags. This is where Samuel Fuller's artistry comes in. He doesn't just get the soldier to claim the dog tags. He has to make a point, and boy, it is a real shocker.
The conflict isn't just between the north and south and the north and the Americans. It is between the soldiers, too. A black medic takes care of the communist soldier's wounds and is prodded by him into revealing how he is considered third class by his own nation. The medic, though, is too smart to be manipulated, as is a Japanese/American who was in a detention camp during World War II but still pledges allegiance to the American flag. This film gives a lot of insight to why men fight, why some became mad over fighting, and why some become cowards or withdraw into themselves.
An expert cast, lead by Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie and Gene Evans, give outstanding performances which truly do not seem like they are acting. They are gritty, mean, compassionate, loyal, hateful, and it really makes the viewer feel like they are witnessing the inner workings of these men's souls. There's even a soldier who spent World War II as a conscientious objector which brings disgusted shock to the eyes of some of his troop. The film is truly memorable because it doesn't have the big studio ideal of why we fight, but what the consequences to war really is, and that features so many aspects that could never be covered in any movie review.
This war drama has political, psychological and spiritual themes, opening with a young Southern Korean boy waking up the troop and guiding them to the monastery. When one of the soldiers comes across a dead American soldier, there are arguments over collecting his dog tags. One soldier, an angry officer hater, sees no point. Once your dead, nobody cares, he claims, and as everybody stares at him in horror, the officer tells the soldier who found the body to collect the dog tags. This is where Samuel Fuller's artistry comes in. He doesn't just get the soldier to claim the dog tags. He has to make a point, and boy, it is a real shocker.
The conflict isn't just between the north and south and the north and the Americans. It is between the soldiers, too. A black medic takes care of the communist soldier's wounds and is prodded by him into revealing how he is considered third class by his own nation. The medic, though, is too smart to be manipulated, as is a Japanese/American who was in a detention camp during World War II but still pledges allegiance to the American flag. This film gives a lot of insight to why men fight, why some became mad over fighting, and why some become cowards or withdraw into themselves.
An expert cast, lead by Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie and Gene Evans, give outstanding performances which truly do not seem like they are acting. They are gritty, mean, compassionate, loyal, hateful, and it really makes the viewer feel like they are witnessing the inner workings of these men's souls. There's even a soldier who spent World War II as a conscientious objector which brings disgusted shock to the eyes of some of his troop. The film is truly memorable because it doesn't have the big studio ideal of why we fight, but what the consequences to war really is, and that features so many aspects that could never be covered in any movie review.