Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2019 South Korean action-war film called,
The Battle of Jangsari. Spoiler’s ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The film is based on a true story, which took place for over two days,
from September 14 to 15 in 1950, at Jangsari in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province,
South Korea. It is a battle to fight against the North Korean invasion.
General Macarthur initiated the Incheon Landing Operation and deployed diversionary
attacks in various regions, diverting the North Korean military's attention to Jangsari beach.
Before the operation, they sent the ship called Monsoon, carrying seven hundred and two student
soldiers, who did not even finish their basic training, headed to the beach of Jangsari.
Aside from that lack of experience, they also lack equipment, making it a suicide mission.
Day 1 of the expedition. They are sailing in inclement weather.
The waves are incredibly high due to the typhoon. The ship's captain and navigators
are worried that their enemies know that they are coming. Captain Lee, who is responsible for the
mission, assures him that the enemies are only company-sized units. Still, the ship's captain
seems more worried, knowing that their battalion is full of students unprepared for this battle.
The student soldiers are situated down the ship. They are getting
seasick as they are not used to riding a boat, so most of them are puking.
On the way to the headquarter, the journalist named Maggie converses with the Colonel about
the operation. She worries about the plan on Jangsari as she knows it is a suicide mission.
While in the boat, Captain Lee talks about the plan for their landing;
he worries as the waves are high and they only have a few landing boats,
and without the support of heavy ranged weapons, they will be doomed. Their unpreparedness provokes
the ship captain as he is more concerned with the young student soldiers' lack of training.
Down the ship, the main casts are featured. Despite carrying loaded rifles,
it shows that some of them act immaturely, just like Ha Ryun,
who annoys and mocks the squad leader, Sung Pil, who orders them to pack their rations.
Man-deuk is the chubby soldier who promises to care for Jong Yoon's friend.
Captain Lee tells them the plan before their landing,
and they will get help from the U.S. battleship that will fire artillery at the enemy position.
He assures them of the fulfillment once they succeed in this battle.
After receiving the call, Maggie hurries and complains to the Colonel as she discovers them
sending the young soldiers, who lack proper training, to a suicide mission in Jangsari.
The captains and the sailors are panicking as they
cannot reach the other end to send the artillery as they are about to land.
Left with no choice, they proceed with the plan and take the risk without their backup.
In a flash, the enemy bombs them continuously. The captain initiates
a full landing and deploys the units one by one while the enemy fires them simultaneously.
Then, they proceed with their rope mission to help guide the student soldiers to shore,
where Sung Pil volunteers to go with the ship captain. Yet, the enemies continuously fire
them as they hurry to tie the rope at the beach. While others in the ship jump off and follow them
even when the enemies are showering them with bullets. Leaving many of them dead in the water.
As the sun rises, they hold their position as the enemies do the same on the other side
of the field. Captain Lee divided and spread out some units to deflect the enemy and corner them.
The Sergeant chooses Sung Pil and Gae-tae to come with him.
Ha Ryun, who once tried to provoke Sung Pil, volunteers himself and joins in envy.
They start to move and shoot the enemies on the high ground. The enemies shoot them down with
the machine gun even before they come closer. On the other side, Sergeant with Sung Pil and
others crawls and finds their way to reach the high ground. Sergeant assigns Gae-tae
to hit the machine gunner while they lure them away, which they succeed and open the
chance to Ryu Tae-Seok, the first sergeant, to throw the explosive at the enemies' post.
Captain Lee commands them to advance and make a full assault that causes many deaths
as they move towards while the enemies are retreating. They continue to fight closer,
brawling and stabbing one another. Later on, they rejoice as they successfully secure the highland.
As they gather the dead bodies together, Sung Pil finds a dying young soldier inside a post,
which he shot, calling his mom, and notices a piece of folded paper nearby.
He reads it and discovers the heartbreaking story of that young student soldier, who is taken by
force to be part of the North Korean military. He wasn't even able to let his mother know about it.
Yet he is hopeful that they will let him live when the Southern army discovers he is from the South.
At the same time, Maggie is interviewing the General with the help of the U.S. soldier as
his translator. She asks him about sending the young soldiers despite lacking proper training
and a plan to support them, which exasperates the General.
Yet, his irresponsibility and apathy as a leader also infuriate Maggie as she
discovers that the General does not care about the young soldiers' fate in that mission.
After the temporary victory, the soldiers face a lot of crises.
There were no supplies, no radio to contact the HQ, and Sergeant overheard
that the enemies would deploy two regiments the next day, approximately at sunset.
The following day, they got some raw rice but no water. Man-deuk, the chubby young soldier,
decides to use salt water instead. Although it tastes awful, he eats all of them due to hunger.
Meanwhile, Captain Lee orders the two soldiers to deliver his message. He is bothered knowing
that the enemies will send two tanks while not even having equipment and supplies left.
Then, he remembers when the General told him that they would send his battalion.
He was concerned about his students and against it. But the General told him it was for his
benefit as a new commander will take over his place. So, even without battle experience,
he decided to join them and accepted the responsibility for their lives.
Just then, he has made up his mind and plans to ambush them. They will use the
remaining resources from the opposition to seal the tunnel and trap the enemies.
After that, they proceed with only about two to three hours to prepare before the enemies arrive.
Some of them change and use the North Korean uniforms to disguise.
Meanwhile, the two soldiers succeeded in delivering the telegram.
The headquarters received the news from the other region that concluded that the Incheon landing was
a success. At the same time, the information about the North Korean division army heading
to Jangsari. With this, Maggie worries as she knows that soldiers lack equipment.
The Colonel reassures Maggie of offering his best to help the young soldiers in Jangsari,
which still somehow disappoints her.
When they reach the tunnel, they immediately set up the plan. Captain Lee assigns Gae Tae to
be the lookout. They are almost done when Gae Tae hears the enemies' footsteps and runs immediately.
Everyone hurries as they only have five to ten minutes to wrap up. Suddenly,
Ha Ryun notices that the detonator has come loose. The first sergeant,
Tae-Seok, tries to fix it until the enemies arrive.
The Sergeant succeeds and offers his life by pretending to be a North Korean army. He leads
them and secretly signals Captain Lee to blow the tunnel with him, but he is too stunned and does
not want to let him die there. Impatiently, he initiates the firefight and gets killed.
They successfully blow the tunnel with the enemies in it. Yet,
the enemies manage to fight back and fire them, causing them injuries while some enemies retreat.
They grieve at sergeant Tae-Seok's death. Captain Lee resents the fact that the
headquarters rejected his suggestion to have a strike team, so they assembled their own students.
At the same time, Ha Ryu reminisces his memory with the first sergeant.
Despite having no ammunition and other resources anymore,
they are still hopeful that the headquarters received the note.
As they reach their truck, the Sergeant asks Sung Pil to go to a nearby village with his squad
and get some food; since he has a northern accent, they will not notice that he is from the South.
Ha Ryun feels envious as the company chief trusts Sung Pil's leadership and relies on him.
After that, they go to a nearby village; they carefully move and
hide as they enter the house where their rival seems to be cooking or butchering a dog.
Suddenly, a dog notices them hiding. Sung Pil speaks with them casually with their accent and
asks for food. Unexpectedly his cousin, Jae Pil, who happens to be one of the Northern armies,
comes out. He questions Sung Pil about his company and talks about other things.
As he comes closer, he recognizes him. His cousin is completely baffled since
he knows that Sung Pil is in the South. Sung Pil continues to pretend and lies
about being there while he feels overwhelming happiness as he meets his cousin once again.
Yet, his cousin's comrades notice that he is faking due to his emotion
and how he answers Jae Pil. When they are about to pull their guns,
Ha Ryun and others come out of their hiding place and point their weapons at them. Sung
Pil tries to stop them, but his cousin turns his head to his gun, so he warns his cousin as well.
Sung Pil then tries to settle things peacefully and save his cousin by tying
them up in the trees instead of killing them to avoid making noise. However,
while in the woods, Ha Ryun doubts and questions Sung Pil's intention to join the military.
Ha Ryun is persistent. Influenced by his bitterness and envy, he accuses Sung Pil of being
a North spy and questions his intention to join the student army. Their comrades then point their
guns at their prisoners, and Ha Ryun pressures him to answer by threatening to kill his cousin.
All of a sudden, their opponents turn the situation around.
Then, his cousin is shot by one of Sung Pil's comrades as he also threatens to shoot Ha Ryun.
Feeling devastated, Sung Pil hits Ha Ryun. After that, Sung Pil exposes his ill-fated
life experience, as he lost his family as they were bombed on the way to the South.
It reveals that his purpose for enlisting is to get his revenge and justice for his family.
Ha Ryun and the others feel guilty, and Sung Pil feels miserable as they return to their site.
Then, he reminisces the last time he had met Jae Pil before they departed to the South.
The next day, they notice the aircraft. Not long after that,
it comes back, and Captain Lee joins them to get some help and supplies.
At the same time, Maggie tries to ask to get permission to go with them to
Jangsari as she is covering the report about the mission.
The night on the same day, Man deuk doze off and unexpectedly pulls the trigger.
The Sergeant is furious since they are already running out of ammo.
So, Ha Ryun empties the remaining ammo in his rifle.
Meanwhile, out of guilt, Ha Ryun gives Sung Pil a snack indicating that it was from the
company commander when it was from him. He suddenly tells him about his plan of going
to America after the war and opens up about his life and his reason for joining the military.
It turns out that he is longing for love and attention from his family.
He did not feel loved by anyone all his life, making him feel envious of Sung Pil.
He then reveals what inspired him to join, which is to be acknowledged and make his family proud.
The following day, everyone's eyes are sparkling as Captain Lee comes back with
abundant supplies for each of them. While they are rejoicing and indulging in their food,
Captain Lee and other sergeants gather to discuss their next step.
Successfully, Maggie works on his report while on the evacuation ship to Jangsari.
At the same time, their enemies arrive earlier than expected.
Captain Lee immediately orders them to ready their tanks and other weapons. Simultaneously,
in the middle of the sea, the U.S. army on the ship begin to fire their enemies on guard.
Unfortunately, their evacuation ship is too far, it is not easy for the injured
ones to reach it safely. They struggle to get to the evacuation ship due to
its distance while the enemies fire them as they notice them running towards the beach.
On the other side, other soldiers are trying to retreat to the beach as the enemies advance.
As soon as Captain Lee reaches the ship, he forces the captain from closing the vessel to
wait for others. He is furious at the Colonel and the Captain as they insist on departing at once.
Yet, others strive to reach the ship despite the attacks they receive on the way.
At the same time, the Sergeant orders the student soldiers in the front line to retreat
and run after the ship. But Ha Ryun feels the urge to help the Sergeant and hand his letter
for his family to Sung Pil. Yet, Sung Pil joins them and passes the note to Man deuk instead.
In that instant, Ha Ryun and Sung Pil fight together as Sung Pil utters the touching lines,
"We have to go home together."
The dock continues to close, and Captain Lee instructs them to climb the big nets instead.
Since they still receive bombings, the Colonel decides to start the engine.
Their front liners are killed one by one. The Sergeant is shot consecutively since he is unaware
that he used the gun without ammo. Shockingly, Ha Ryun sees that the rifle was Man-deuk's,
which he removed the bullets before. He simultaneously feels anger and guilt,
then fires them with the shotgun in distress until he loses its ammunition.
After their unpleasant encounters, Ha Ryun and Sung Pil become buddies.
They unexpectedly establish a friendship, fight and promise to go home together.
Not long after Sung Pil is shot, Ha Ryun, in despair, decides to blow up the whole area.
Those in the evacuation ship grieve as they depart and witness the explosion.
Afterward, Captain Lee takes responsibility for the deaths
of the many innocent lives due to this operation by offering his life.
Which enrage Maggie, who believes that it is not just, and he does not deserve to be executed.
The Colonel disapproves of Maggie's article as she covers the whole incident as not being in
the army's best interest. In fact, it can ruin their reputation since it states the truth and
can reveal their negligence and irresponsibility for the operation and the loss of innocent lives.
Not long after, Man-deuk gives Ha Ryun's last words to his mom.
Then, the film ends with the older version of Man deuk,
who is still grieving for his close friends, including Sung Pil and Ha Ryun.
It shows how the student soldiers fight for their own purpose
and learn the meaning of sacrifice as they give up their own lives to save their comrades.