FILM REVIEW

Jennifer K Mahal

Modern-day Korea is a country divided, with north and south separated

by a demilitarized zone, the DMZ. What happens when an unlikely

friendship between soldiers stretches across that zone is the subject of

“Joint Security Area,” a film by Chan Wook Park.

The film starts with a shootout, under investigation by neutral Swiss

authorities. The leader of the investigative team, Major Sophie Jang (Lee

Young Ae), finds herself stymied by the official reports, which neither

side seems to be able to get beyond. All she knows is that a South Korean

soldier opened fire in a North Korean outpost a few yards across the

border, killing several people. Getting to the truth takes her into

dangerous territory.

The film is told in flashes back and forward. We learn of the the

friendship that unexpectedly grows among four men stationed on opposite

sides of the DMZ and how that comes to change one fateful night in

between scenes of the investigation.

In some ways, the investigation story line seems an unnecessary prop,

especially when contrasted against the power of the men’s story. But it

does not detract too much from this tale of how politics and war can

cause unhealable rifts.

In Korean with English subtitles, “Joint Security Area” is a story

that will be hard to forget after the credits have faded.

* “Joint Security Area” will play at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lido Theater,

3459 Via Lido, Newport Beach.