71: Into the Fire Movie Review

Title: 71: Into the Fire
Genre: War, Friendship
Origin: Korea
Release date: June 16, 2010
Cast: T.O.P (Choi Seung Hyun), Kwon Sang Woo, Kim Seung-Woo and Cha Seung-Won

This movie, based on a true story, is about the 71 high school students that were left to protect the Pohang base (a middle school that was used as the ‘strategy office’).
The story follows Oh Jang Bum (T.O.P), a ‘student soldier’ which is high school that had to leave school in order to become a soldier. He is a VERY inexperienced soldier, who cracks under pressure, as the one time where he could have saved his best friends life, but didn’t. After the loss of his friend, he is stationed in Pohang , where he meets 70 other student soldiers, which one of them is Ku Kap Jo (Kwon Sang Woo), a former student who is convicted of murder, but volunteers to become a soldier.
Jang Bum is then informed by Kang Suk-Dae (Kim Seung-Woo), the commander that the 71 student soldiers are to stay behind, as the rest of the soldiers are returning to Naktong Bulge, which they think is in bigger danger. He is also told that he is the commander of the other soldier, much to Jang Bum’s shock and Kap Jo’s displease.
The student soldiers, who have never seen a gun, take life easy and refuse to listen to Jang Bum, mainly under the command of Kap Jo. On the other side, the North Korean commander Park Mu-Rang (Cha Seung-Won) has his eyes fixed on Pohang..

First off: I know absolutely NOTHING about the Korean War history. Secondly: I’m REALLY not fond of war movies. But here I stand ground and say, this is a bloody brilliant movie! I read a review that someone wrote about it, and it said that the movie was too much of things blowing up (duh! It’s war!), and too much of zooming T.O.P’s face (Yeah in the first 20 min, but not too much, I think it was enough so you could get the feel he had getting his eardrums blown up and getting cut or hurt but not having the time thinking about it). I love this movie, and I cried so hard! I really didn’t expect the movie to end like it did, like the credits were rolling and I was still in my seat not getting what the hell just happened, my brain was simply thinking too much and tries to work through what had happened. I think the characters were brilliant, like the big brother (I don’t remember the name) who is at least 19 and his younger brother, whom I wouldn’t give more than 15 years. The two friends of Kap Jo were hilarious, and not to mention the ones like Chukko (I think they called him that) who was merely a kid and charachters like Pohwa Sokeuro.
I don’t want to spoil the movie, because the less you know, the better it is going to be.

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
Whether you are 15 or 50 you all have something precious which you would protect even if it meant your life. This is one great movie about young students you are sent into war without ever having held any kind of weapon before. Though they dont take war serious at first, when they experience killing for the first time they are in shock but they will definitely fight for their country. I absolutely loved the movie. Brought tears to my eyes. To see these young people unite and fight together with one goal it was just amazing. And the fact that the enemy underestimated them and thought "they are just students, they can do nothing" , but they were drifted by their goal and put everything into it. If running with a bomb into the enemy meant that they could have an advantage then they would not hesitate for a moment, because in their eyes they werent running towards death, they were running into freedom. Really simply amazing.

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts