During the Japanese occupation of Korea, young Jin Suk and his family begin working for a Japanese farmer. The farmer has a son the same age as Jin Suk by the name of Tatsuo. The two boys share a love of marathon running and soon become bitter rivals as they grow up which culminates in Jin Suk being wrongly disqualified from a qualifying race to appear at the Tokyo Olympics after he has won. Tatsuo is named the winner instead. This act of injustice angers the Korean crowd who start a riot which is quelled by the Japanese soldiers. Jun Sik and the men of the riot are imprisoned and then conscripted into the Japanese army at the start of WWII to fight the Russians. He finds out that the man in charge of his unit is none other than Tatsuo. When the Soviet army attack his unit, he and Tatsuo are captured by them. On arriving at a labour camp, Jun Sik finds an old friend is in charge of them but he finds that his friend has changed for the worse when he betrays a fellow Korean who is then shot. Jun Sik and Tatsuo manage to escape from the Russians but find themselves drafted into the German army just as the Normandy landings are about to take place.
This excellent Korean movie can quite rightly stand alongside many Hollywood blockbusters such is the epic sweeping scope about it. It was all done on a modest $26 million budget – proof that you don’t need to waste over $100 million dollars like Hollywood to make a good movie. I think it was the biggest amount of money ever spent on a Korean movie. It’s directed by Je-Kyu Kang who knows about making good war movies as he was the man who also helmed Taegukgi – Brotherhood Of War (if you like your war movies definitely do not miss this movie). The premise about two Asian men fighting the Allies during D-Day might sound far-fetched on paper until you discover that the movie is actually loosely based on a true story about a Korean man, Yang Kyoungjong, who was forced to fight for the Japanese, Soviet and German army. He was captured in Normandy after the US Army overran the German defences. I loved the idea of a Korean and a Japanese man having their fates tied together from the time they were kids right into adulthood and how their relationship changes over the years from being rivals in marathon running to comrades in arms hoping that they’ll find a way back home.
The blend of war scenes with that of the rivalry between the 2 main characters is perfect. The running time motors along at a brisk pace and before you know it you’re at the breathtaking climax. Even though the movie is over two hours long, it is always interesting and never boring with plenty of incidents taking place although I did find it sometimes ridiculous how things panned out for the two foreigners. Take this scenario in the final third of the movie as Jun Sik and Tatsuo have planned to sneak off the front line in Normandy to catch a boat to go home but just as they’re about to make their escape the Allies start bombarding the Normandy coastline and storm the beaches. The two soldiers are forced to man the heavy guns to repel the American invaders off the beach. There’s a great twist right near the end which I won’t spoil for you and it is quite unexpected.
The battle scenes in the movie of which there are 3 are well executed, realistic, brutal and intense. One of them has the Soviets attacking the Japanese army by tanks. The Japanese soldiers (some of which are Korean prisoners) with Tatsuo as their commander have been ordered to go on a suicide mission to destroy the tanks. The Normandy beach landings is also exhilarating to watch. It’s as good if not better than Saving Private Ryan with the camera taking you right into the heart of the action. The battle scenes does not shirk from showing the horrors of war. The cinematography is fantastic taking us from the Far East, snowy Siberia and finally to the shores of Northern France. It is spectacular and stunning. The filmmakers couldn’t have picked two better actors to play the two main characters in Dong-gun Jang and Joe Odagiri. They’re the biggest assets this movie has and their performances are faultless. In Joe Odagiri as Tatsuo we see his character begin the movie as an arrogant nasty person who changes over the years into being someone the viewer can warm to.
As this is mostly a testosterone movie, the only female with a small role as a Chinese sniper is Fan BingBing. It’s such a shame she’s not in the movie for long as I liked her character. The only gripe about this movie is it skipped certain things such as how the two men joined the German army. The viewer sees the pair escape from the Russians into the snowy wilderness and the next thing we see is Tatsuo as a German soldier. I would have liked to have seen the circumstances of how the pair became German soldiers.
Overall, My Way is a movie that has it all from superb battle scenes, well developed characters and an incredible story spanning the whole of WWII. It is not to be missed. Highly recommended.
Sadako’s Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5