71-Into the Fire

I was looking forward to seeing this one as I am a fan of Korean cinema. This follows in the wake of many other excellent films from South Korea telling some of the stories that came out of their still ongoing civil war.

Once again this is based on `actual events' that took place on August 11th 1950, when a group of volunteer `Student Soldiers' held back a North Korean commando brigade. They are hopelessly outnumbered being only 71 in number and hence the title of the film, but show remarkable ingenuity and tenacity. It is slightly reminiscent of the German WW 2 film 'Die Brucke' or The Bridge,The Bridge (Die Brucke) [DVD] [1959] where school children are left to defend a bridge against overwhelming odds, but this has buckets more action.

The events unfold in a mix of real time and some flash backs which help to create empathy for the main characters, who are all desperately young and most still in school uniforms.

The action scenes are regular and bloody, they have built on the incredible realism that we saw in films like `Brotherhood',Brotherhood [DVD] [2004]and the excellent 'Assembly'Assembly [2007] [DVD] and first came to the fore in the West with `Saving Private Ryan'. Like those films, this is in Korean with English sub titles. I do not want to give away any plot spoilers as this is a rollicking rollercoaster from start to finish, during the more contemplative moments I was actually glad for a breather, such is the intensity of this film. It is 116 minutes long, which seems like a long film, but the time just flew past and there is so much action in it I feel I will have to view this again to be sure I did not miss too much. There are some plot holes and quite clearly this is `based' on actual events, all of that aside this is one of the best films I have seen in ages.

It's amazing how foreign films deliver such action and drama while telling semi-true stories, even with subtitles. The cinematography and acting made this movie spellbinding.

Buy 71-Into the Fire Now

I really liked this film which is based on a true story of 71 students, who had no training, little idea what to do yet by their courage, they managed to hold up for 11 hours a North Korean army. Since it is a historical movie, from the start you know they all are going to die. The movie is going to be how they died well.

It is an action movie, overall the acting and character development was good. I particularly liked the scene when a sniper takes out one guy and the rookie soldiers chased him. Often you learn much by seeing how wrong people who do not know what they are doing behave.

Some of the scenes are very strong. I did like Cha Seung-Won performance, although I am not sure how realistic his behavior is of a North Korean commander.

The filming was also good, which is amazing as apparently the film was made extremely cheaply.

Read Best Reviews of 71-Into the Fire Here

Good acting! Confusion in the action sequences but that was the point. Since this movie was based on a true event; it is heart-rendering.

Want 71-Into the Fire Discount?

I watched this movie in the movie theater when it was limited timing about a year ago, there was like no one in that movie screen, however the movie turned out to be great, besides the subtitles, it was a movie where you really didn't have to understand what they where saying, because you would understand what they were saying by just watching the movie. If you are into history or are in the military I'm pretty sure this movie will touch you greatly, A MUST WATCH even if the subtitles aren't great.

I will buy this movie shortly.

Save 37% Off