About This Film
In the plethora of war films in international cinema, it is quite difficult to find ones that actually focus on characters instead of the action, and use the war as a basis in order to present various comments. The late Kim Kee-duk achieves just that in his feature debut, which netted him the Best New Director Award at the 1962 Grand Bell Awards.
Synopsis
The titular five the story revolves around are young men, all of which seem to carry some sort of “baggage” from their past. Oh Deok-soo, whose father is the commander of the battalion he serves into, has always felt that he was treated unequally compared with his first-born brother, a sentiment that intensifies due to the circumstances. Jeong-gook is an intellectual who considers the war a joke, and is actually chastised for his behaviour by both his squad leader and his fellow soldiers. Joo-hwan is a father of five from Seoul, who faces financial issues, to the point that eventually his wife sends him a number of bills instead of a letter, in one of the funniest episodes in the movie. Yeong-seon is a farm boy who is much more graphic about his sex life than is appropriate, as presented in another quite funny episode. Hoon-goo has anger and mother issues, as presented through a number of flashbacks. However, after a number of deaths of their comrades, and a discovery that comes in the worse way possible, the five marines volunteer for a risky mission of bombing an ammunition depot the North Koreans are building.
