Silmido

A South Korean version of The Dirty Dozen based on real events that occurred between the years 1968 and 1971. The movie is a little hard to pin down. I you watch it with an awareness of what “Silmido" is, then the first half of the movie will probably be a surprise, but conversely if you watch it with no information about what happened there back then, then the second half of the movie will surprise you. It’s filmed with bravura, has booming music, a intriguing screenplay which certainly has a message to impart and also very good actors. The only thing that stops it being a completely top movie is that while the first and last 40 minutes are absolutely entrancing, what comes in between is unfortunately “only" good and needlessly slow-moving in places. (06.04.2005)