In the DMZ separating the Koreas, peace is as fragile as the wooden bridge linking North and South.  When two North Korean soldiers are killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier, it threatens to ignite a full-scale conflict.  An impartial Swiss intelligence team is sent to investigate and they quickly find flaws in the official version of events.  Why were 16 bullets found at the crime scene when the assassin’s gun housed only 15 rounds?  It’s a race to uncover the truth as tensions rise at the most heavily armed border on Earth.

Given the premise of J.S.A., it would be easy to compare it to films like Basic and A Few Good Men.  A shooting happens at a military post, the official story is full of holes, and it us up to one attorney to get to the truth.  That is where the comparison ends, as J.S.A. is nothing like those films.  It is better.

As one military figure says in the film, in Korea’s DMZ, “peace is preserved by hiding the truth.”  The authorities on both sides would be happy enough to accept that Sergeant Lee (Byung-hun Lee) did all the shooting and forget about the incident.  But Major Jang (Yeong-ae Lee) quickly sees through the official story, and it becomes obvious that the military is trying to sweep the incident into the political dustbin.  Jang is an interesting character.  Half Korean and half Swiss, she is divided, neither one nor the other, like the country itself.  She is flown in for the investigation, and we learn that though her father is Korean and she speaks the language fluently, this is her first visit to the country.  Given the divisions in the peninsula it could be said that no one has ever really “been to Korea.”  It can only be seen from one side or the other, not as one country.  We learn late in the film that when Jang’s father was forced to decide between North and South, he chose neither, leaving the country forever.  Of the three leads, Lee gets the least amount of screen time, but she makes the most of it, bringing to life the outsider who just wants to find out why.

The bulk of the film is spent on the lead up to the incident.  Two sergeants, Lee, from the South, and Oh (Kang-ho Song), from the North, meet by accident one night.  Oh saves Lee’s life by defusing a landmine he was unlucky enough to step on.  From there, the two men, who hold posts just across the bridge from each other, begin passing notes over the bridge.  Eventually they meet, and they find that they are not as different as the propaganda would have them think.  Lee has only a short time left in his military obligation, and he does not take the army seriously.  With little to do at his post, he practices his quick draw most of the time, passing the days until he can move on with his life.  Oh has been in the North Korean army for quite some time, and he has been in battle and seen much of the world.  Oh is still the loyal soldier, but he is not bound by the party line.  The relationship between the two soldiers is an uneasy, interesting one.  Clandestine, they only meet late at night, and only on the Northern side of the bridge.  Politics is kept out of the guard shack, but when it does creep up, it is always uncomfortable for them.  Song and Lee both give stellar performances as the two sergeants, kept from a real friendship out of circumstance.

Park, known mostly for his operatic Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and the soon to be released Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) gave a glimpse of what was to come with J.S.A., which was only his second film as a director.  Many of the themes that would come to inform his work are present here.  Late in the film, Major Jang learns that it is no accident that she, of all people, was chosen to come to Korea.  The reasons are quite specific and date back to the Korean War.  The notion of people being controlled without knowing it, of being confronted by events that happened years before, is something that Park would revisit over and over again.  Another recurrent theme is that of a society that operates just beneath the surface of the mainstream, be it the criminal underworld or, in this case, the military.  Park’s film Oldboy, in particular, would later raise these themes to epic proportions.  He directs the film masterfully, his obsessions and bleak view of the world on full display.

This DVD offers a range of audio options.  There is a Korean language track in Dolby Digital 2.0, and there are two English language tracks, one in Dolby Stereo 2.0 and one in Dolby Digital 5.1.  The presentation is crisp.  From the quiet moments to the shootouts, everything comes through free of distortion in all channels.

THE EXTRAS

Behind-the-Scenes Footage: Footage of the actors visiting the Panmunjeom, rehearsing and shooting scenes.  (30:00)

Cast & Crew Interviews: The actors, all of whom seem genuinely thrilled to be in a film, talk about bringing their roles to life, mastering North Korean accents, enduring the cold winter shoot, and other insights.  Park also talks briefly about the techniques he used to shoot the film.  (22:40)

Original Trailer: The original theatrical trailer.

Music Video: Set to a montage of clips from the film, this is a video for one of the mournful songs heard in the film.