Welcome to Dongmakgol

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Other

The story was set on September 1950 in the thick of the Korean War when the Allied Forces led by WWII hero MacArthur succeeded in the Incheon landing. While most of the Communist People's Army soldiers were isolated by this operation died or hid in the mountains, Allied Forces often carried out indiscriminate bombings to clear out People's Army everywhere wherein some of these places were civilian areas too.


It all began when one of the planes of an American soldier crashes near a small civilian village hidden in the high mountains. He was later joined by 3 Communist People's Army soldiers and 2 South Korean soldiers who got lost and were led there by native villagers who were just willing to help. The village was called Dongmakgol.

Being isolated from the rest of Korea, Dongmakgol was a place where its residents lived simple lives as farmers. They say that the village was named as such so that they could live as carefree as children.

Upon seeing each other, the 2 parties aimed guns & grenades and made threats and curses to warn the other party. Unfamiliar to these weapons, thinking that the guns were mere sticks and the grenades were potatoes, the village folk went on with their own concerns until the soldiers accidentally blew off the storage hut for their food. Guilty that the villagers would have nothing to eat for the whole year because of them, the soldiers stayed and worked in the village until the new storage hut was filled with food. In the process they have adapted to villagers’ native culture and soon became close friends. Everything was already doing well and they have already considered to stay in the village forever when the Allied Forces attacked the village to look for the American soldier. Suspecting the village for a communist camp, a bombing was already planned to wipe out the village and its residents. To prevent the village from being harmed, the soldiers set up a decoy in a nearby mountain to be the target. Sending the American back to his base in the hope of stopping the bombing to be initiated, the 5 Korean soldiers fought to the end and sacrificed their own lives just to save the village.

Although the movie had a bittersweet ending, I would still consider it as a feel good movie. It’s a good balance of action, light drama & comedy that makes it a good movie to watch either before you go to sleep or after waking up in the morning leaving you in a teary-eyed bliss. =)