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The border between North and South Korea, a coastal area, watched by a
small platoon of the South Korean Coast Guard who have to see to it that
no North Korean spies cross the border ... not that that yould happen all
that often.
Kang Han-chul (Jang Dong-kun) is a very ambitious soldier who is
hell-bent to shoot an agent in the restricted zone between the two
countries ... and eventually, one night, he really spots a man right in
front of his gun, and thinking it's a spy, he shoots. But unfortunately
the man was not a spy but a (South Korean) civilian who has come to the
area to shag his girlfriend Mee-young (Pqrk Ji-a) for soem extra thrills
(even though he knew better - and when he was shot, he was still at it ...
This incident lowers the already low esteem the Coast Guard has with
the locals, and matters are not helped by the fact that Kang Han-chul is
honoured for what he did - in principle, he did the right thing, he just
hit the wrong person - and rewarded with seven days leave.
However, knowing he has killed an innocent mandoesn't sit with Kang
Han-chul lightly, and in fact he gets so worked up by the whole situation
that he is first declared unfit for service with a weapon, later he is
discharged, and his attempts to join up with the platoon again grow more
and more bizarre ...
Meanwhile young Mee-young has gone crazy and has developed a streak of
insane nymphomania, seducing soldiers from the Coast Guard by the number,
always believing she's having sex with her dead boyfriend once more.
Before long she gets pregnant, and when her brother comes to the Coast
Guard demanding to know who slept with his sister, he is shocked to find
out it was half the platoon.
Eventually the Captain of the Coast Guard - who's also among those who
slept with Mee-young - demands the platoon's Doctor to perform an abortion
... which almost goes wrong, as the man is an army doctor and not a
gynocologist ...
The mood in the Coast Guard is tense, and even gets tenser when Kang
Han-chul one night manages to break in, steal a gun and later starts
shooting at his former comrades. Quarrels even within the platoon break
out, not at all helped of course by the guerilla style warfare Kang
Han-chul wields against the platoon, and soon soldiers start dying.
Finally, the platoon, and first and foremonst Kang Han-chul's former best
friend Kim (Kim Jeong-hak), track down Kang Han-chul after one night's
particularly bloody attack, but when they reach him, all they find is an
empty uniform, and Mee-young laughing at them as a sort of insane angel of
vengeance ...
Kang Han-chul has meanwhile moved to the next city, where he, in the
middle of a much-frequented square starts singing an army song, in full
uniform. Before oong a small crowd gathers - and when Kang Han-chul has
finished his song, he takes his bayonet and stabs a passer-by ...
A very gritty film about the downsides of military life, avoiding all
glamour in the style of trash like Top Gun and refusing its
characters their catharsis - which doesn't mean the film is as depressing
as this might sound, as Coast Guard is at the same time a tense
thriller that almost playfully avoids becoming too brain-heavy (desptie
its grave subtext) and remains entertaining (if not in an uplifting way)
throughout.
Recommended.
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amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
