Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
Drawing the line in times of war
May 28th 2009 03:07
The basic idea of war is to have two opposing forces meeting at a point of contact, which becomes the main front, or the line of conflict. This concept is readily dissolved by guerrilla warfare, which takes away the line, and puts the area of engagement into a rapidly shifting, chaotic form.
In Mel Gibson's "The Patriot", we see a clear idea of how this works out: the American troops, fighting for independence, struggle to meet the British army on their own terms: standing in lines of gunmen, exchanging fire. When Gibson's character loses his family home, he hunts down the British soldiers from the dark shadows of the forest trees, using his knowledge and mobility to help him terrorize the foreign troops.
This works exceedingly well in the film, but it's interesting to read that this strategy has been effective in human history, even until now. Malcolm Gladwell, writing in the New Yorker, noted that the underdog has an unusually high winning percentage, if they play against the rules.
Gladwell writes about T.E. Lawrence and David vs. Goliath:
"Lawrence hit the Turks, in that stretch in the spring of 1917, nearly every day, because he knew that the more he accelerated the pace of combat the more the war became a battle of endurance—and endurance battles favor the insurgent...
...David broke the rhythm of the encounter. He speeded it up. “The sudden astonishment when David sprints forward must have frozen Goliath, making him a better target,” the poet and critic Robert Pinsky writes in “The Life of David.” Pinsky calls David a “point guard ready to flick the basketball here or there.” David pressed. That’s what Davids do when they want to beat Goliaths."
...David broke the rhythm of the encounter. He speeded it up. “The sudden astonishment when David sprints forward must have frozen Goliath, making him a better target,” the poet and critic Robert Pinsky writes in “The Life of David.” Pinsky calls David a “point guard ready to flick the basketball here or there.” David pressed. That’s what Davids do when they want to beat Goliaths."
In cinema, this type of warfare is often glorified. In addition to Gibson's nauseatingly nationalistic epic, we've seen the underdog fight its way against the big, bad horde in the Star Wars Trilogy, "Pan's Labyrinth" and "300". Showing the big fight in the little guy is an easy method of drawing sympathy for the audience, who, no matter what background, can always shed a tear for the fallen rebel soldier.
In a battle between evenly matched sides, though, this strategy is discarded in favour of straining to keep the line. While the lines in the Middle East shifted in the Cold War - leading to the arming of the Taliban in Afghanistan - the Iron Curtain didn't even shift an inch, both sides staring grimly over the breach.
Sadly, though, wars of ideology usually leave fields of fallen soldiers, holding a gun in the name of some philosophical idea, while the metal of a bullet pierced through parchment to rend flesh.
The sci-fi film "Enemy Mine" told the unusual story of a human pilot stranded on a rocky planet. He finds another survivor on the planet, but it's one of the aliens that he's meant to be fighting, and they become reluctant friends.
Here, the line was drawn between species, as if we must be incompatible. The film was really an allegory for racism, but, by using a reptilian race, the division seemed much more repugnant, especially when the seemingly male alien gave birth to a newborn reptilian child. Despite the flaws of the film, it boldly attempted to cross the line, giving the audience a look at the idea of crossing that most hated line.
The line of war is nowhere better drawn than between North and South Korea, with a demilitarized zone (DMZ) fixed between the two sides, both sides parading their military strength at that place, called the Joint Security Area (JSA).
Filmmaker Park Chan-Wook describes this razor-sharp line in his 2000 film, "Joint Security Area (JSA)", a dark mystery about an incident on the North Korean side, where several N. Korean soldiers were inexplicably killed by a S. Korean soldier.
Was he kidnapped? Did he go hunting across the border? The most important question seems to be - why was in North Korea?
The answer, which we find out after a tense, hurried introductory act, is poignant and moving. Sgt. Lee, a S. Korean soldier, is on guard duty with his squad one night, when they've realized that they've crossed the line. The squad hurries back, but Sgt. Lee, relieving himself, discovers that he's standing on a tripwire, and is stuck there.
Luckily, two N. Korean soldiers find him, and after a tense moment with sweat and drawn guns, help him out.
This leads to a hesitant, but gradual friendship between the soldiers on the two sides, and eventually, Sgt. Lee crosses the DMZ to meet his N. Korean friends.
"JSA" is an extraordinary film, capable of deliver big emotional moments and powerful images. Separated only by the idea of communism-vs-capitalism, the two sides meet, drink and become incredible friends. The filmmaker must be praised for not succumbing to the easy path of making the 'commies' look like villains; here, they're funny, charming and with an incredible sense of honour.
In one remarkable scene, during the day, the North and South Korean forces face each other at the physical line between the sides. Sgt. Lee faces his N. Korean friend, pretending to stare each other off, but, in reality, holding in his laughter. They spit at each other, and it's all they can do to stop laughing.
What a moment! With one simple scene, director Park Chan-wook manages to, with a sense of levity, dismiss this physical line. These soldiers have nothing between themselves, except the uniforms that mark them... even the line is meaningless once crossed.
Has it really been almost 10 years since "JSA" was released? Have the tensions not eroded even a little? How tragic it must be for those Korean families, caught in the middle, one side stranded in faux-communism, the other in faux-capitalism.
At this moment, the news headlines tell me that North Korea is rapidly arming up, and there are threats of action. It's far removed from me in Australia, but that haunting image of "JSA" stays with me, a line separating two countries, and how easily it could be crossed if people wanted to cross it.
*this image is from this review of JSA.
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