Welcome to Dongmakgol
Yesterday, I started the day with no plans to speak of. Around 11 or so in the morning I had a conversation with one of my friends. She too had no plans so we decided to go check out a movie together, and that movie was Welcome to Dongmakgol.
The film was pretty good, and not nearly as anti-American as the Korea Herald lead me to believe. Set during the Korean War (1950 to be exact), the movie tells the tale of a group of North Korean soldiers, a group of South Korean soldiers, and an American pilot who all independently wind up in a small village completely unaware of the (the afore mentioned Dongmakgol).
Over the course of the movie, all of these guys realize that none of them are really that different from each other while removed from the war. I took the film to be more anti-war than anti-American. All sides in the film were shown doing horrible things during war (North Koreans attempting to kill off their own injured men, South Koreans blowing up a bridge with people on it, Americans beating up civilians during an interogation), so no one comes off smelling like roses. Joel over at, About Joel has a much more detailed account of the movie for those of you who care (there are spoilers there just so you know).
Anyhow now a couple of none plot related things regarding the movie. This film had white guys in it, and while none of those actors will ever win an Oscar (or probably ever be in an American film for that matter), they were slightly better than the chuckleheads that starred in the film 수취인불명 (Address Unknown).
Secondly, is it wrong to think that an actress portraying a retard is hot, if you know the actress is not actually retarded? I ask because the lead actress in the film, 강혜정, is super hot, but in the film was a retard, but I still thought she was super hot.
After the movie, my friend and I went for a walk and then went to a 비빔밥 restaurant. The restaurant was really nice, and the food was delicious, but the conversation was better. It’s been quite some time since I’ve actually carried on a conversation in Korean. So we had dinner, and then went window shopping (아이쇼핑 - “eye shopping” in Korean).
We then shared a frozen yogurt concoction and chatted about various nonsense for another hour or so before calling it a night. All in all it was a really enjoyable evening, the first I’ve had in quite some time.
