"71 Into the Fire" is a South Korean war action/drama based on an actual event during the inception of the 1950 North Korean invasion. The actual event is the engagement of a garrison of teenage male student-soldiers conscripted into the South Korean Army (Republic of Korea Army) to hold negligible defensive positions against the advancing 5th Division of the North Korean People's Army. Moreover, the defensive position is the students Middle school which lies en-route to the geographical strategic point of the Nakdong River, which was defended by the regular South Korean Army. Prior to the main theme of the movie, the opening 20-minutes set the bases of the following story in an introductory outburst of combat violence. The South Korean Army utilized students has ammunition runners during battles. One particular student Oh Jang-beom is later forced into becoming the leader of a platoon of 71 student-soldiers none simply than because he is one of only three of the students who has any experience in combat. In addition, the opening 20-minutes is a synopsis testimonial of the South Korean Armies precipitous retreat and the unfortunate predicament the frightened civilians population of South Korea found themselves in during the June invasion. One noteworthy inclusion pays attention to the famous the incident of the panicked South Korean military action of blowing up a bridge over the Han River which was a strategic defensive point, therefor trapping civilians to the mercy of the advancing North Koreans People's Army. 71 Into the Fire" pursues the now standard monotonous action/drama formula indicative of modern war films. There are the established close up hand held camera work, sharpened sound and colour, graphic combat fatalities and injuries and excessive visionary suffering. The pace of the film is balanced between conflict and benevolence. The acting is worthy of note keeping in contour with the story. 71 Into the Fire" makes prominent how one identical nation dating from a once remote period of great age surviving through interludes of independence and colonization now separated by a contrived political boundary can quickly become preeminent enemies divided by separate political ideologies. The students press democratic views and open opinions on leadership and battle formation, the North totalitarian domination. They were no longer a nation striving for nationalism; yet, communists and imperialist nationals divided by political and outside spheres of influence in another 20th century conflict of proxy resulting in an artificial political line dividing a country which as seen bloodshed and citizens continue to live in fear due to the actions of post-war consternation of other nations in proxy the name of politics. For all its brutality and honorable intentions, by the end of the film I felt like this film pungently contrived the Korean war as Childs play and a bit of fun in the school yard, instead of the unimaginable horror witnessed by the population. It is obvious that the target audience is college aged South Koreans, reminding the assemblage of free citizens the price sacrificed by their grandparents. However, 71 Into the Fire is an invigorating, if not odd 60th anniversary tribute in honor of the many young soldiers who lost their lives during the Korean war, either regular, or in this insistence conscripted into defending their country in an avoidable conflict.

hey, let me fix something from last commentsit was 1950s north Korean didn't know how to fight either. that's why they just jumped in and got killed. and the movie wasn't over reacting because there were actually 2500 north Korean against 71 students. and the students fought with them for 11 hours overall. oh i guess i have to write more to submit...OK this movie was OK but it's based on true story and talks how sad it is it's not just an action movie. and when the student(top) killed the north Korean, look how afraid he is. so it's not like just an action war movie. but i thought Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War was better :)

This movie overall was really well made. The acting was great, the special effects were good, and the movie was easy to follow. Since this was based on a true event, the ending was not going to be a huge surprise. Compared to most American films in the past two decades, this film had a low budget (about $10 Million USD). Most of the critics comment TOP from Big Bang being casted just for pure publicity, but he is a good actor as proved from a past Korean drama he did called IRIS. The sadness of the Korean War and the desperation of the people at that time were wonderfully portrayed. We should take this movie as a harsh reminder of the Korean War and wars around the world in general. You may think that this might never happen… especially to you of all people but the harsh reality is that is can… There is no one to blame for the Korean War; not the soviets, North Koreans, South Koreans, Chinese or the anti communist nations. We only have over selves to blame for war, and no one truly wins one.

It's not bad. It's not great. From the few English-language comments about 71, one can piece together that it's a movie vehicle for local teen heartthrobs, kind of like casting the Jonas Brothers in a recreation of The Alamo or the Tet Offensive. There's even a short, bittersweet dance sequence before the final slaughter, as the unprepared volunteer soldiers await the attack by North Korean troops. I'm sure it's meant as a wink to the actors' fans but it plays just fine on a dramatic level, not least because it's brief.The movie seems to have had a good budget for a Korean actioner, with support from the military. It's shot with very narrow depth of field, a choice that may seem unnatural for a panoramic war movie but heightens the shock and subjectivity of the experience for the teenage heroes, who are in way over their head from the get-go. There are two superb sequences. One is a chase through the woods, as the south Koreans chase a North Korean sniper, who's been sent to draw them out. They follow him into a wheat field where "the commies" are nestled, camouflaged a la Tom Berenger in Sniper. The inevitable firefight doesn't go where you'd expect it to and adds to the tension between the young captain who leads the student soldiers and the cocky thief who's been dumped on their squad.The second great sequence follows soon after. The top North Korean drives straight into the enemy's compound, white flag waving, and undermines the hero's credibility with a simple offer: surrender and we'll let you live. The surrender scene is a combat trope par excellence, but here it's handled with such slow Leone-style build-up and centered on a terrific performance that it's elevated into something special. It takes a good two minutes for the white-clad North Korean just to get out of his Jeep, wipe the dust off his boot and condescendingly shove a useless prisoner back into the ranks, before he even opens his mouth. As the scene wears on, it becomes clear the hero will have a mutiny on his hands. Good stuff.The movie is nuanced toward the North, as the southern heroes repeatedly discover the humanity of their enemy. Eastwood did something similar with his pair of Iwo Jima movies and I don't know enough about Korean culture to say whether this signifies changing attitudes toward the North.The final battle, some 20 minutes worth of wanton slaughter and deeply saturated pyrotechnics, using a wide variety of period hardware, is notable for its use of physical stunts and squibs and for its clear delineation of the space it takes place in, something a lot of action movie makers have lately forgotten. What it lacks utterly is suspense because the movie makers have already shown us that reinforcements are coming and the heroes' fate is already etched in history. To quote Josey Wales, "If things look bad, and it looks like you're not gonna make it, you gotta get mean." These student soldiers get mean, all right. For all its emphasis on gore and painful ways to die that recall the gut wound death scene in Ryan, the movie also stoops to really icky sentimentality in these final moments -- indeed, throughout the story, as it cuts to shots of hysterically wailing moms as the young volunteers are trucked off, and a cringe-inducing letter-writing voice-over probably inspired by Saving Private Ryan. It's tonally wrong, just as the earlier comic-relief with a fat soldier who eats raw potatoes feels wrong, and it's this sort of weirdness that is keeping even big budget Korean movies from breaking into the American market. Maybe Brett Ratner should re-edit and chop down this one, like he did the Bollywood movie Kites.