JSA - Korean Film

[Meghann Seril]

JSA tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two soldiers from South Korea and two soldiers from North Korea and the unfortunate consequences of this friendship. When these soldiers are caught, a gun fight ensues. It is the job of an officer from the Neutral Nations Security Commission to determine what actually happened during the gun fight. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film since this is not a genre movies I tend to watch. I found the character development compelling and was intrigued by way the movie shows the conflicting emotions that come from wrestling with one's individual identity and one's identity as part of a larger group. Unfortunately, most of this movie would not be appropriate for my third grade class. I might show them a brief scene in which tourists are shown visitng the DMZ so students could have an idea of how thin the line is between the two Koreas. Scenes in which the characters wrestle with the growing bond of their friendships and heightened tensions between the two countries may be interesting for older students to analyze.

[Ray Clark]

Meghann, 

It has been a long time since I saw this movie, but I was considering re-watching it to use for this assignment.  I probably still will do that at some juncture, but will probably now choose another film.  On the other hand, I might be able to pick out some scenes to show my students, since I am at the high school level, and there are a lot of  themes that I think older students could explore.  I am glad you posted this.

[Author]

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