This was an intriguing film about two young boys living in Korea during Japanese imperial control. One young man is the grandson of a Japanese General and the other is the son of one of his Korean servants. These boys are the best marathon runners of their time and compete to be the best. After the Korean boy, Jun Shik Kim is unfairly disqualified from entering the Olympics (ultimately because he is Korean) he and other rioters are forced into the Japanese army. There journey begins as they are at war with Russia, they are soon commanded by the young Japanese boy who takes over as a their General, they are both captured and sent to a Gulag in the Soviet Union, to the front lines between Nazi Germany and the U.S.S.R., and finally they are together again fighting for the Nazi army in Normandy.
Although this movie is very long and a little to gory at times, it gave an excellent depiction of the both Europe and Asia during World War II. I can see myself showing clips of this after teaching about World War II in my class. I could also use it to depict the relationship between Imperial China and how they treated their occuppied terrritory. I think that all High School World History teachers should check this film out. It encompasses the Second World War without the usual U.S. perspective. (I found it on Netflix.)
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