Joint Security Area (공동경비구역)

Before his definitive breakthrough with his Vengeance Trilogy (Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance), Park Chan-wook already proved himself with this brutal mix of male bonding, trauma and the tensions between North and South Korea. The title refers to the demilitarised zone between the two countries and the two political ideologies. After a violent incident that leaves two North Korean border guards dead and one South Korean wounded, a neutral Swiss-Korean female officer investigates the case and in the process comes across a secret fraternity between border guards from both sides. This first superproduction of the new South Korean film industry remains politically controversial. For some, it illustrates the Kim Dae-jung government's opening up to North Korea; for others, it's a neo-nationalist treatise, making the film as schizophrenic as its country of origin.

"Focused on the blurring of shared boundaries, it's also the gayest action flick figuration of Korea's post-war bifurcation ever made, predominantly concerned with the fatal attraction between two pairs of night duty border guards who strike up an unlikely friendship based on pop-culture crossovers and macho mutual admirations." - The Village Voice