Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of WarTae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video GamesTae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War is a 2004 epic Korean War film, directed by South Korean director Je-gyu Kang. It also known under the British title: Brotherhood and under the US DVD title: Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War. It proved to be a bestseller in Korea and a moderate performer overseas, becoming one of the highest-selling South Korean films of all time. In Asian cinema, this title was widely seen as South Korea's own Saving Private Ryan reflecting the pain and anguish of the Korean people, but also showcasing epic Korean War battle sequences, bringing attention to what has long been deemed "The Forgotten War" outside of the Korean Peninsula.
The story, told in retrospective from a Korean War veteran, follows the experiences of two brothers who survived World War II and the waning years of the Japanese occupation of Korea, only to be plunged into the madness and chaos of the Korean War (1950-1953). Two brothers are tricked into 'enlisting' by boarding the wrong railroad car and are not allowed to return home to take care of their family. The older brother Jin-tae Lee (Dong-gun Jang) volunteers for all of the dangerous missions he can get, committed to win the Korean equivalent of the Medal of Honor (a loophole in Korean Military rules allowed a winner of such a medal to send his siblings home). However, upon winning the Medal, the younger brother Jin-seok Lee (Bin Won) refuses to return home. Horrified at the realization that Jin-tae no longer fights to help their family, but fights because he enjoys killing, the increasingly chaotic tides of war will challenge both the relationship between the brothers and their relationship to their country.
The following weapons were used in the film Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War:
A Japanese handgun of the WWII era, the Nambu Type 14 is seen in the hands of a North Korean captain who in one sequence tries to escape the South Korean forces during the October 1950 battle of Pyongyang, and then is subsequently chased down and captured by a glory-hungry Jin-tae Lee. While seemingly out-of-place at first glance among the Soviet-supplied North Koreans, the Japanese military did in fact conscript Koreans into their military during WWII before the Japanese occupation of Korea ended, and this weapon could well be a physical remnant of that period.
Produced by the millions by the Soviets for their "Great Patriotic War" (the Soviet term for WWII), it is no surprise that by WWII's end they still had enough PPSh-41 submachine guns to generously equip their various client states for the opening years of the Cold War. In this film, the PPSh-41 is a common sight amongst North Korean soldiers.
The standard-issue carbine for the American-supplied forces of South Korea, the M1 Carbine in the Korean War fulfilled the same role it played in WWII-being issued to second-line troops and those expected to see short-range combat.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingKorean War Era M1 Carbine - .30 CarbineError creating thumbnail: File missingJin-tae Lee's squad plants landmines on a road, while some soldiers of the squad standing guard carry M1 Carbines.Error creating thumbnail: File missingSouth Korean soldiers celebrate the news of the successful landing of the US Marines at Incheon, as American F-86 Sabres fly overhead. Visible are many M1 Carbines.Error creating thumbnail: File missingAn M1 Carbine in an over-the-shoulder view can be seen in an easy-to-miss continuity error more fully explained in another section on this page.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDuring the chaos of the Korean War, paranoia about communist sympathizers/collaborators in then-right-wing South Korea motivated several massacres of civilians suspected of communist support, all without trial, and in some cases still without official recognition from the South Korean government. A scene in this film depicts some vigilantes driven by this paranoia using M1 Carbines to execute suspected communist sympathizers/collaborators in Seoul. These Carbines have the 30 round magazines issued after WWII, but are still M1 Carbines, not M2 Carbines, since they lack the selector switch.
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand is the standard issue rifle of the South Korean ROK Army soldiers, including brothers Jin-tae Lee (Dong-gun Jang) and Jin-seok Lee (Bin Won). M1 Garands are also fitted with M1 bayonets during close quarters battle with the North Korean DPRK soldiers. South Korean militias also carry M1 Garands when arresting suspected communist sympathizers/collaborators. As was the case in WWII only five years prior, the M1 Garand remained the standard-issue rifle for the American-supplied forces of South Korea as depicted in the film until upgrading to the M16 rifle during the Vietnam War.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingUniformed irregulars hold their M1 Garands on the head of Pvt. Jin-seok Lee (Bin Won) when he intervenes in the summary execution of suspected communist sympathizers/collaborators during his brief mid-war return to Seoul - a personal stake he has in this situation is that one of those about to be executed is his brother's girlfriend. This close-up shot allows the particular blank adapters for the M1 Garand used in the film to be easily seen. They are externally-attachable BFAs that extend the end of the rifle by a 0.5 inch.
Mosin Nagant M38 Carbine
A carbine-length variant of the ubiquitous Mosin Nagant rifle, the M38 Carbine is occasionally seen in the film, primarily in the hands of the Chinese troops sent to intervene in North Korea by October 1950.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingMosin Nagant M38 Carbine - 7.62x54mmRError creating thumbnail: File missingWhen Sgt. Lee breaks into the North Korean Field Headquarter, there is a lineup of M44 and M38 Carbines against the wall.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Chinese PVA storms the UN lines at the Yalu River. Though hard to see in any particular shot, most of the troops in the front of this human wave are carrying M38 and M44 Carbines. For whatever reason, this sequence is the only time Chinese troops intervening in the Korean War are depicted in this film.
Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine
Another carbine-length variant of the long-serving Mosin Nagant rifle, the M44 Carbine makes occasional appearances in this film, primarily among the intervening Chinese troops arriving to the war in October 1950.
The standard-issue Soviet rifle in WWII, the Mosin Nagant M91/30 "reprises" its role in this film as the standard-issue rifle amongst the Soviet-supplied North Korean troops.
Browning M1919A6 machine guns are used by South Korean troops as belt-fed light machine guns in this film, taking a page from their American military suppliers.
A Browning M1917 makes an appearance in the film. It is most prominently used by a recently-crazed Sgt. Jin-tae Lee (Dong-gun Jang) during the climactic battle.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingBrowning M1917 Machine Gun - .30-06. Unlike many later machine guns, the Browning M1917 was often deployed with its WWI-style water-cooling barrel jacket even in WWII and both the Korean and Vietnam Wars - this "old-fashioned" feature of its design allowed it to provide sustained fire for longer periods than later air-cooled machine guns could (the latter are usually dependent on designs that allow overheated barrels to be quickly swapped out, while older water-cooled machine guns generally only needed to change barrels after their rifling grooves wore down too far to provide accurate fire).Error creating thumbnail: File missingA mud-, blood-, and soot-covered Jin-tae Lee comes to his senses after a tearful reunion with his brother (whom he thought was dead in a building fire), and does a chamber check on a tripod-mounted Browning M1917 machine gun.Error creating thumbnail: File missingLooking much like the beast of war he has become, Jin-tae Lee turns the Browning M1917 machine gun against the attacking North Koreans in a desperate bid to buy time for his brother to escape.
Browning M2HB
On the Allied side, the Browning M2 heavy barrel machine guns are most commonly seen mounted on US Army Sherman tanks.
The standard-issue Soviet light machine gun from WWII and widely issued to Soviet client states in the early years of the Cold War, the Soviet DP-28 makes an appearance in the hands of many North Korean soldiers in this film. These differ from the more common DPM by the lack of a pistol grip, a differently shaped stock, and a bipod that mounts below, not above, the heat jacket of the barrel.
A Soviet-updated version of the venerable water-cooled Maxim heavy machine gun, the Maxim M1910/30 machine gun makes an appearance amidst North Korean forces in this film in its "Sokolov" wheeled mounting. Historically, this machine gun was widely used by Russian/Soviet forces in World Wars One and Two, and also used by their client states in the opening years of the Cold War.
The Chinese Type 67 stick grenade is used by various North Korean soldiers in the course of the film. It is also commandeered by various South Korean soldiers against their former owners as well.
The standard-issue WWII hand grenade used by US forces and their allies in the Cold War, the Mk 2 hand grenade is frequently seen used by Jin-tae Lee and other South Korean soldiers in the film.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingMk 2 Hand GrenadeError creating thumbnail: File missingClose-up of a Mk 2 hand grenade.Error creating thumbnail: File missingJin-tae Lee pulls the pin from his Mk 2 hand grenade in the most ill-advised way possible, with his front teeth. This is NOT recommended in real life - the pin is configured to require deliberate effort with both hands to pull from the grenade (so as to minimize the risk of accidentally arming it), and the force required to pull it can break one's teeth if they used in this manner.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA Mk 2 hand grenade hangs off of Sgt. Jin-tae Lee's jacket as he waits to receive his Medal of Honor.
Launchers
M20B1 "Super Bazooka"
The M20B1 "Super Bazooka" rocket launcher is used in this film, seen most prominently during the Pyongyang battle sequence.
An American WWII-issue flamethrower, the M2 Flamethrower appears in the film. It is most prominently seen during a sequence in which the brothers' unit clears abandoned communist positions and use the flamethrower to flush out potential enemy hiding spots.
M2 FlamethrowerError creating thumbnail: File missingAfter his squadmates throw two grenades inside, a South Korean soldier from the brothers' unit fires his M2 Flamethrower into a tunnel to deplete the oxygen inside and threaten any hiding enemy forces with a firey death. But instead of hostile soldiers, the brothers make a surprising and divisive discovery.Error creating thumbnail: File missingAnother view of the same scene. In a nod to realism, the flamethrower's burst in this scene lasts only 7 seconds, the maximum length of time real-life M2 Flamethrowers could sustain a stream of napalm.
Vehicles
Normally IMFDB does not list vehicles unless they are associated with being gun platforms, either as field modifications or from the factory. So in the case of most films, civilian cars and trucks are not eligible for listing, but many military vehicles are.
BA-64 Armored Car
The BA-64 Armored Car was a Soviet-made vehicle used during WW2, and used by North Korean forces in the film. Its main armament was a 7.62mm DT machine gun with 1260 rounds, mounted inside the top turret.
The F4U Corsair is a turboprop plane commonly seen deployed for close air support in the film, most commonly seen using their 20mm cannons to strafe North Korean lines and entrenched soldiers. A critically-damaged F4U also makes its own "Kamikaze" run at a North Korean gun emplacement in the climactic battle. The World War II Vintage aircraft were used by the US Navy in support of ground operations in Korea until the North Koreans started using the MiG-15 Jet fighters. This effectively ended the F4U Corsair's involvement in the conflict as the US Armed forces switched to their own designs of Jet aircraft.
A post-WWII version of the M4 Sherman tank with a much more squared turret. The main gun of the version used in the Korean War is the elongated 76mm variant rather than the shorter 75mm guns of WW2.
Since there are so much hand-to-hand combats in the film, the filmmakers made lightweight dummy Garands and Mosin Nagant Carbines out of wood and metal parts. In close-up their fake natures are obvious (the fact that the actors swing them around like they weigh nothing is also a clue). The Russian Carbines are odd looking and looks like a hybrid M91/30 and an M38/44 Carbine.
When PFC Yong-man (Hyung-jin Gong) participates in the Pyongyang battle sequence, he has an M1 Garand, but when we see over his shoulder in a brief shot, the gun is an M1 Carbine.
In one scene, Jin-tae Lee (Dong-gun Jang) gives his dejected brother Jin-seok Lee (Bin Won) a Hershey's chocolate bar to cheer him up after their first mission together. However, the candy bar in the scene is the "King-sized version" that Hershey introduced in 1980, nearly thirty years after the Korean War. The anachronistic 'nutritional content listings' on the back of the bar (introduced in the 1990s to combat overconsumption of junk food) are also visible, as is the bar code (which would require the invention of bar code readers, along with their associated "precursor" technologies such as microchips, scanners, and the necessary software programming, to be useful).
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