In Love and War | |
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Hangul | |
Hanja | 의 |
Revised Romanization | Jeokgwa-ui Dongchim |
McCune–Reischauer | Chŏkkwaŭi Tongch'im |
Directed by | Park Geon-yong |
Produced by | Kim Beom-sik Han Kil-ro Park Yong-soo |
Written by | Bae Se-young |
Starring |
Kim Joo-hyuk Jung Ryeo-won Yoo Hae-jin |
Music by | Park Ji-man |
Cinematography | Jung Chan-hong |
Edited by | Shin Mi-kyeong |
Distributed by | Showbox/Mediaplex |
Release date
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Running time
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135 minutes |
Country | South Korea |
Language | Korean |
In Love and War (Hangul: 적과의 동침; RR: Jeokgwa-ui Dongchim; lit. "Sleeping with the Enemy") is a 2011 South Korean comedy/drama/romance film starring Kim Joo-hyuk and Jung Ryeo-won. In June 1950, soon after the Korean War breaks out, a troop of North Korean soldiers enter a small South Korean village. The troop captain proclaims that they came to liberate the villagers but their true agenda is to ferret out the reactionaries. The villagers offer them heartfelt hospitality and cooperation to avoid falling out of the army's favor. Eventually genuinely strong and close friendship starts to build up between the soldiers and the villagers.
Screenwriter Bae Se-young was inspired by a true story in the life of her grandmother, who used to live in Pyeongtaek. A group of soldiers from the North Korean People's Army stayed for a couple of days at the grandmother's home (because her father was the village leader), and one young soldier, touched by the villagers' hospitality, said that he wanted to stay.
When asked to describe the film, director Park Geon-yong said that its "main purpose is to highlight the plight of the most vulnerable people in the Korean War - innocent civilians." He said he "wanted to use it to inspire viewers to think about what the war left behind," and "tried to give the tragic story a light-hearted touch."
In a remote village called Seokjeongni, the residents manage to learn that North Korean troops have invaded the South via the chief’s radio. Normalcy nevertheless continues for the villagers, who are all preoccupied with more pressing matters: an arranged wedding. Just a few days before the ceremony the groom is forced to flee when news breaks that Northern troops are fast capturing cities and annihilating anticommunist activists. But Seol-hee (Jung Ryeo-won) has no time to brood over her missing, beloved husband-to-be. North Korean troops arrive in town and announce their holy mission to "liberate" the Southerners.