Film Screening

Directed by Park, Chan-wook, 2000
25 September 2009

JSA - Joint Security Area opens with a shooting incident in the truce village of Panmunjom that kills two North Korean soldiers and wounds one South Korean soldier. With each country giving conflicting reports on what actually happened, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) is asked to send in a Swiss military officer to conduct an investigation. The Korean-Swiss Major Sophie Jean however finds that no one is willing to talk to her and that the soldiers involved all seem to be hiding something from her. The film is perhaps best described as a mystery human drama divided into two parts- the investigation by Major Sophie Jean and an extended flashback into to the incident between the soldiers.
JSA, acclaimed as a smash hit when it was released in 2000, was also the first Korean film to be shot on Super 35mm film, a special format usually rerved for Hollywood blockbusters that allows for a wide screen and very clear definition. For the film, the producers spared no cost to construct a replica of the village of Panmunjom, a site that can be visited to this day. Director Park Chan-wook saw his career re-launched with this film and went on to make highly acclaimed but controversial films by glimpses of bells and a Shaman’s clothing. s u c h as Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (2002) and Old Boy (2003). As relations between the North and the South change and in the presence of a fragile p eace that currently exists, JSA perhaps serves as a powerful record of the hopes and fears that many in South Korea have about the possibility of reconciliation and reunification in the future.