It seems that Park hasn't always held a pessimistic view of the world. Before his signature 'Revenge' trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, 2002; Oldboy, 2003; Lady Vengeance, 2005), he tackled his country's North/South issue with brains, heartbreak and humor, exploring the essence of animosity by questioning the reasons people become enemies; or are labeled as such from the start, free will having nothing to do with the matter. When two North Korean soldiers are killed and one wounded inside their own lines, South Korean soldier Soo-hyeok is pinned for the infraction; he was seen crossing back over from the North side on the night of the murders nursing a bullet hole in his arm. His account of the night in question, however, is different from that of the North Korean survivor (Kang-ho Song), each side accusing the other of instigating the situation. When a Switzerland-born Korean Neutral Countries Officer (Yeong-ae Lee) gets sent to her father's native land to investigate, she attempts to learn what really went down. Told through sporadic flashbacks, this seemingly simple film induces laughs and tears as it portrays war in an habitual and life-defining way, yet whose roots are often trivial and ambiguous; sometimes even forgotten. In the vein of war pictures like Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937) and A Midnight Clear (Keith Gordon, 1992), JSA looks at soldiers in identity crises, re-evaluating who they thought they were and by extension doing the same for their country.
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