History Film / MyWay

* JerkToNiceGuyPlot: Tatsuo's character arc, from a JerkJock and TheNeidermeyer VillainProtagonist to a LovableJock who is FireForgedFriends with his Korean rival.

* BasedOnATrueStory: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Kyoungjong Yang Kyoungjong]], who was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, then the Red Army, then the Wehrmacht before being captured by Americans after D-Day.

** The Khalkhin Gol battles are some of the worst examples of movie tactics. They consist of just one side or both sides charging towards the other, the two meeting, and then a massive scrum occurring in which soldiers of both sides are mixed indiscriminately and almost constantly within reach of an enemy. This tactic was never considered viable. The closest to it is probably the way trench raids were conducted in WWI, but even then the defenders would stay in their trenches, and the attackers would move as fast as possible to get out of the open field. Mixing together friendly and enemy like that, above ground, with no cover, would cause pretty much everybody involved in the mix to die, which makes it awfully hard to claim victory for either side. Ironically, a brief scene before the Japanese suicide assault on the Soviet tanks is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5nEzakYbFc far more accurate]] to what the actual battle was like.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Korean character Jong-dae becoming a cruel DirtyCommunist FatBastard to a point he even turned against his fellow Koreans who were not communists foreshadowed the subsequent rise of North Korea and their animosity towards the anti-communist South Korea that even spawned the Korean War between them.

** Shirai uses a German Karabiner 98 kurz with a ZF 39 scope. The rifle is not inherently wrong, but the Kar 98k was actually ''rare'' within the Chinese military by that point, as many had been used by the Nationalist's few German-trained divisions, many who were wiped out in the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, two years before Shirai shows up. Both Nationalists and Communists also armed themselves with local copies of German rifles, the most widely used being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek_rifle Type 24]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyang_88 Hanyang 88]]. The scope is also a bit odd, for the same reason as the Type 99 rifle. What's really strange, though, is how a cartridge is seen ejecting from Shirai's rifle at the exact same moment as her gunshot is heard. The K98k is a bolt-action rifle, meaning that the shooter has to manually open and pull back the bolt in order to eject a round after firing. A cartridge won't eject from a bolt-action rifle at the same time as its fired unless there's something very, very wrong with the rifle. Either the locking lugs that hold the bolt in place would have sheared off, or the firing pin would have been improperly installed, causing the rifle to fire when the bolt isn't fully closed and thus not locked. Either way, something is very wrong with Shirai's rifle, and it would be very unsafe to fire the rifle again without fixing it.

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: Tatsuo finds the brutality of a Russian Commissar very similar to his own,. Which helps BreakTheHaughty.]]

** The Khalkhin Gol battles are some of the worst examples of movie tactics. They consist of just one side or both sides charging towards the other, the two meeting, and then a massive scrum occurring in which soldiers of both sides are mixed indiscriminately and almost constantly within reach of an enemy. This tactic was never considered viable. The closest to it is probably the way trench raids were conducted in WWI, but even then the defenders would stay in their trenches, and the attackers would move as fast as possible to get out of the open field. Mixing together friendly and enemy like that, above ground, with no cover, would cause pretty much everybody involved in the mix to die, which makes it awfully hard to claim victory for either side.

The movie is about two marathon runners, Jun-shik Kim (a Korean) and Tatsuo Hasegawa (a Japanese), who are fierce racing competitors from childhood. Years later during a marathon where Jun-shik wins, a riot breaks out when the Japanese judge declares Tatsuo the winner, wrongly disqualifying Jun-shik for cheating. Afterward, the riot instigators, including Jun-shik, are conscripted into the Japanese Army, where he is stationed at Nomonhan under command of the now Colonel Tatsuo. Jun-shik fights alongside Tatsuo during the Khalkin Gol campaign against the Russians in 1937. Both are captured by the Soviet Red Army and are sent to a hellish gulag. With the Soviet Union reeling under the weight of the German invasion in 1941, they are drafted at gunpoint to fight in the Battle of Hedosk. Tatsuo and Jun-shik survive and are then captured by the Wehrmacht, who in turn conscript them as ''Osttruppen''. The film climaxes with D-Day as the Americans invade Normandy where Jun-shik and Tatsuo are stationed.

** American soldiers fire grappling hooks up the hill into the German trenches. These were only used by Rangers at the cliffs of Point du Hoc. However, the American soldiers can be seen with 4th Division shoulder patches, and the German positions are captured very quickly, suggesting that the scene takes place at Utah beach. Then again, the high American casualties, which are easily in excess of 100 on screen and thus many more hundreds at other points along the beach, are much more like Omaha beach. This troper actually quite liked the movie, but dear god, the battle scenes are so inaccurate.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Becoming succumbing to his wounds, Jong-dae apologizes for going all HeWhoFightsMonsters to Jun-shik and tells him to hide while BuriedInAPileOfCorpses to survive once the futile battle is over.]]

* AFatherToHisMen:
** Subverted, Colonel Takakura at the beginning of the film shows this, but is demoted and forced to commit suicide for "shamelessly retreating" from an overpowering Soviet armor attack.
** Tatsuo's grandfather, General Hasegawa, was a very BenevolentBoss to the Korean servants on his estate, in contrast to the mistreatment Koreans usually suffered at the hands of the Japanese. This makes his HeroicSacrifice all the more tragic, as his Korean retainers are just as horrified as his family.

* TroubledSympatheticBigot: Tatsuo's beloved grandfather's assassination is what inflamed his hatred of Koreans and even takes out on his rival Jun-shik. However, after undergoing CharacterDevelopment with a dash of HeelRealization, Tatsuo becomes FireForgedFriends with his rival who TookALevelInKindness. Jong-dae's excessively abusing his prisoners is due to himself being on the receiving end of the Japanese's mistreatment of the Koreans.

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Unlike Jun-shik who still kept his morale even when being treated poorly by others, Jong-dae becomes a DirtyCommunist who is [[{{Understatement a little too]] overzealous in getting back at his Japanese oppressors who mistreated him as a "Korean dog" with sheer sadism much to Jun-shik's worry.