History Film / Taegukgi

* MexicanStandoff: Happens when some of the North Korean prisoners take hostages as the unit is retreating. It ends badly.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The South Korean soldiers come across the aftermath of a nasty massacre of civilians by the North Koreans, who even booby-trapped bodies that badly injure two South Koreans. The South Koreans, especially Jin-tae, respond with a RoaringRampageOfRevenge up to the Chinese border, viciously killing every North Korean soldier they find, even if they're begging for their lives and trying to surrender.

* NotSoDifferent: Jin-seok accuses Jin-tae of this when Jin-tae is about to execute a group of North Korean prisoners that includes one of their old friends.
* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The South Korean soldiers come across the aftermath of a nasty massacre of civilians by the North Koreans. The South Koreans, especially Jin-tae, respond with a RoaringRampageOfRevenge up to the Chinese border, viciously kiling every North Korean soldier they find.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In order to fight the communist threat, the South Korean military dipped down to this level.

* TheNeidermeyer: The South Korean military characters are portrayed as this, whether when they forcibly conscript the brothers for the war effort, to the militia mercilessly executing communist civilians in cold blood to the warden [[spoiler:who jailed the brothers to order the cells with Jin-seok inside to be destroyed against Jin-tae's wishes]].

* InspectorJavart: The South Korean militia [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity towards the innocent Communist collaborators]].

* KnightsTemplar: The South Korean militia.

* EpicFilm: On par in its sense of scale when compared to series such as ''ThePacific''.

* AnyoneCanDie: We know from the get go that [[spoiler:Jin-seok]] survived the war. However, [[spoiler:Jin-tae, Young-shin, Yong-man]] and many more aren't so lucky.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Everything Jin-tae does is to get his brother out of the army. When he thinks Jin-seok is dead, he snaps.

* UsefulNotes/ColdWar

* TheGreatestHistoryNeverTold: There aren't a lot of films set during the Korean War. This was one of the first ever made in South Korea, as opposed to American films such as ''Film/{{MASH}}''. Actually, this isn't true. There were many movies made in Korea set during the Korean War; this is just one of the newer and more famous ones.

''Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War'' is a 2003 film from South Korea, directed by Je-kyu Kang, telling the story of two brothers caught up in UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar.

Lee Jin-tae and Lee Jin-seok are brothers who live with their mother in the family noodle shop. Jin-tae has a side business with a shoe-shine stand, and is working to send his bookish younger brother Jin-seok to college. Jin-tae is also engaged to pretty Young-shin, who works at the noodle shop. This happy life is ruined on June 25, 1950, when UsefulNotes/NorthKoreansWithNodongs invade South Korea, starting the Korean War. Jin-seok is forcibly conscripted into the South Korean army, and when his brother tries to pull him off the train, Jin-tae is conscripted too. An officer promises Jin-tae that if he can win the Order of Military Merit, South Korea's highest military decoration, he can get a discharge for his brother. Jin-tae then begins to seek out the most dangerous missions in order to win that medal, but his pursuit of glory alienates his unsuspecting little brother.

* TheGreatestHistoryNeverTold: There aren't a lot of films set during the Korean War. This was one of the first ever made in South Korea, as opposed to American films such as ''Film/{{MASH}}''.

* ColdWar

* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played amazingly straight. [[spoilers:Yong-man]] shows his comrades his family photo, and in the next scene is killed in the battle of Pyongyang.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Jin-tae]] mans a gun turret to give [[Jin-seok]], and the fleeing South Korean army, time to escape.

* StraightForTheCommander: Jin-tae avoids orders to push the North Koreans back across Pyongyang and instead chases after the enemy captain. This inadvertently leads to [[spoiler:Yong-man's death]].

* SuicideMission: [[Jin-seok]]'s lone attempt to rescue [[Jin-tae]] in the film's climax.
* {{Tragedy}}: An entire family is torn apart by Jin-tae's arrogance and descent into madness. There isn't even a single moment of legitimate comedy to break the tension.

* WarIsHell: The Korean War was like any other.

* HumansAreBastards: The North and South Koreans really aren't that different from each other when it came to brutality during the war.

* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played amazingly straight. [[Yong-man]] shows his comrades his family photo, and in the next scene is killed in the battle of Pyongyang.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[Jin-tae]].

* ChekhovsGun: Young-shin says offhandedly that she attended a political meeting because they were giving away free food. It was a communist party meeting. She's executed by the South Koreans.
* DarkestHour: When the soldiers in the Lees' unit are besieged in the Pusan perimenter, frightened and starviing.

* FaceHeelTurn: After his girlfriend is executed by South Korean militia, and after erroneously thinking his brother was also killed by South Koreans, Jin-tae goes over to the North.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Played amazingly straight. A soldier shows his comrades his family photo, and in the next scene is killed in the battle of Pyongyang.

* HeadbuttOfLove: Between the brothers when they say goodbye for the last time.

* UrbanWarfare: The brutal Battle of Pyongyang is one of the film's major setpieces.

* DrivenSuicide: One of the soldiers in the Pusan perimeter cracks, shoots up the hospital, and then kills himself.