History Film / WelcomeToDongmakgol

Lt. Smith has been rescued from his plane by the villagers of Dongmakgol, an isolated community high in the mountains. Dongmakgol is so remote that the people of the village not only have no idea a war is on, they don't even know what rifles and grenades are (they take them for "sticks" and painted potatoes, respectively). The North Koreans are led to Dongmakgol by Yeo-il (Kang Hye-jung, Mi-do from ''Film/{{Oldboy}}''), an odd girl who seems to spend most of her time wandering around the forest. The South Korean soldiers wander in to the village on their own. A long standoff occurs once they meet each other, but eventually they become friends and integrate with the villagers. That fragile peace, however, is disturbed by the U.S. Army soldiers looking for Lt. Smith.

* TheFool: Yeo-il is something of a space cadet, putting flowers in her hair, standing around in the rain and humming, playfully sticking her finger in the barrel of a rifle being wielded by an angry, screaming soldier. Subverted when she eventually gets fatally shot. See also TheOphelia

* HeroicSacrifice: The five Korean soldiers band together, construct a fake anti-aircraft site, and wind up getting killed in the American bomber raid in order to prevent the bombers from wiping out the village.

* ImColdSoCold: Inverted at the end when a gutshot Yeo-il says "It's hot" right before she dies.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Lt. Pyo is the worst off for his combat experience. A flashback reveals why: he is tormented by the time when he blew up a bridge that was crammed full of refugees, on the orders of his superior officer.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: The Americans, South Koreans, and North Koreans are all shown to be guilty of at least one [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene war crime]].

* WarIsHell: Especially when you blow up a bridge and kill a bunch of civilians.

* TheFool: Yeo-il is something of a space cadet, putting flowers in her hair, standing around in the rain and humming, playfully sticking her finger in the barrel of a rifle being wielded by an angry, screaming soldier. Subverted when she eventually gets fatally shot.
** See also: TheOphelia

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Unsurprisingly for the majority of the film. However, by the end of the film the soldiers develop into true friends.

** Played on hilariously when Smith is also given new clothes by the villagers, except they're too small for him.

** Played hilariously straight when Smith is also given new clothes by the villagers, except they're too short for him.

* DelayedExplosion: The MexicanStandoff finally ends when Seo, who is falling asleep, accidentally drops his grenade, from which Yeo-il already removed the pin. Lt. Pyo dives on the grenade, but it doesn't explode. As Jang confusedly wonders if their other two grenades are also duds, Pyo gives Lee a look of contempt and disdainfully throws the grenade over his shoulder, into the storage house--where it explodes.

** Pyo ''almost'' pulls one off by jumping on a grenade during the MexicanStandoff scene, but the grenade ends up being a dud.

* RiddleForTheAges: How did Teacher Kim get there? The village is so isolated that the villagers don't even know what a rifle is, yet Kim wears glasses and has a Korean-English dictionary.

* TheFool: Yeo-il is something of a space cadet, putting flowers in her hair, standing around in the rain and humming, playfully sticking her finger in the barrel of a rifle being wielded by an angry, screaming soldier.