Many films, books, and other media have depicted the 1950—53Korean War. The TV seriesM*A*S*H is one well known example. The 1959 novelThe Manchurian Candidate has twice been made into films. The 1982 filmInchon about the historic battle that occurred there in September 1950 was a financial and critical failure. By 2000 Hollywood alone had produced 91 feature films on the Korean War.[1] Many films have also been produced in South Korea and other countries as well.[2]
The Steel Helmet (1951) is awar film directed bySamuel Fuller and produced byLippert Studios during the Korean War. It was the first studio film about the war, and the first of several war films by producer-director-writer Fuller.
Fixed Bayonets! (1951), U.S. soldiers in Korea surviving the harsh winter of 1951. Directed by Samuel Fuller.
Battle Circus (1953). A love story of a hard-bitten surgeon and a new nurse at a M.A.S.H. unit. It starred Humphrey Bogart and June Allyson and was directed by Richard Brooks.[3]
P.O.W. (1953), an American teleplay about soldiers recovering from brainwashing and abuse in a Communist prisoner of war camp.
Men of the Fighting Lady (1954), Fictional account of U.S. Navy pilots flying F9F Panther fighter jets on hazardous missions against ground targets. Directed by Andrew Marton and starring Van Johnson.
The McConnell Story (1955) Air Force pilot Joseph C. McConnell who served as a navigator in World War II before becoming the top American ace during the Korean War.
Target Zero (1955), U.S., British, and South Korean troops are trapped behind enemy lines.
Battle Hymn (1957) starsRock Hudson as ColonelDean Hess, a preacher who became a pilot. He accidentally destroyed a German orphanage during World War II, and rejoins the USAF in Korea; he rescued orphans during that war.[6][7]
The Hook (1963), starringKirk Douglas, portrays the dilemma of three American soldiers on board a ship who are ordered to kill a North Korean prisoner of war.
Inchon (1982), portrays the Battle of Inchon, a turning point in the war. Controversially, the film was partially financed bySun Myung Moon'sUnification Movement. It became a notorious financial and critical failure, losing an estimated $40 million of its $46 million budget, and remains the last mainstream Hollywood film to use the war as its backdrop. The film was directed byTerence Young and starred an elderlyLaurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur.
The Forgotten (2004) features a decimated tank unit, lost behind enemy lines, battling the vicissitudes of the war as well as their own demons.
Birthday Boy (2004) is a short animated film directed bySejong Park and produced byAndrew Gregory. It depicts a young boy Manuk playing on the streets of a village in war-stricken Korea. When Manuk returns home he receives a package containing soldier's personal effects. Unable to read and too young to understand its meaning he mistakes the package for a birthday present. The film won 30 film festival awards and was also nominated forAcademy Award forBest Animated Short Film.
A Hill in Korea (1956) is a British war film. The original name was Hell in Korea, but was changed for distribution reasons, except in the U.S. It was directed by Julian Amyes[8] and the producer was Anthony Squire.
Korea: The Unfinished War (2003) is a documentary written and directed by CanadianBrian McKenna, which provides new information and adopts an objective editorial line. It interviews researches that allege that the US committed war crimes by using biological warfare on North Korean territory. The documentary provides information that certain munitions found on the battlefield point to the use of anthrax, bubonic plague and encephalitis by US forces. It also provides information that the US Army deliberately killed civilians on a large scale for fear that the communists were infiltrating them.
The Marines Who Never Returned (1963), directed byLee Man-hee. A film about South Korean marines fighting to the last man against North Korean and Chinese soldiers during the Korean War.
Spring in My Hometown (1998), directed byLee Kwang-mo. Though not focused especially on the fighting, takes place in a South Korean village during the war as it deals with the war's upheavals.
Joint Security Area (2000), directed byPark Chan-wook. In the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone) separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. The investigating team suspects a cover-up is taking place, but the truth is much simpler and much more tragic. StarringLee Young-ae,Lee Byung-hun,Song Kang-ho,Kim Tae-woo, andShin Ha-kyun.
Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005), directed byPark Kwang-hyun. It shows the effect of the warring sides on a remote village. The village becomes home to surviving North Korean and South Korean soldiers, who in time lose their suspicion and hatred for each other and work together to help save the village after the Americans mistakenly identify it as an enemy camp.
In North Korea the Korean War has always been a favorite subject of film, both for its dramatic appeal and its potential as propaganda. The North Korean government film industry has produced many scores of films about the war. These have portrayed war crimes by American or South Korean soldiers while glorifying members of the North Korean military as well as North Korean ideals.[11][better source needed] Some of the most prominent of these films include:
Unsung Heroes, a multi-part film produced between 1978 and 1981 which included in the cast several American soldiers who had defected to North Korea. It tells the story of a spy in Seoul during the Korean War.
Battle on Shangganling Mountain (1956) (Chinese:上甘岭;pinyin:Shànggān Lǐng) is a famous Chinese war movie about theBattle of Triangle Hill. The story is centered around a group of Chinese soldiers that were trapped in a tunnel several days. Short of both food and water, they hold their grounds till the relief troops arrive. The movie's popularity is largely due to the fact it was one of the few movies that were not banned during theCultural Revolution.
Assembly (2007): Parts of this movie depicts Chinese forces in the Korean War, specifically around a special squad of artillery spotters.
The Sacrifice (2020): The July 12–13, 1953 events of the film atGeumgang River are presented in three main segments from three different perspectives: "Soldiers", "Adversaries", and "Gunners". These are followed by a final segment, "Bridge".
In South Korea novelists Pak Wansŏ and Ch’oe Yun and film director Kang Chegyu use the war experience to explore geography, time, memory, and history. Their narratives are set decades after the war ended, but emphasize long-term memories and results.[15]
Choi In-hun'sThe Square is one of the most important novels about the Korean War from the 1960s.[16]
Jo Jung-rae's ten-volumeTaebaek Mountain Range was one of the most popular novels in the 1980s. It also covers the Korean War.[17]
The essayWho are the Most Beloved People? (1951) by Chinese writerWei Wei is considered to be the most famous literary and propaganda piece produced by China during the Korean War.
The war-memoir novelYesterday's War (2001), by Meng Weizai, is a drafted PVA soldier's experience of the war, combat, and espionage between the PVA, Korean People's Army (KPA), UN Command and South Korean Army.[18]
The war-memoir novelWar Trash (2004), byHa Jin, is a drafted PVA soldier's experience of the war, combat, and captivity under the UN Command, and of the retribution Chinese POWs feared from other PVA prisoners when suspected of being unsympathetic to Communism or to the war.
Based on the novel and film (see above). The TV series had a total of 251 episodes, lasted 11 years, and won awards. Its final episode was the most-watched program in television history.[20] Yet the sensibilities they presented were more of the 1970s than of the 1950s; the Korean War setting was an oblique and uncontroversial treatment of the then-current American war in Vietnam.[21][22]
In the television series the character Tom Anderson is a veteran of the Korean War and received aPurple Heart. The series’ tenth season features segments where Anderson tells stories of his experiences during various Korean War battles including theBattle of Inchon and theBattle of Heartbreak Ridge.
In "Meet Me in Daegu", an episode of theHBO showLovecraft Country, the story takes place in Korea during the war. The main character Atticus is a veteran of the war.
The Colombian theatrical workEl monte calvo (The Barren Mount), created by Jairo Aníbal Niño, used two Colombian veterans of the Korean war, and an ex-clown named Canute to criticize militarist and warmongering views, and to show what war is and what happens to those who live through it.[23]
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