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Silmido
실미도
2003 135 min South Korea 12+
★7.0
Action, Drama
Director: Kang Woo-suk
Trailers
Description
On 31 January 1968, 31 North Korean commandos infiltrated South Korea in a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. In revenge, the South Korean military assembled a team of 31 criminals on the island of Silmido to kill Kim Il-sung for a suicide mission to redeem their honor, but was cancelled, leaving them frustrated. It is loosely based on a military uprising in the 1970s.
Budget:
$8M
US Gross:
$298,347
Starring
Ahn Sung-ki
Actor
Sul Kyung-gu
Actor
Huh Joon-ho
Actor
Awards
7 wins & 6 nominations
Key opinion
Silmido is a powerful and brutal historical drama that depicts the tragic, true-life formation of South Korea's Unit 684. It is widely praised for its visceral portrayal of human endurance and the harrowing intersection of personal desperation and state-sanctioned injustice.
| Direction | The training sequences deliver hyper-realistic and brutal depictions of physical and psychological trauma. | |
| Screenplay | The narrative successfully tracks the complex evolution of the inmates from hardened adversaries to comrades bound by a shared, tragic fate. | |
| Theme | The film masterfully balances intense, gritty action with a poignant subtext of patriotism and systemic betrayal. | |
| Adaptation | Viewers are split on the historical credibility of the plot; while the human drama is compelling, some find the specific tactical and political decisions of the unit's formation to be absurd or implausible. | |
| Emotion | The inclusion of extreme acts, such as sexual violence and collective punishment, provides an emotionally exhausting and unbearable viewing experience for some. |