Abstract
As soon as the film starts the Korean soldier Aroun, new in the Japanese army, is qualified a “troublemaker” by his superior: it gives a first idea of the way the Korean soldiers are treated by the Japanese. We see that the Koreans people were mistreated by their Japanese superiors in the army. For example at the beginning of the film the tall man standing next to Aroun is being beaten and thrown against the wall for having said something to his superior, Mori. In four hours, the superior slaps the Koreans soldiers twice without any reason! He calls them “lousy Koreans”. When Aroun asks why they are being beaten like that, the superior beats him once again, in the chest. Then the superior explains: he says that being slapped is a tradition of the Japanese army, a 50 year-old one that he just decided to use again.
Mori says that Aroun is “messing with the discipline” simply because he doesn't want to eat extra rice when he knows his parents are not eating enough. Then Aroun's friend also refuses the rice and is, again, beaten. Another incident is when Aroun has to clean the boots of his superior. He does it, but there is some excrement that remains under it. So the superior makes Aroun lick the boots… and when Aroun wants to spit, the superior forces him to swallow. This scene is psychologically difficult as we can see that the Japanese really want to humiliate the Koreans. Later, Mori makes Aroun bark like a dog: it is yet another humiliation for the Korean.
