Tag: checkpoint

Escape
(Talju,
탈주)

Director – Lee Jong-Pil – 2024 – South Korea – LEAFF Cert. 18 – 94m

*****

An army sergeant is caught attempting to escape from North to South Korea, but then a second chance presents itself – played as the Opening Gala at the 2024 London East Asia Film Festival (LEAFF) which runs from Wednesday, October 23rd to Sunday, November 3rd

North Korea. Sgt. Lim Kyu-nam (Lee Je-hoon) is stationed at the edge of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North from South Korea, a smart but frustrated soldier who knows he’s never going to rise up the chain of command riddled as it is with nepotism and privilege. Nights, when the rest of his unit is asleep, and inspired by his treasured book of the explorer Edmund Amundsen, he sneaks out of the barracks to map a section of the minefield in the DMZ.

His plan is to escape through that minefield and reach South Korea to defect before the monsoon arrives in four days time and the water moves all the mines around, making his map useless. Then he learns that the bad weather is coming two days earlier than expected. So he must move the date of his escape forward.… Read the rest

Tags alleged heroism, Amundsen, army, bad weather, blood, blown up, bomb disposal, book, captured, cat and mouse, caught, chain of command, checkpoint, childhood friends, classical music, concert, cover, dance, defect, defector, demarcation line, deserter, dig, DMZ, dress uniform, drive, drunk, edification, effect of monsoon, elegance, escape, escape attempt, escape tunnel, explorer, explosion, explosive, fake death, freedom, from the lavish officer’s mess ball, gay, gender balance, hazard, head for the border, headquarters, Hero of the People, heroism, Hong Xa-bin, imprison, intimidation, investigate, Koo Kyo-hwan, Korea, Korean Demilitarized Zone, ladies; off-grid, LEAFF, LEAFF 2024, Lee Je Hoon, Lee Jong-pil, London East Asia Film Festival, London East Asia Film Festival 2024, malnourishment, map, military, military aide, mine clearance, minefield, monsoon, move date forward, music, national security, nepotism, North Korea, officer, officers and men, passenger, perimeter fence, piano, privilege, propaganda, rain, rainfall, rank, reschedule, scrubland, self-serving, sergeant, slogan, South Korea, speech, spotted, superior officer, survival, Tannoy, the great and the good, thriller, torture, under fire, uniform, well dressed, well groomed, wild boars, wilderness, wildlife

Documentary Features Live Action Movies

Fadia’s Tree

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 5 August 2022
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Directors – Sarah Beddington, Susan Simnett – 2021 – UK – Cert. U – 84m

***1/2

A friendship between British artist Sarah and Palestinian refugee Fadia sparks the former into a search for a tree in the latter’s village to which she is currently unable to return – out in UK cinemas on Friday, August 5th

Sometimes less is more. This takes what is essentially a very simple idea and runs with it to its logical conclusion. Fadia Loubani is a Palestinian born and living in Beirut’s Barajneh refugee camp. Her refugee status prevents her from visiting the part of what was then Palestine and now Northern Israel from which her family originally came. Even though the village of Sa’Sa’ is only about 15 miles away, it can only be accessed by a far longer round trip, the final part of which involves crossing a border which her status won’t permit. In this village is her father’s house and a mulberry tree that sits opposite it. If Fadia could achieve one thing in her life, it would be to visit Sa’Sa’ and find both the tree and the house.

She originally struck up a friendship with Sarah Beddington in a Beirut restaurant, subsequently introducing the artist to the community in her refugee camp.… Read the rest

Features Live Action Movies

Amulet

Director – Romola Garai – 2020 – UK – Cert. 15 – 99m

*****

A border checkpoint soldier moves into a suburban, London house with a dark secret in the attic – out on VoD on Monday, February 28th

Somewhere in Russia or Eastern Europe – it’s not clear exactly where – a soldier (Alec Secareanu) is billeted in an austere wooden hut within walking distance of the border checkpoint he mans between certain hours of the day. The rest of the time, he wanders in the local woodlands. In one location, he gets the urge to dig in the peaty earth and finds a small figure – the eponymous amulet – of a female deity.

One day, a woman (Angeliki Papoulia) runs down the road towards the checkpoint, despite his warnings that he’ll shoot her, then trips. He takes her in, introduces himself as Tomaz and lets her use the shelter of his hut. Eventually it comes out that Miriam wants to cross the border, over which her estranged husband took their daughter, with whom she wishes to be reunited.

Is this in his past? It it a dream? It’s not entirely clear. In another reality or time period, Tomaz (now with a beard) is an immigrant in London, living in a squat and struggling to hold things together with piecemeal building work.… Read the rest