Welcome to Dongmakgol
Directed by Kwang-Hyun Park
Korea 2005. Korean.

This is the big one. A massive blockbuster that garnered incredible word of mouth and ran for almost three months in Korea, WELCOME TO DONGMAKOL was Korea's number two movie of the year, selling twice as many tickets as KING KONG and more than HARRY POTTER and MR. AND MRS. SMITH combined. And that's the way it should be. A magical realist, hyper-stylized look at the Korean War, this is a sprawling, epic comedy that more than holds its own against the biggest bullies on the summer movie playground.

A U.S. Navy pilot, surname of Smith, is shot down while flying over a remote part of Korea. He is found by local villagers who nurse him back to health. Time stands still in this village called Dongmakgol. They have no knowledge of modern techonology, such as guns and grenades, and no one has any idea of the conflict raging in the outside world. Meanwhile, not far from the village, a platoon of North Korean and South Korean soldiers have an encounter, and the ensuing gunfight leaves most of them dead. The surviving soldiers on both sides retreat.

During the retreat, the surviving North Korean soldiers are found by a mentally retarded village girl. She leads them to the village, where to their astonishment, they find two South Korean soldiers and a U.S. Navy pilot already there. The unexpected encounter causes an armed standoff that lasts for several hours. The villagers have no idea what the stir is about, and wonder why the two groups of people are standing there pointing those "sticks" at each other. In the meantime, Allied commanders send a rescue team to recover Smith, whom they mistakenly believe has been captured by enemy units and is being held at a hidden base.

After the rescue team finds and recovers Smith, a bomber unit will fly in and destroy everything, which means that the innocent villagers are now in grave peril. Back at the village, the two groups of soldiers have stood down and have actually become a part of the village. They have even become friends. The rescue team finally finds the villagers, whom they suspect to be spies for the enemy, and as such, treats them harshly, killing some of them. This angers the soldiers, who have become one with villagers, and so they defend the villagers, leaving only one man from the rescue party alive.

They find out from the surviving rescue party member about the bombing plot, and take it upon themselves to save the village. They decide to create a decoy, so that the bombing unit will attack them instead of the village. Smith is sent back along with the surviving rescue party member so that he can tell them that there is nothing there to bomb, in case they decide to send more bombers. The decoy is successful. The village is saved, but at the cost of the lives of the enemy soldiers who had become friends.

Awards and Festivals
26th Blue Dragon Awards
• Winner - Best Supporting Actor (Im Ha-Ryong)
• Winner - Best Supporting Actress (Kang Hye-Jung)