Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield

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2003 South Korean film

Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield
Theatrical release poster

Hangul	황산벌
Hanja	黃山伐
Revised Romanization	Hwangsanbeol
McCune–Reischauer	Hwangsanbŏl

Directed by	Lee Joon-ik
Written by	Choi Seok-hwan Jo Cheol-hyeon
Produced by	Oh Seung-hyeon Jo Cheol-hyeon Lee Joon-ik
Starring	Park Joong-hoon Jung Jin-young Lee Moon-sik Ryu Seung-soo
Cinematography	Ji Gil-woong
Edited by	Kim Jae-beom
Music by	Oh Seok-joon
Production company	Cineworld
Distributed by	Cineworld
Release date	October 17, 2003 (2003-10-17)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean

Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield (Korean: 황산벌; RR: Hwangsanbul) is a 2003 South Korean war comedy film directed by Lee Joon-ik. Its plot is about the Battle of Hwangsanbeol between Baekje and Silla in the 7th century. The film was the 8th most attended film of 2003 with 2,835,000 tickets sold nationwide.^[1] Its popularity has spawned a sequel, titled Battlefield Heroes, which debuted in 2011, and takes place in the subsequent Silla-Tang invasion of Goguryeo.

Plot

The movie starts out with a meeting between the rulers of Baekje, Silla, Tang China, and Goguryeo, during which Tang asserts its legitimacy and superiority over the Korean kingdoms and subsequently demands tribute. Silla, who needs Tang's assistance, agrees with Tang, while Goguryeo and Baekje disagree.

After the meeting breaks down, ill news arrives at the Baekje court as news arrives of a Tang-Silla army advancing, although the court is unsure whether the army is marching on Goguryeo or Baekje. Eventually, news arrives confirming the worst - the allied Tang-Silla army are heading for Baekje strategic key points, all but affirming that Baekje is the intended target.

As the court breaks down into infighting and name-calling between the royalist faction and the disgruntled nobles, the Baekje king, Uija, calls for general Gyebaek, a loyal, able and honest general who accepts the responsibility of riding out to meet the 50,000 Silla troops, who outnumber his army 10 to 1. Before leaving to battle, Gyebaek, who realizes the odds and knows he will not be able to return alive, kills his family by his own hand, afraid of what may happen to them if they were to be captured.

The Silla and Baekje armies come to a standoff at Hwangsanbeol. The Silla commander, Kim Yu-sin, is hesitant to attack, even with the overwhelming numerical advantage he holds, having never been able to defeat Gyebaek in battle, and having heard from a spy about Gyebaek's mysterious plans for the battles, though none in the Silla camp can decipher what those plans are.

Kim Yu-sin launches a series of probing attacks as he races against the deadline allotted to him by the Tang general, Su Dingfang, by which he was to rendezvous with the Tang army with provisions and supplies for the Tang army, which Silla had agreed to provide. Those attacks are an attempt to learn what Gyebaek's mysterious plans are and to lure the Baekje army into open battle, but fail.

As Kim's subordinates become more and more agitated as the deadline comes near, Kim calms them, knowing that any frontal assault on the Baekje defenses would be a catastrophic failure. Instead, he invites Gyebaek to a game of janggi, during which he attempts to persuade Gyebaek of the futility of his situation. Gyebaek remains resolute, but during the game it is found that he has sewn shut his armor so that it cannot be taken off until he is dead, a directive that Gyebaek reveals he has given to his soldiers as well. It is revealed that this directive - to fight to the death - was the elusive plan that Kim Yu-sin had been trying to find out. Kim narrowly loses the game but leaves telling Gyebaek in an enigmatic fashion that there is a limit to what any human can do, however great they may be.

Now with knowledge of the status of Gyebaeks's army, Kim orders his generals to send their sons, who are members of the Hwarang, for a suicide mission, riding forward to the Baekje defenses to challenge Gyebaek to a one on one duel, in an attempt to raise the morale of the Silla troops. As the first corpses of the youth of Silla are sent back, Kim orders more of the youth to be sent forward, remarking to a protesting officer who asks him if he is crazy that war is something only a crazy person would do.

Meanwhile, seeing the multitude of Silla youth who come to their deaths, the Baekje troops become uneasy and begin to become disheartened.

Both sides prepare for what they feel will be the final battle. It is a wet and rainy day, and the Silla army fire balls of clay at the defenders with catapults, which weigh down the tiring Baekje troops. As the troops begin to rip off their armor against orders from discomfort, Gyebaek accepts the inevitable, ordering the troops to take off their armor for their last stand.

As the armored Silla troops, high in morale, stream into the Baekje defenses, the tired and mostly unarmored Baekje troops cannot hold the defenses, and are killed. Gyebaek retreats into a keep with a handful of men. When a soldier who has managed to retreat with him remarks that "tigers die and leave behind their skins, and people die and leave behind their names," but expresses regret at leaving his mother behind, who will now have to work the harvest without him, Gyebaek, reminded of his own family, orders the soldier, who does not even have a name to be worth spoken of and says only to call him "Geoshigi(lit. 'You-know-what')," to live, while he, Gyebaek, goes out to face the Silla army. As Gyebaek falls after being hit by a volley of arrows, he recalls his family, who had in actuality wanted to live, and did not see him as a hero of the country, but only as a bad father and husband. Gyebaek is then beheaded by a Silla general.

The movie ends with the Baekje king pondering the empty words of his sons, who want him to commit suicide as the last ruler of a fallen kingdom while refusing to commit suicide themselves, Tang and Silla coming to a furious disagreement, with Tang showing their desire to take the conquered territory for themselves and an enraged Kim Yu-sin declaring that he will "one day kick the Tang out of this land," and "Geoshigi," who runs to meets his mother, who is working in the fields.