Northern Limit Line

Kim Hak-soon's 2015 South Korean film recounts a real clash in the Yellow Sea in 2002. North Korean patrol boats crossed the maritime line and opened fire on a South Korean vessel, and a short but deadly engagement followed. The film concentrates less on the incident than on the crew of the boat: young men doing their military service, their families and the official silence that followed their deaths. That the clash happened while the World Cup was going on and the country's attention was elsewhere is its emotional axis. The production sets a nationalist frame and makes its side plain; the political context and the northern side are hardly treated at all. The battle sequence is technically strong and long. Who it's for: viewers interested in war films and recent Korean history. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a balanced political account; the film looks from one side.