War of the Arrows

The two key elements of this film are held in the title: War and Arrows. Set in the 17th century, the film uses the animosity on the border between Korea and Manchuria as a building block for plot. Chinese invaders into Korea conquer villages and take slaves for return to China. In this story, a girl is taken for the slave march out of Korea while her brother (who has sworn to protect her) evades capture. He follows the invading army and eventually defeats them all. The arrows refers to his weapon (and the weapon of his father). He is a master archer (perhaps the best that ever lived). The war refers to the ugly, bitter reality of slavery, subjugation and murder. I appreciate, at least, that war here is not soft pedaled. In war, while there may be a victor, there are no winners. This is portrayed well as both conqueror and conquered are defeated and in the end, we are not sure which people fall into which category. The film is well made and much better than most 'war glamour' films that we see. Because it made me think...
4 stars (out of 5)