Korea is the only divided country in the world. Almost all men with South Korean nationality are required to serve in the military according to the military service law in Korea. The same applies to Woochul, the main character of this documentary, The Army. Woochul’s friend who has already been in the army makes fun of him when he goes to the training camp, saying, "The country owns you for two years now!" The film records the two years from Woochul’s joining to leaving the army. Woochul, who has never been in a group life, tries to adapt himself at first, but he seems to be struggling and finally refuses to shoot for a while. The director just watches Woochul in silence. The collectivism young Koreans learn in the army turns into the order to maintain the society as a whole. However, the film,?Army, asks keeping the order by diluting the splendid individuals is how small but scary through a cynical but humorous depiction.

< ARMY > is a film about the memory of military service. If you observe their faces more carefully, you can easily see individuals and their unique expressions within masses of anonymous soldiers. The collective memory is a fiction consisting of unique individual memories. This film is a medium for me as a veteran, to express my own thoughts and emotions that are different from the collective. I attempt to find or make a meaning out of my experience as I look back at the military ten years after my service.

2018 제23회 부산국제영화제 BIFF MECENAT상