Jiseul

Jiseul Hangul is a 2012 South Korean war drama film written and directed by Jeju Island native O Muel. The film is shot in black and white with the entire cast composed of local actors speaking their natural dialect. Jiseul means potato in Jeju dialect. O said he picked it as the title of his film because potatoes are considered a staple food in many countries, often symbolizing survival and hope. Set during the Jeju Uprising on the island in 1948, O said the film does not focus on the largescale struggle, but on a forgotten true story about a group of villagers who hid in a cave for 60 days to escape from a military attack. They hid underground for months, cold and numb, far too close for comfortjust like the potatoes to which the title refers.

In November, 1948, the U.S. military stationed in South Korea issues an order that all people living five kilometers outside the coast line of Jeju island are labelled as communist rebels and can be executed on sight.When a small village on Jeju Island located off Koreas Southern coast receives the eviction order, its barely literate inhabitants simply cant gauge the orders import. Some 120 villagers flee to a cave and hide for 60 days from armed soldiers. Many of the soldiers are young recruits, shivering in the November snow, who are aware that the people they are shooting are not communists. Meanwhile, the villagers, huddled in the cave, grow more and more anxious about the people and livestock they have left behind. They suffer from severe cold and hunger but retain their sanity by making jokes and holding on to the hope that their wait is almost over. Eventually their endurance wanes, and fear begins to test the groups mettle. ........

Source: Wikipedia