MovieChat Forums > Only the Brave (2006) Discussion > Why is Colonel Young Oak Kim not feature...

Why is Colonel Young Oak Kim not featured in this?

posted 19 years ago by Rustan
2 replies | jump to latest

I'm a little disturbed as to why Colonel Young Oak Kim, the most decorated soldier and officer in the famous 100th/442 Unit is not depicted in the film.
Is it because he was Korean-American, and this movie wants to focus on Japanese-Americans only? No offense, but to leave a war-hero (the most decorated in the unit, mind you) out of the film is quite disrespectful.

Anyway here are some links about Colonel Kim:

http://www.asiansinamerica.org/museum/0803_museum.html

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/features/050103_history_heroes.html

http://www.koreanamericanheritage.com/Korean_night_dodger_stadium_03.htm

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks for your time.

[–] govanyee 19 years ago

Just to set you straight, the movie is essentially based on the Battle of the Lost Battalion. Col. Kim was wounded in house to house fighting in Biffontaine and was almost captured by the Germans as he was being taken by a stretcher party to a rear aid station. This incident occurred before the Lost Battalion so this was why Col. Kim was not in the movie. There were also a lot of white officers in the 100th/442th who were killed during the Battle of The Lost Battalion who were instrumental in the success of the battle, yet none were depicted in the movie. The movie is unfortunately a low budget one, so a lot had to be sacrificed to make the movie. I hope that this helps. By the way, the County of France just presented Col. Kim a medal for his heroic efforts in France during WWII.

[–] mifune-9 19 years ago

I can personally vouch for Lane. He's not ignoring the Colonel because he is disinterested in Korean-American stories. I'm sure it just wasn't working for the film. Perhaps he wants to save Colonel Young Oak Kim for another film.