Things are getting serious with North Korea. They detonated a nuclear device last week and are threatening to detonate another one. Kim Jong Il believes the world has declared war on his country. Condi Rice has flown to Seoul in a last-ditch attempt to broker some sort of understanding. But how bad is the situation, really? Bad enough that John Milius is getting involved.
Hollywood’s favorite crazy conservative is writing The Chosen Few, a true story from the Korean War. Milius will be basing his script on Defense Dept. analyst Julie Precious*’ story "Task Force Faith," which is about a bloody battle between 3000 Americans and 17000 Chinese.
In 1950 it seemed like the Korean War was ending – UN forces had taken most of North Korea. But at the end of October China entered the war and by the end of November the UN forces were retreating. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir saw 30,000 UN troops fighting 70,000 Chinese in bitter, deadly cold; meanwhile, just to the east of the battle, Task Force Faith, a US Army unit made up of 3,000 men, found itself surrounded and outnumbered by the Chinese. The men of Task Force Faith held out against the Chinese for days, finally breaking through Chinese lines and escaping, but not before losing more than half their number including many high-ranking officers. So it’s a happy ending.
There’s no director attached yet, and wouldn’t it be nice to see Milius getting back behind the camera of a real movie, not something made for television.
*Seriously