Synopsis
Three air force cadets, HA Won-shik, PARK Ho-young, and AHN Hoon, enter the academy with dreams of becoming the best fighter pilots. HA Won-shik falls for Kang Sun-young, whom he met by chance on his first day at the academy, but mistakenly thinks that she is the girlfriend of squadron leader Kang Chan-soo who is notorious for being a slave-driving instructor. Upon completion of severe training, HA Won-shik is assigned to his base and meets up with squadron leader KANG again. He tries to fulfill his duties as a soldier but his wounds of love only get deeper. One day during training, HA Won-shik's comrade AHN Hoon falls to his death due to a mechanical malfunction and he clears up his misunderstanding with Sun-young amidst his sorrow. However, an espionage ship sinks off the west coast and HA Won-shik and KANG Chan-Soo are given transfer orders. SHIN Seong-il, JANG Dong-hwi, and Nam Jeong-im star in < Lives in Blue Sky > and the movie remains the greatest air force movie to this day along with SHIN Sang-okk's 1964 < Red Muffler >, < Late Autumn >, and < Way to Home >, Director LEE Man Hee proves his mettle in the masculine genres through war movies such as < A marine corps who never returns > and action thrillers like < Black Hair > and he especially used war movies to portray the desperate spectacle of humanity being destroyed and the futility of war. This movie contains 'the spirit of national security' which was prevalent in the sixties and therefore can be seen as lacking in critical perspective compared to his other works, but it is more an interweaving of the conflict of characters stuck in the hierarchical society of the military and thrilling air fight scenes than a movie about anti-communism. (CHO Young-jung)