[REVIEW] Film “The Journals of Musan”

A scene from film "The Journals of Musan" [Second Wind Films]

The latter half of Seung-chul’s (played by Park Jung-bum) resident registration number starts with “125.” Such is the number given only to those who escaped North Korea. He may have risked his life to cross the border but trying to adjust to South Korea's society is even more difficult than that. Being a defector from the North, it is hard for him to get even a part-time job, let alone a full-time job, that is not dangerous. He life is like a battle everyday, having to put up posters on street walls in the cold all day long and being threatened by gangsters with knives. Against the backdrop of a life which is as rundown as a ripped-up poster, a comedian in the TV cheerfully remarks, “But you all have at least one billion one, right?"

To a man who lived 30 years of his life in a society controlled by an absolute power regardless of it being good or evil, Jesus stands as the only alternative to that in a city defenseless against and ruled by money. And in church there is a woman. Though she is the Mother Mary of a decadent city, running a karaoke bar while knowing how to make beer for three with just two beers of can and hiring bar girls, she repents by saying in her prayers, “It’s a sin I commit because humans are weak.” But he never gets to express his feelings for her and their friendship is thrown away like a garbage on street. Only Baek-gu ,the puppy that Seung-chul has picked up on a road, stands as the only proof of his existence.

Anticipation Quotient: 9 out of 10
A requiem within a hymn

Scenes from film "The Journals of Musan" [Second Wind Films]

The defector that appears in “The Journals of Musan” does not cry out in anguish over the experience of eating human meat to survive nor does he appear as a special agent armed with a gun and special martial art skills. He simply confesses that there was nothing left to eat at his hometown of Musan in the South Hamgyeong Province and because of that hunger, he fought with his friend. Then in the process, he ended up killing the friend. The film does not attempt to squeeze out tears with hasty compassion nor does it portray defectors as victims of a tragic history in a solemn manner. Rather, it is closer to a diary or a daily record of the life of Jeon Seung-chul who wanders around the city like a stray dog, sometimes observed from close up and sometimes watched from afar.

“The Journals of Musan,” (2010) which is an impressive debut film that won the New Currents Award at last year's Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and the Tiger Award (Grand Prix) at the 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam among other acclaims from home and abroad, is based on the real experience of a real-life defector of the same name, whom director Park met during his college years. In the film, an extended version of Park’s earlier short film “125 JEON Seung Chul” (2008), the director himself plays the role of his friend. The way Seung-chul is kicked about in South Korean society for the wrong moves he makes almost seems comical at certain points -- he is so clueless that he will sing hymns to disco tunes while surrounded by karaoke bar girls and continues to distribute his portion of advertising sheets even after being fired from the job. But when the movie is over, it is that full shot of his movement which will linger in your heart. Unlike his face that hides all feelings of sadness, anger and happiness, his body, seemingly slow and stubby, most accurately reveals his present feelings. The double shot on Seung-chul and his puppy laying their bodies inside a coffin-like wardrobe brought from an abandoned zone and Seung-chul silently starring at his puppy rummaging through a trash bag, repeats in sad variations till the end of the film.

One night this man from Musan stands tall under a neon sign in the ruthless city. This was not his first time that he chose to live while putting behind the dead. The corpses will continue to roll around the streets tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and so forth. But he will still live. No, he will live despite all that.

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Senior Reporter: Beck Una one@
Editor : Lee Ji-Hye seven@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@