[Lee Jong-gil's Film Reading] The Dream of a Fourteen-Year-Old Boy Pushed into a 'Modern-Day Slave' Life

Director Rod Rasjen's 'Bu-ryuk'

Movie 'Buryuk' Still Cut

Fourteen-year-old Chakla (Sam Haeng) from Cambodia runs away from home in the early dawn while his family is asleep. Tired of living in poverty, unable to attend school, and having to work in the fields, he decides to leave. Despite his friends' pleas, he boards a bus heading to the labor market.

"Do you want to spend your whole life in this remote village without ever seeing money, just suffering like a dog? Let's endure a few years and earn some money." "Let's just live here." "Everyone is busy leaving to find a way to survive. I'm going." "Sorry. I can't go."

Chakla crosses over to Thailand and boards a shabby fishing boat. He is busy catching and sorting small fish. The conditions are extremely harsh. He survives on one meal of plain rice a day. Except for that time, he toils from dawn until late evening.

At night, he tries to catch some sleep cramped together with other workers in a small room. The captain has no intention of paying wages. He is busy exploiting the young workers like slaves. If they resist or become useless, he throws them into the open sea without hesitation.

Movie 'Buryuk' Still Cut

Director Rod Rasjen's "Bu-ryuk" is a social expos? film. It faithfully depicts the reality of modern-day slavery occurring in Southeast Asia. It shows the traps of human trafficking that lure desperate youth, forced labor that strips away basic human rights, and harsh exploitation and abuse.

The title "Bu-ryuk" means the force exerted by a fluid surrounding an object that pushes it upward. It contains a desperate plea that the issue of child and adolescent labor should not sink beneath the surface.

Common items we use such as sneakers, coffee, black tea, chocolate, mobile phones, and soccer balls are soaked with the sweat and tears of children and adolescents. Children who lost their parents in the Sierra Leone civil war are still overworked in diamond mines. The mining pits, always filled with stagnant water, are breeding grounds for malaria. The unstable ground poses a risk of collapse. Despite the harsh working conditions, daily wages are only about $2 (approximately 2400 won). Only one meal is provided.

The situation of children and adolescents aged 11 to under 17 harvesting cotton in Uzbekistan is not much different. They endure hard labor from September to December. Many are exposed to pesticides and insecticides and suffer from illnesses caused by contaminated drinking water. There are frequent cases of suffocation when sleeping inside trailers and being buried under piles of cotton.

Movie 'Buryuk' Still Cut

Fireworks manufacturers in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, southern India, employ children and adolescents aged 14 to under 18 as laborers. Their wages are about half that of adult men, but their willingness to work is strong. They handle fireworks in cramped workshops without safety equipment. As a result, accidents, both major and minor, occur frequently. Injured children and adolescents cannot receive compensation. Fear of dismissal or retaliation often forces them to remain silent.

Chakla represents the life of such child and adolescent laborers. According to a 2011 report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), there are approximately 215 million child and adolescent laborers worldwide. More than half of them, about 115 million, suffer from hazardous work that causes accidents, diseases, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Through continuous efforts, the number of child and adolescent laborers worldwide is decreasing every year. However, many children and adolescents are still deprived of educational opportunities and suffer from low wages and long working hours. This is due to parental poverty, unstable political situations, and state-led forced labor.

Movie 'Buryuk' Still Cut

Chakla is born into a poor family and spends his growing years in hard labor. Director Rasjen makes this clear from the first scene. The camera highlights Chakla's back as he walks carrying a heavy load, his body bent. This contrasts with his peers riding motorcycles and bicycles to school. Shortly after, Chakla puts down his load by the roadside and looks back. At this moment, the students going to school appear out of focus and in blotchy colors. They exist in the same space as Chakla but are completely separated.

Director Rasjen also captures Chakla's final appearance upon returning home on the road. The atmosphere contrasts with the first scene. It shows his proud face walking confidently. He seems to realize that his life is not subject to anyone else but depends solely on his own actions. He is taking the first step toward learning and realizing the true value of proper labor.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.