A Korean film about comfort women tops in the box office

“Spirits’ Homecoming,” a Korean movie about Korean women who were forced to be sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers under the colonial rule, has won the top spot in the box office on the first day of its release in Korea

　

It is unusual for a low budget movie to surpass Hollywood film “Deadpool” and Korean film “A Violent Prosecutor” starring top actors including Kang Dong-won and Hwang Jung-min. "Spirits’ Homecoming" cost only 2.5 billion won (2 million U.S. dollars) for production, which less than half the average production cost for a Korean movie (6 billion won or 4.8 million dollars).

The Korean Film Council said that the movie ranked first by attracting 154,728 moviegoers on Thursday. The producer of the film said on Thursday, “As it is top with the pre-sale reservation rate of 27 percent and has a high seat occupancy rate of 42.5 percent, it is likely to be popular going forward.” The background of the movie is 1991 when the late Kim Hak-soon made her first testimony as a comfort women victim, and the story is about the reminiscence and healing of Yeong-ok, a former comfort woman, starring Son Sook.

There are strong responses from the audiences. One of the audiences who watched the movie said, “I watched the movie because I thought we need to remember the history, though it is uncomfortable. The movie was well-organized and interesting.” Other Internet users said, “I watched it early in the morning for a discount. I think it is a must-see movie.”

Analysts say that the movie is getting popular because it is dramatic and has a degree of completeness compared to other movies that covered the same issue such as “Turning Fork" (2015) and “The Last Comfort Women" (2014).

The movie has been released on 512 screens, which are unusually many for a low-budget movie. This is also as the result of moviegoers’ responses. A source from a franchise theater said, “We assigned more screens to the movie because the pre-sale reservation rate was high and there were many online comments on the movie.”

Cho Jung-rae, the director of the movie, thought about making the movie after he saw “Burning Virgins,” a painting of Kang Il-chul, a victim in 2002, while working as a volunteer at the House of Sharing, a residence for former comfort women. He started filming the movie in October 2014, but he stopped it due to lack of financial resources. After the first teaser trailer was released in December 2014, the public started funding. A total of 75,270 citizens participated in fundraising as of now, and the movie raised half of the production costs or about 1.2 billion won (970,000 dollars). Most actors and actresses in the movie participated in the movie without any payment and Korean-Japanese actors and actresses even covered airfares with their own expenses.

“It’s a miracle that was made at the sacrifice of actors, actresses and staff,” Cho said. “Hopefully, it can be cultural evidence at a time when even former comfort women’s testimonies are not accepted as evidence.”

이새샘기자 iamsam@donga.com