hankyoreh

A poster of “Spirits’ Homecoming”

The film “Spirits’ Homecoming,” which tells the story of young girls who were dragged off to be comfort women for the Imperial Japanese Army, has become a hit at the box office, selling more than a million tickets within the first five days of its release.

The “Spirits’ Homecoming” phenomenon – which no one had expected – may be the result of a public consensus that has formed on two fronts. South Koreans seem determined both to console the former comfort women, who were insulted once again by a settlement between South Korea and Japan that does not even include a sincere apology by Japan, and to block the historical revisionism of the administration of President Park Geun-hye, who has pushed through a plan to bring the authorship of Korean history textbooks under the control of the state.

According to the Korean Film Council electronic tally of movie ticket sales, “Spirits’ Homecoming” had been seen by 1,061,271 people as of Feb. 29. On Monday afternoon, the film had a reservation rate of 33.3%, making it number one for nine days in a row. Given that the film is likely to draw crowds of people intent on remembering Korea’s painful history of being exploited during the Japanese colonial period on Mar. 1 – a holiday commemorating Koreans’ resistance to the Japanese colonization – the film’s success at the box office is expected to continue for the time being.

“Spirits’ Homecoming” did not have an easy journey from the drawing board to the silver screen. It took donations from 75,200 people and 14 years of work before production was finished.

Relying on online crowdfunding of the production cost with help from the Hankyoreh 21 magazine, film director Cho Jung-rae at last began shooting the film in Apr. 2015, but he ran through all of the money in just four days, placing the film in an existential crisis.

At this point, it was only thanks to investment by members of the production team (producer Lim Seong-cheol loaned money he raised by mortgaging his house) as well as ordinary people - such as the owner of a local garage, a fitness trainer and a guy who runs a laundromat - that the film was able to get underway once more.

Immediately before the film was released, it ran into yet another difficulty: there were not enough screens to show it on. This final hurdle was cleared when interested people started buying tickets for the film in advance and signing online petitions for theater chains to increase the number of available screens.

The producer Lim Seong-cheol (who also plays a brutal Japanese soldier in the film) is descended on his mother’s side from revered freedom fighter Kim Koo.

“Because of my family’s financial difficulties, I had to do construction work to put myself through college. To be honest, I found myself wondering what was so great about being related to Kim Koo. I guess it was just destiny that I became involved with ‘Spirit’s Return’ despite myself,” Lim told the Hankyoreh during a telephone interview on Feb. 29.

Just before shooting began, Lim was diagnosed with a rare disease called Cushing’s syndrome and had surgery to remove a tumor from his pituitary gland.

Film professionals think there are two factors that can explain the success of “Spirits’ Homecoming.”

“Going to watch ‘Spirit’s Return’ is not just about watching a movie – it is a kind of protest in which the movie becomes a means for people to express their opposition to the government’s comfort women settlement with Japan or its efforts to control history textbook writing,” said Kim Hyeong-seok, a journalist who covers film.

“This is an example of a film that coincided perfectly with current events, a film in which an enthusiastic reception overseas has affected the domestic market,” said Han Sun-ho, who works in film marketing.

In order to raise awareness of the comfort women issue overseas, producers of the film traveled the globe as they held screenings for sponsors. Their efforts paid off – the New York Times dedicated a one-page article to the film.

Another notable factor is that quite a few families and organizations are going to see the “Spirits’ Homecoming” as a group.

On Feb. 28, Choi Tae-seong, a teacher at Daegwang High School in Seoul, rented an entire movie theater to show the film, and there are expected to be more group screenings of the film on the Mar. 1 holiday.

One private institute in Geumchon, Paju, Gyeonggi Province, arranged to rent a local movie theater on the morning of Mar. 1 to show “Spirits’ Homecoming” to a group of about 160 students and parents.

“I want this to be an opportunity for the whole family to rethink recent historical issues, including the negotiations between South Korea and Japan over the comfort women and the government’s monopolization of history textbook authorship,” said Lee Wu-seong, 44, the director of the institute.

“I think it was very wrong for the government to reach an agreement during its talks with Japan about the comfort women without any kind of deliberation with the former comfort women or with the public,” said a high school student surnamed Kim, 17, who is planning to see the film with his parents. “I’m going to ease the horrible pain suffered by those women. I’m going to share their pain, and I won’t forget about them.”

With some people suggesting that buying a ticket for this movie is the same as filling out a ballot in an election, the interest in and response to “Spirits’ Homecoming” is morphing into a veritable social phenomenon.

By Nam Eun-joo, staff reporter and Park Kyung-man, north Gyeonggi correspondent

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