HANA KOREA is the fact based story of Hyesun a young woman who defects from Noth Korea to South. We meet her as she is brought to a facility where she is to be evaluated and on to a facility where she is helped to integrate into South Korean society.
This is a solid film. It’s the nuts and bolts of a story we
hear about over and over again, that of people who flee to freedom. We see what
defecting entails, the isolation, and the uncertainty. We get a sense of the
mental cost of doing it via a voice over narration of a letter from Hyesun to her
mother, whom she left behind. Its journey that has some unexpected turns in it.
That the film works so well is do in large part to Kim Minha who
plays Hyesun. While she keeps things close to the vest physically, we get hints of
the cost and her feelings through the narration. As things unfold we feel more and more for
her and her plight.
If there is anything wrong with the film, it comes from
something outside the film. The promotional material for the film mentions up
front that this is the story of a North Korean defector through the eyes of a
Danish director. That may make the film accessible in the west, but knowing
that I kept wondering how a Korean Director would have told the story. I kept wondering if a different director
would have made this edgier.
Ultimately that doesn’t matter since HANA KOREA as it stands
now is a compelling and moving film worthy of your time.
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