“Ode to My Father” (CJ ENM)
Director Yoon Je-kyoon’s 2014 hit drama flick “Ode to My Father,” which drew crowds of 14.2 million upon its release, is the fourth most successful film in South Korea's history. The movie is still talked about as a work that helped foster a deeper understanding of Korea’s modern history and how people lived through the post-war era.
The movie follows the journey of Deok-soo (Hwang Jung-min) and his efforts to protect his family, spanning from his early adulthood to the later stages of his life. The story unfolds as Deok-soo boards a ship during the Korean War in December 1950, along with 14,000 other evacuees en route to Busan from Hamgyong Province.
The chaotic situation causes Deok-soo’s family to split up, forcing his father to stay in the North to find his youngest sister Mak-soon who had gotten lost.
“When I'm not here, you are the head of the family. You should protect the family,” Deok-soo’s father says to him as they part ways.
From then on, Deok-soo takes on the responsibility of his family. From raising his younger brother to taking care of his uncle’s family and his business. Deok-soo even manages to save enough money for his sister Ggeut-soon to have her dream wedding.
Although men in their 20s often have lots of dreams, for Deok-soo, life is about taking responsibility for his family. He leaves for Germany as a mine worker and three years later he goes to Vietnam during the war there as an engineer.
In the later years of his life, Deoksoo returns to Busan, where he waits every day for his father in front of a corner shop inside the Gukje Market -- which is the film's title in Korean. Doek-soo's aunt once ran the store, which is the location where his father promised to reunite with the family. Deok-soo purchased the store from his aunt and runs it even though it is losing money. For Deok-soo, the store is the last link he has to his long-lost father and sister.
“Ode to My Father” gives audiences the chance to look into the lives people lived in the wake of the Korean War Armistice Agreement, which was signed in 1953. It explores the challenges and chaos people had to overcome in the 1950s and beyond.
However, the underlying message of the movie is the role fathers play in their families. As time goes on, society transforms and new types of role models are created, but one thing that will never change is the sacrifices fathers will make for their loved ones.
“Ode to My Father” (CJ ENM)
The movie also gives insights into the stories of important figures in South Korean history from the 1950s to the 1980s, including Hyundai Group Founder Chung Ju-yung, designer Andre Kim, singer Nam Jin and ssireum wrestler Lee Man-ki.
The film's star-studded cast also helps fully immerse the audience in Deok-soo's strange and complicated fate. Besides actor Hwang Jung-min, who plays Deok-soo from his 20s through his 70s, actors Kim Yoon-jin, Ra Mi-ran, Oh Dal-soo and Jang Young-nam play Deok-soo's family members.
The movie also successfully incorporates director Yoon’s sincerity. Every scene focuses on showing the protagonists’ detailed emotional development, using intricate scores and dialogue, despite the movie’s ambitious coverage of a character’s lifespan in a limited timeframe. The protagonist’s name Deok-soo came from director Yoon’s father, who passed away when Yoon was 18.
“Ode to My Father” is currently available on streaming platforms like Netflix and Wavve.
The following article is the second installment of the eight-part series that looks into Korea’s modern and contemporary history through films released between 2000 and 2020. -- Ed.
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