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Democratic United Party's Moon Jae-in, third from left, and independent Ahn Cheol-soo, foourth from left, the two main liberal candidates, pose at the preview screening of the film on Nov. 12 in Seoul. |
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| Conservative presidential candidate Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party seen in the left photo taken on Nov. 6, despite being invited did not attend the preview screening of "Namyeongdong 1985," a film depicting 22 days of torture endured by late senior advisor Kim Geun-tae of the Democratic United Party (DUP) at the hands of police interrogators in 1985. |
By Yi Whan-woo
Is a series of politically sensitive films being released ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election intended to favor or criticize specific candidates?
Filmmakers, distributors, and marketers in the industry flatly deny such accusations of political bias. Yet, some of them admit they took the election into account when promoting their disputed movies, which, to some extent, seems to meet their expectations.
Speculation has risen to the surface as five films running or slated for release this month allegedly carry "liberal" political perspectives or portray the wrongdoings of conservative governments, including Lee Myung-bak's administration.
The disputed movies are "Gwanghae: The Man Who Became King," "National Security," "26 Years," "Mac Korea" and "Remembrance of MB" that have been or will be released in September and November during election campaigns.
"I think releasing such films is somewhat more distinct compared to the 2007 (presidential election)," said film critic Lee Dong-jin. "But at the same time, it's a risky approach to exclusively connect those films with politics because after all, they're works of art with artistic values."
A marketer at Chungeorahm Film, the production company and a co-distributor of "26 Years," echoed that view, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We would appreciate it if people view our movie as (commercial) artwork, not propaganda," she said.
Two films center on Chun-Park link
"26 Years," the last one of the five to hit the box office, shares similarities with "National Security" in that its storyline is related to the brutal dictatorship of former President Chun Doo-hwan in the 1980s. The former Army general-turned-dictator and his party are considered the predecessors of conservative presidential candidate Park Geun-hye and her ruling Saenuri Party.
The movie is based on cartoonist Kangfull's popular webtoon, a 2006 Web-based animation by the same name. And the characters in this action-packed movie make an attempt to assassinate their president referred to as "the man" 26 years after he authorized a massacre of civilians campaigning for democracy in Gwangju on May 18, 1980.
"National Security," titled "Namyeongdong 1985"for the local market, depicts 22 days of torture suffered by late senior advisor Kim Geun-tae of the Democratic United Party (DUP) at the hands of police interrogators in 1985 at a building exclusively constructed for such purposes in Namyeongdong, Seoul. He protested against the military government and survived the torment after being accused of espionage for North Korea. The late democratic activist and lawmaker died of a cerebral venous thrombosis aged 64 on Dec. 30 last year amid speculation that post-traumatic stress from torture accelerated his death.
Disputes over the political intention of "26 Years" spread widely even before its theatrical run because the trailers and posters for the film are potent reminders of Chun, who dispatched paratroopers who committed the bloody massacre in Gwangju.
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"This film fits perfectly into the current political situation with the presidential election just around the corner," Naver blogger with the ID shfkwy0 wrote. "And I wonder if you would throw your support behind the Saenuri Party and vote for Park Geun-hye after watching the film."
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| Gwanghae: The Man Who Became King |
Another Naver user, odd8***, showed a contrasting response saying, "The movie is propaganda made by left-wing artists to publicize leftist ideas (as part of an election campaign)."
A blogger using the ID yukin48 introduced himself as a supporter of Chun and wrote that he will host an online debate with those who are against him as part of efforts to refute depictions of the former President in the film.
"Please note this is simply an action movie and we never publicized it as if it is a politically-motivated piece of work ahead of the Dec. 19 election," said Chungeorahm Film's marketer. "And it's up to the audience if they interpret our film as holding such intentions."
The public response toward "National Security" was as tense as that of "26 Years" even before its release date on Thursday because the filmmakers invited presidential candidates to one of the previews.
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| Mac Korea |
The two main liberal presidential contenders — Moon Jae-in of the main opposition DUP and independent Ahn Cheol-soo — attended a Se
oul screening on Nov. 12 and gave emotional statements in response to what they had seen.
"I kind of expected it to be so, but it was really painfully hard to watch," Moon said afterwards. "The history portrayed in the film is not way back in the past, and I think it reminds people of the importance of democracy and human rights that can wither away if we don't make efforts to protect and uphold them."
Ahn expressed a similar view, saying that watching the film was "extremely tough."
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| Remembrance of MB |
"I realized I owe much to those (who struggled for democracy), and I feel a burden of responsibility to lead the country for the benefit of the people, common sense and the future."
The reactions of the two liberal candidates sparked controversy among the general public, some of whom allege that there is no coincidence between the movie's release and the election.
"A film can be a great political weapon and this movie brings hope for the upcoming election," wrote a Naver user with the ID jose****.
"Park, a successor of Chun, should keep her eyes wide open and watch this one," a Daum user with the ID sky2001 commented, criticizing her for not showing up at the screening despite being invited by the director.
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| Namyeongdong 1985 |
‘Gwanghae'reminiscent of Roh-Moon ties
The eyes of both Moon and Ahn welled up with tears during the screening. Moon responded the same way after watching "Gwanghae," a blockbuster that drew the second-largest audience in Korean cinema history after it was released in September.
The fictional historical drama was especially praised by progressive-minded viewers because the relationship between the politically-alienated stand-in for King Gwanghae and his aide is reminiscent of that between late President Roh Moo-hyun and Moon, who served as Roh's chief of staff.
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| 26 Years |
Comparisons were made after the director, Choo Chang-min, said part of the film's purpose was "to pay tribute to the late President" who committed suicide after he became embroiled in a corruption scandal under the Lee Myung-bak administration.
Director explains intention to impact voters
The controversy over the political slant of the films favoring liberal candidates heated up when director Chung Ji-young of "National Security" said in October that he wants his work to "influence the Dec. 19 election."
However, he later further clarified this statement.
"What I meant to say was I want to influence voters to choose a candidate, not help specific candidates."
The head of Studio Nurimbo, the distributor of "Remembrance of MB," showed a similar response.
Named after President Lee's name initials, the documentary is a black comedy that focuses on his election pledges in 2007 and examines whether they have been achieved during his five-year term. The film, released on Oct. 18, is similar to "Mac Korea," another documentary released on the same date.
The storyline of "Mac Korea" centers on alleged corruption deals involving Macquarie Korea Asset Management (MKAM), a South Korean affiliate of Australia's investment firm Macquarie Group, and Lee. The two films have raised the question of having a possible negative effect on Park Geun-hye who is politically affiliated with the President.
"I will admit some people describe my movie as propaganda to promote voting and changing the mindset of voters in choosing a candidate as the next president." said Studio Nurimbo CEO Goh Young-jae.
Aside from the storyline, the timing of the politically sensitive films has added to the controversy.
In a media interview, Chung was asked whether he rushed the filmmaking process, having completed it in a little more than a month after beginning in April, to meet the timeline of the election campaigns.
He denied this, saying his speedy working style was inspired by a passion to film Kim Geun-tae's memoir, "Namyeongdong," earlier this year.
Cinus Entertainment, a co-distributor of "National Security" added to the director's words.
"Those of you who have seen the film may already have noticed that 80 to 90 percent of the shooting was done on a film set which saved us time," said Kim Song-joon, the head of the company's distribution team.
Yet he did admit that the firm took the election into account to some extent in terms of the release date although he stressed the movie was made to highlight human rights, not politics.
"The film was first featured at the Busan International Film Festival in October, and we thought the best time for a commercial theatrical run was sometime between the festival and the election day," Kim Song-joon said. "And that's because it is a time when people pay more attention to politics, talking to each other as if our film is somehow related to the presidential election."
Lee Dong-jin said such a decision should be taken for granted.
"The fact that we have a presidential election and those politically sensitive films have hit box offices may not be co-incidental but I think it's also natural for filmmakers to consider all possible factors when deciding the best date for release," he said.
In contrast, Chungeorahm Film said it did not even consider the election at all in terms setting a release date.
The film was produced after some 15,000 citizens invested 700 million won ($644,000) since June for the total production costs of 4.6 billion won.
According to the production company, it established satisfying individual investors as the priority when setting the time for the premiere because before private money was invested there were repeated failures to secure financial support from large film companies. It is rumored that the film conglomerates refrained from making investments following "political pressure" despite Chungeorahm Film's proposal to make a movie version of the webtoon since 2008.
Stressing reducing the cost of production was critical, the company said that the film was shot in the shortest time possible, between July and October.
"We spent years completing this film, ever since we planned to make the cartoon into a movie," the marketer said.
"It was one way of showing appreciation to our individual investors in order to make a profit as quickly as possible. In relation to deciding our premiere date, we don't have sufficient money to delay unlike large production and distribution firms, and that's why we've pushed for Nov. 29."
Chungeorahm Film added that it does not have any plans to invite the presidential candidates as Cinus Entertainment did during its seven-day preview screenings that started Thursday.
Goh echoed Chungeorahm Film's view in terms of its marketing strategy.
When asked whether the film intends to further tarnish the lame-duck President's image with additional allegations of corruption, he said, "Not at all."
"Please do not misconstrue that we targeted Mr. Lee specifically," he said. "Instead we were going to focus on the president-elect whoever it was and it turned to be Mr. Lee."
In terms of its Oct. 18 release date, Goh said the decision was made to improve the quality of the documentary and added that he did not take any political factors into account.
"We initially pushed for August but then found out we needed extra filming time to maintain a solid flow for the storyline," the CEO said. "If we were to make money with the election in mind, we would have released it in November or December."
