New movie shows plight of 'comfort women'

Scenes from "Spirit's Homecoming" / Courtesy of Naver

A new movie based on a true story about a woman forced by the Japanese Army to become a sex slave during World War II is set to do great business at the box office when it is released later this month.

“Spirit’s Homecoming” illuminates the story of Kang Il-chul, now 89, through the character of a 14-year-old girl named Jung-min (Kang Ha-na), taken by Japanese soldiers in 1943 to be a sex slave.

Director Jo Jung-rae decided to make the film after meeting Kang while volunteering at the House of Sharing, a residential facility for survivors of sexual slavery ― also known as comfort women ― in 2002.

The movie had a premiere screening on Feb. 4 and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with netizens saying, “It is a must-see movie for all Koreans” and “I shall remember the pain and suffering experienced by the comfort women by watching this movie.”

Jo had difficulty persuading investors and distributors because of the movie’s historical sensitiveness and made up half the production budget through crowd-funding worth 1.2 billion won ($980,000).

The movie is expected to rival “A Violent Prosecutor,” the No.1 box office movie that has attracted more than 8 million theatergoers so far.