'Final Semester' tells unspoken story of young workers' lives

Actor Yoo Lee-ha in a scene from “The Final Semester” / Courtesy of Korean Film Archive

Unlike students at general high schools in Korea who focus on college admission, vocational high school students do an internship at a factory in their last semester instead of attending classes.

Directed by Lee Ran-hee, who gained attention for her 2020 film "A Leave," which portrayed laid-off workers, "The Final Semester" again captures working-class realities, this time from the perspective of youth caught between school and the start of their working lives.

The movie centers on Chang-woo (Yoo Lee-ha), a student beginning his final semester internship at a factory. He accepts his teacher's recommendation for the position, which offers perks like special admission to college and exemption from military service, knowing he has to consider his family's precarious financial situation.

Instead of wearing a school uniform and heading to classes with friends, Chang-woo now commutes to work, navigating harsh evaluations by his senior colleagues and the constant tension of a work environment where industrial accidents can be fatal. While he silently endures his new environment, fellow intern Woo-jae (Yang Ji-woon) abruptly quits, revealing contrasting responses to the same pressures.

From left, actors Yoo Lee-ha, Kim Seong-guk and Yang Ji-woon in a scene from “The Final Semester” / Courtesy of Korean Film Archive

The film offers a quiet look at Chang-woo's daily routine, from the scolding he endures for being clumsy to the joy he feels when he gets his first paycheck. This realistic approach and straightforward portrayal of industrial accidents that happen in the factory serve to remind us that these aren't just tragedies in a news report. Instead, they're unexpected moments in the lives of real people around us.

Director Lee said that in addition to shedding light on laborers' poor working conditions, she wanted to focus on people starting their careers at a young age.

"I thought that looking at how the friends or juniors of the deceased young workers are living would be a better way to look at the youth and people who start working at a young age," the director said Wednesday after the premiere at a theater in Seoul.

"Instead of focusing on fatal industrial accidents, I wanted to tell a story that properly looks at the young workers who are still living in the present."

The film portrays the factory supervisors not as villains, but from the perspective of a laborer. The director said she wanted to show that they, too, are workers and are confined by their own situations.

"I didn't want to create a structure where the characters in the film are pitted against good and evil," Lee said. "Everyone in the film has limitations and is a person who tries their best in their own way."

The film calmly captures the experiences of those just starting in the workforce and offers warm encouragement as they face uncertain futures.

"The Final Semester" has won 10 awards at prestigious domestic film festivals, including four at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival. It will be released in cinemas nationwide on Sept. 3.