Release date: March 2003
Kim Bong-du is an elementary-school teacher, but he is only in it for the money—pursuing those envelopes full of cash from parents, bribes so he’ll give their child a lot of attention, and mistreating the students whose parents don’t give him a payoff. Getting in trouble for his greedy ways finally, he is banished to a school in the deep countryside for a year, and he hates the place and the students on sight! Life is a lot more difficult than he ever imagined and the parents only give him gifts of local produce, to boot! Somehow (just why was never apparent to me), the students take to him, and their love and affection warms him up to them.
The plot worked up until the students all go nuts over their teacher—he has been so unpredictable, rotten, and cruel to them, it just didn’t make any sense. I’d say that the unwritten rule in Korea of worshiping all teachers, which the filmmaker must be buying into, is really all the guy had going for him. The best thing about this film? Well, I really liked the sound effects of nature in the countryside … lots of neat bug noises and stuff. The scenery was pretty, too. What a spot! I’d go there to live and teach in a minute. My take: DC
“Please take good care of our child!” the mother
says and slides the cash envelop across the desk
to the teacher, Mr. Kim (Cha Seung-won).
No comments:
Post a Comment