Movie Review: The Crossing

Over the last few years, I have started to really hate Korean Films. Recently, they were just all flash and no substance. The plots were bad, the acting was horrible and by the end of the film, I would swear that I would never watch another Korean film ever again. Lately,every time I have broken that vow, I have been sorely disappointed by the crap that Korean films have become. So far in 2008,I have only seen one Korean film come out that I have even liked and it was a great one called, The Chaser

I had seen the previews for a film called The Crossing and I must admit, it looked good. It was telling about a family that was trying to survive in North Korea. I thought that it would be a good film. I had no idea that it would be a great film.

This review will be HEAVY SPOILER so if you do not want to know what happens then please stop reading now.

The film opens up and you see a family in North Korea just trying to get by. You see a sick mother a worried father and a boy and his dog. They are trying to work and stay alive in North Korea. Something is very wrong with the mother and her health is slowly getting worse. It get to the point where the father can not get food nor medicine to feed that family and they have to resort to eating the family dog.

You are also introduced to a black market person who likes the father and his son. They have a daughter and they are about the same age, she shows him a simple pencil sharpener and he looks with amazement. The men drink bootlegged Jack Daniels and they talk about life.

Then one day the black market person's family just simply vanishes and the father decides that he has to try and get a job to save his wife and to get a soccer ball for his son.

The rest of the story tells about how he tries, with a lot of outside help, to reunite his family in South Korea.

What was great about the film was the reaction to the little things that we take for granted. He sees a big Chinese city for the first time and wonders what a
McDonald's' is. He can not believe that the world is so big and that he has lived in darkness for so long. What I also liked was the child finding his lost friend and trying to take care of her until the very end. It was sad to see. Please stick around for the credits, it is a scene that sums up the movie quite well.

END SPOILERS.......................................................

I have no idea how this film will do in South Korea. It should be seen by the majority of the population and they should ask themselves one huge question, Why did we ever agree to the Sunshine policy if this is the result?

Please see the film when you can

Grade A+

How I saw it. CGV Theater

Opened in Korea 26 June, 2008