Crossing (2008 film)
| Crossing | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Hangul | |
| Revised Romanization | Keurosing |
| McCune–Reischauer | K'ŭrosing |
| Directed by | Kim Tae-kyun |
| Produced by | Patrick D. Choi |
| Written by | Lee Yu-jin |
| Starring |
Cha In-pyo Sin Myeong-cheol |
| Edited by | Ko Im-pyo |
| Distributed by | Vantage Holdings |
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Release date
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Running time
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107 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
| Budget | $5,419,301 |
Crossing (also known as Keurosing) is a 2008 South Korean film directed by Kim Tae-kyun. It was selected as South Korea's submission to the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The film follows the journey of a North Korean man as he illegally leaves the country to find medicine for his sick wife, portraying the many hardships of the average North Korean citizen. The film had 907,255 admissions in South Korea.
The politics of North Korea in this film are left behind and are mainly in the background. Instead it concentrates more on the life of the average North Korean, such as the hardship in an impoverished state and the fear of getting caught and being persecuted in North Korea. Subtle themes include religion, which runs through the film, as Yong Soo hopes that his son comes back safely, as well as football which is a way in connecting the North Koreans to the outside world.
The story tells of a North Korean father and husband who decides to illegally cross into China to buy medicine for his pregnant wife who is suffering from tuberculosis. However, once he crosses into China, he realises that it's not as easy as he thought. He finds himself working as an illegal immigrant under the constant threat of being captured by the Chinese authorities and deported back to North Korea. He eventually finds his way to South Korea by entering the German embassy in China. Meanwhile, his wife has already died, leaving their son homeless and wandering around trying to find a way back to his father. Scenes switch between those of the father who is outside North Korea trying to find medicine, and those of the son, who ends up homeless and tries to defect also.
Shortly after the film was released it became embroiled in controversy as it has been accused of plagiarism by Lee Kwang Hoon. He argued that the film was written on a screenplay titled "The Conditions of Human" based on the story of North Korean defector Yoo Sang-joon which he wrote. Lee's lawyer also said that director Lee and Yoo had signed a contract to make a film about Yoo's life and has been preparing for the past three years. The lawyer claimed that a court injunction was sought because director Kim has not discussed the matter with director Lee, although Kim had known about the existence of a screenplay about Yoo. The request for an injunction applies to all theater presentations, as well as in the forms of DVD, video, and internet videos. Vantage Holdings, the distributor of Crossing has countered the accusation by saying that the director nor the film company has not violated Lee's copyright and added that they are looking into taking legal measures themselves.
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