The Journals of Musan
| The Journals of Musan | |
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Film poster
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| Hangul | 무산일기 |
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Musanilgi |
| McCune–Reischauer | Musanilgi |
| Directed by | Park Jung-bum |
| Produced by | Park Jung-bum |
| Written by | Park Jung-bum |
| Starring |
Park Jung-bum Jin Yong-ok Kang Eun-jin |
| Cinematography | Kim Jong-sun |
| Edited by | Hyunjoo Jo |
| Distributed by | Fine Cut |
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Release date
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Running time
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127 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
The Journals of Musan (Hangul: 무산일기; RR: Musanilgi) is a 2011 South Korean film by Park Jung-bum, based on the experiences of Park's friend Jeon Seung-chul, a North Korean refugee he met while attending Yonsei University; Jeon was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died in 2008, less than 6 years after he defected to South Korea. The film received several major awards, including the Tiger Award at the 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Jury Prize at the 13th Deauville Asian Film Festival, the New Currents award at 15th Busan International Film Festival, the grand prize at Off Plus Camera Festival in Krakow, Poland. along with the Golden Star at the Festival International du Film de Marrakech.
The film's protagonist is a North Korean refugee named Seung-chul struggling to adjust to life in Seoul. He is sharing a small apartment with a fellow defector named Kyung-chul, a "broker" who helps refugees send remittances to their families in North Korea (later in the film he angers several of his friends by allegedly cheating them and stealing their money). While both face difficult circumstances in recovering from trauma and adjusting to a new life, Seong-chul and Kyung-chol react to their situations quite differently. Seong-chul is extremely shy and submissive to authority. Throughout the film he's portrayed as a diligent worker, doing thankless tasks and accepting criticism stoically. Kyung-chul, by contest, has few moral scruples, attempting to steal a pair of pants and taunting Seong-chul.
At the start of the film Seung-chul has a job pasting advertisements for sex shops throughout his neighborhood; he is repeatedly beaten up by thugs. Seeking more stable employment he applies for other jobs but is rejected when employers see his citizen registration number, which marks him as a North Korean defector. Finally he gets a night job at a karaoke bar; the bar owner's daughter, it turns out, is a woman named Young-sook who he recognizes from church. However, she asks him to pretend not to know her at church, because she's ashamed of working at a karaoke bar and doesn't want members of her congregation to look down on her; Seung-chul agrees not to say anything. Later in the film, when there are no customers at the bar, some of the female employees hear him singing church hymns as he works; after laughing at him for being out of tune, they offer to teach him to sing. However, when Young-sook walks in, she is angry and demands an explanation, asking why he would sing church hymns with karaoke girls. He tells her he doesn't know any songs other than hymns- the implication is that he doesn't know South Korean pop songs and it would be frowned upon to sing North Korean songs. Not realizing he's a defector, she assumes he is lying, and fires him.
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