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| A still capture from the film Haewon / Courtesy of Gu Ja-hywan |
By Choi Ha-young
In 2013, film director Gu Ja-hywan recalled the forgotten deaths of those who were killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, in his documentary film "Red Tomb." Four years later, Gu is back with his new movie "Haewon," as a follow-up.
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| Gu Ja-hywan |
"I felt sorry for the many bereaved families when I filmed Red Tomb that primarily dealt with the so-called Bodo massacres during the 1950-53 Korean War," Gu said in an interview with The Korea Times. "The Bodo massacres are the tip of the iceberg. Most of the killings are not known to the public. Filming the movies, I sought advice of history professors and teachers, but they were not aware of some of the incidents."
Gu said the ignorance due to concealment is the reason for a lingering "anti-commies" sentiment in the divided nation. "Financial compensation is not a fundamental solution to soothe their sorrows. Even among the victims' bereaved families, they criticize each other as ‘commies' because they don't know what exactly happened and why they were killed."
Haewon, which premiered at the Seoul Independent Film Festival in early December, documents testimonies of witnesses and bereaved families of the massacres. A witness in Incheon recalled the bombings by U.S. forces during the 1950 Incheon Landing, which is commemorated as a key battle in countering the North Koreans.
"Many killings committed by U.S. forces are lesser known to the public and most of the bereaved families have not received any compensation," Gu said.
"The most tragic massacre for me was the one on Aug. 15, 1946. As far as I know, around 2-3,000 mine workers in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, joined a Liberation Day rally in Gwangju. Among them about 1,000 people were shot dead by U.S. forces. Since the mine was placed on a remote mountain, it was impossible to find any witnesses."
What made the filmmaker dig into the tragic history were some elderly women who he met in Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2004. "I heard that some bones were found in a village and I assumed they were ancient relics. I was extremely shocked that I had never heard of such massacres during my whole school days."
To keep his promise to create a film to "comfort their souls," Gu released Red Tomb. Sometimes he was frustrated by some the victims' families, who questioned "How can your film change our trauma?"
Red Tomb failed as far as commercial success goes, but almost 120,000 people have watched it since Gu released it for free on YouTube. Documenting the victims' testimonies is getting more urgent as time goes on. Memories of the witnesses that he met when filming Red Tomb are fading away and most of them have died.
This time, he is dreaming of overseas screenings, which is why the movie has full English subtitles. He is now seeking theaters where he can screen the film.
"The victims were not killed because of their ideology. Those who were obsessed with ideology took innocent people's lives," Gu said. "The buried bones are not guilty. We are all obliged to heal the long-standing resentment. No ideological controversy is needed in this task."
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