Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sunny (2008) Korean Movie Viewing


Yesterday, Lisa (a Rangel fellow attending Princeton for grad school in the fall) and I went to a free showing of the movie, "Sunny" at the Korean Cultural Center which was sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea. They also had a free Korean dinner and you know I was happy to eat delicious free Asian food!
The theater was packed but it was well worth it. The movie was touching, insightful and dynamic. There was not a single dull moment as even the non action sequences were laced with emotion. I was amazed at how much I was able to gather when it came to the film's depiction of Viet Nam during the Viet Nam war. There were scenes where the Koreans were fighting the Viet Cong and all of a sudden the Vietnamese go under trapped doors into tunnels. I hastily whispered to Lisa, "those are the Cu Chi tunnels!!" I recognized them from my visit to Cu Chi while I studied in Viet Nam. I think that this movie portrayed a very realistic depiction of what Viet Nam was like at this time.

A truly enjoyable film, here is a synopsis in hope that you will want to watch it too!
With the film Sunny (2008), acclaimed director Lee Joon Ik departs from his usual male-centered films, such as The King and the Clown (2005), to tell the personal story of Soon-yi, a simple woman from a small town who journeys to Vietnam in 1971 in search of her husband, and herself. Sunny, as she is known, is dedicated to her husband and her family, despite her unhappiness with her lack of freedom in a traditional family. When her husband is suddenly deployed to Vietnam, to which South Korea contributed a sizeable number of troops who fought alongside American forces, Sunny is compelled to follow him, although her rationale is not always clear. As she journeys into a warzone, she joins a band of entertainers to make her way, and her search for husband and her true self becomes more difficult than she could ever have imagine.

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