My Name Is Kim Bok Dong (2019)

Kim Bok Dong sounds a bit like the weightlifting fairy - she is indeed a very impressive person.

Subject: This documentary concerns not only a single person`s fate, but the 30 years lasting journey and struggle of some of the surviving victims of the Japanese system of “comfort women” (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women) and the people who joined forces with them while the years went by. Beginning with a tiny number of individuals and only a single brave woman who outed herself as a victim in 1991, a movement formed that asked and still asks for the historical recognition of the existence of comfort women. Most of the women came from the countries that were occupied by Japan during World War II, like Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Korea, Philippines. We are talking about approximately 50.000-200.000 individuals here.
We get so see and understand the elderly Kim Bok Dong very closely, a woman who has been silent about her painful past for the longest time of her life. It is five years after her husband`s death that she decides to speak about it, in order to never let this happen again to any other woman in the future.
This tiny movement of the 90s became quite big by now – now it doesn`t only concern the comfort women, the Japanese`s persistent denial of this part of the Japanese war history has become a concern of the women`s movement and the “butterfly peace movement”. Many small organizations joined forces with the comfort women`s concern.

The story: It is not an easy task to narrate historical facts in a consistent way if there are so many years to cover. But even if there were only audio documents that covered the first statements, it blended well in the movie. There are artistic elements, and the visual focus is here and there on less important details, which I personally love to see.

Acting/cast/emotional response: I could see was the authenticity of everyone involved. And as you see them demonstrating every Wednesday in front of the Japanese embassy, you wonder how they can do this for such a long time. I don`t cry easily, but when they erected the peace statue of a young girl, a symbol of the comfort women, opposite the Japanese embassy, I couldn`t help it. It was at their 1.000th demonstration. Imagine that, 20 years of demonstrations every Wednesday.
When Kim Bok Dong screams out loudly, “Tell the Japanese Government to apologize and compensate before I cover the world in statues!”, I feel I want to be right by her side.
I want to write more, but I better stop here, since it is a lot already.

Music: It was a calm and nice music that supported the story here and there, no disturbance at all.

Rewatch value: I might rewatch it at a certain point, but not necessarily because I don`t think I will forget this movie easily.

Facit: I recommend watching this movie if you don`t mind to be more informed about this part of the Korean/Japanese history. Seeing this, you will have no doubt about its truth. It is obviously not fluffy or feel-good stuff, but it is nothing that is difficult to watch or unbearable.
I don`t watch documentaries regularly. I give 9.5 points to this documentary because I think it deserves it for keeping my interest wide awake until the end.

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