2024-07-28 20:36:51
Today (July 28th), director Park Ki-hyung’s film will be broadcast on EBS1’s ‘Korean Film Special’.
A 2009 South Korean film starring Ha Jung-woo, Sung Dong-il, Kim Ji-seok, and Kim Dong-wook, with a running time of 137 minutes. Rated for ages 15 and up.
◆ summary:
In 1996, in Muju, Jeollabuk-do, a national ski jumping team, one of the official events, is hastily put together in order to host the Winter Olympics. Former children’s ski school instructor Bang Jong-sam (played by Sung Dong-il) is appointed as the national team coach, and elite(?) members gather after hearing all kinds of sweet talk. Bob (played by Ha Jung-woo), a former US junior alpine skiing national adoptee who came to Korea in search of his biological mother; Heung-cheol (played by Kim Dong-wook), a nightclub waiter who can’t last a day without a woman; Jae-bok (played by Choi Jae-hwan), the son of a meat restaurant owner who has been living day and night doing whatever his father tells him to do; Chil-gu (played by Kim Ji-seok), a quiet boy who finds the burden of taking care of his grandmother and younger brother burdensome; and Bong-gu (played by Lee Jae-eung), the four-dimensional younger brother who loves his older brother dearly! Coach Bang, as if he were a god, promises Bob, who needs a place to live with his mother, an apartment, and Heung-cheol, Chil-gu and Bong-gu, and Jae-bok, who need to stay with him out of love or because they have dependents, military exemption. But only if they win the gold medal!
The first national ski jumping team in Korea was formed when people who didn’t even know what ski jumping was gathered because they had skied a little bit at one time. However, the training of the coaches who didn’t even know how to spell ski jumping and the national team players with no experience was extremely difficult. They had to go from one jump construction site to another without a proper practice facility, and they had to train naked, wearing only motorcycle helmets and construction site safety helmets, without proper protective gear or jump suits. Despite this, the players armed themselves with scientific(?) training, starting with ground training in the front yard of Jaebok’s restaurant, aerial acrobatics(?) hanging from a treetop with a rope, dangerous racing while fixed in a ski jumping position on top of a 90km/h passenger car, and risking their lives jumping off a closed amusement park flume ride converted into a jump site! Despite this kind of stage-blow training, they gradually become like players, and the moment they fly through the sky relying on just skis is a happy moment.
Finally, after many twists and turns, the South Korean national ski jumping team participates in the Oberstdorf World Cup. Despite the ridicule and contempt from foreign players, they do their best, but due to an unexpected incident, they end up not getting good results. Still, the South Korean national team, which unexpectedly qualifies for the Nagano Winter Olympics, returns home in triumph and dreams of advancing to the Olympics. However, South Korea is ultimately eliminated from the Winter Olympics, and the national ski jumping team faces the risk of disbandment. In order to be exempted from military service and to find their mothers, they now look forward to competing in the games with only their love, passion, and challenging spirit for ski jumping, overcoming these personal reasons. Will they be able to soar again without hesitation?
◆ Commentary:
is a film based on ski jumping. It is the world’s first domestically produced film based on ski jumping. Ski jumping, which originated from a Northern European game of competing to see how far one can fly with a cool posture, is an attractive sport that embodies the age-old desire of humans to fly in the sky. Since it is a sport where one must ski down an artificial structure and fly 90 to 120 meters from the takeoff platform, actual athletes say that they have been able to ski jump for over 10 years despite the difficult training and harsh environment because of the thrill of the time they are suspended in the air. The thrill of ski jumping, the only sport where one flies in the sky with the wind without any auxiliary devices or equipment such as airplanes or hang gliders, can now be experienced on screen.
A movie based on the true story of 7 athletes registered in South Korea, 4 of whom were national representatives, and South Korean ski jumpers who succeeded in a challenge that everyone believed was impossible in harsh circumstances. In fact, the athletes practiced by directly spraying water with rubber hoses when the spring cooler on the jump ramp broke down, and they also worked hard part-time jobs to cover their living and training expenses, and when they competed, they wore expensive jump suits that they had to patch up when they got torn. It received good reviews from critics and audiences. The audience felt that director Kim Yong-hwa properly demonstrated his skills. In particular, the last ski jump scene was evaluated as the best. As a result, it was released in the summer of 2009 and attracted 8 million viewers.
◆ director:
Born in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do in 1971, he graduated from Chuncheon High School and Chung-Ang University’s Department of Theater and Film. Kim Yong-hwa was able to complete a short film with the support of a hometown alumnus because he did not have enough money to film his graduation film. Fortunately, (1999) won the Bronze Prize at the Houston Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the Rochester Film Festival, and the Excellence Award at the 1st Korea Film Festival in 2000, successfully entering the film industry. Kim Yong-hwa’s feature film debut was (2003), a comedy film about the reunion of brothers who meet by chance and their misadventures. Kim Yong-hwa’s second film was a film of the same name based on the Japanese manga “Beauty is a Trouble”, about a woman who was looked down on and treated with contempt by those around her for being fat, but who becomes a plastic beauty. Kim Yong-hwa, who has established himself as a box office hit director, directed his third film (2009), and he continued his streak of three consecutive ‘big hits’. Starting with (2003) and continuing with (2013), his films have the commonality of containing emotion and hope. His recent works include (2017), (2017), and (2023), which were successful in attracting 10 million viewers.
EBS’s ‘Korean Film Special’ program, where you can see the past, present, and future of Korean films, airs every Sunday at 10:40 PM.
Reporter Kim Kyung-eun Photo = EBS Korean Movie Special
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2024-07-28 20:36:51