SYNOPSIS

There are two girls: Jong-boon, who is fed up with
 poverty-stricken life under the exploitation of Japanese
 empire and Young-ae, a pretty and smart girl who
 is adored by Jong-boon. One day, their sudden
 and unkowning falling into the captivity of barracks
 of Japapense army makes their lives wrapped in
 wretchedness. Jong-boon strives to be alive to get back
 home and Young-ae finds herself losing the grip on
 reality. They, nonetheless, lean on each other. Through
 lots of ups and downs, they manage to make an
 attempt to escape...

Program Note

 line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:\" 맑은=\"\" 고딕\";mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;=\"\" mso-fareast-font-family:\"맑은=\"\" 고딕\";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:=\"\" \"맑은=\"\" 고딕\";mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin\"=\"\">The film opens with the nightmare of
 a woman in her 80s named Jong-boon. In her nightmare, she sees a neighborhood
 girl, Yeong-ae, who is taken to China to become a comfort woman, where she then
 tries to commit suicide in an ice-covered river. Not only does Yeong-ae keep
 coming back in Jong-boon’s nightmares, but her spirit is bound to Jong-boon’s
 place with the same appearance she had when she died trying to escape 70 years
 ago. Is it Jong-boon’s guilty consciousness for stealing Yeong-ae’s name for survival
 after the liberation from the Japanese Empire that creates Yeong-ae’s ghost? Or
 have the nightmares and spirits haunting Jong-boon’s body for 70 years
 reenacting the trauma? The moment when the trauma of Jong-boon/Yeong-ae is
 cured is when a high school girl, Eun-soo, tells her “It is not something you
 should feel ashamed of. They are the bad ones,” in the present day in 2015.
 This is the moment of recognition - while Yeong-ae’s spirit holds resentment
 towards her father who supported the Korean Liberation Army and Jong-book hides
 her past experience as a comfort woman, the victimhood that these two victims
 have not dared to accept is recognized by Eun-soo who leads a rather harsh life
 in the 21st century. Yeong-ae’s spirit crosses over, and Jong-boon participates
 in the movement to resolve the comfort women issue.

 line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:\" 맑은=\"\" 고딕\";mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;=\"\" mso-fareast-font-family:\"맑은=\"\" 고딕\";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:=\"\" \"맑은=\"\" 고딕\";mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin\"=\"\">This film takes place only in the
 past and the present day, which are juxtaposed in the film. There are only a
 girl from the past and an old woman and girl in the present day. The whole 70
 years that that girl lived to become an old woman have been crossed out, and
 this crossing out coincides with the extremely long and difficult path of
 reinstating the comfort women deleted from history in the name of ‘nation.’
 This post-colonial history might just be another hard time for Jong-boon and
 Yeong-ae’s spirit. Could it be that A
 Little Princess, the novel that Jong-boon embraced while in the comfort
 station has been the fantasy to help her endure all of these harsh years? [BAEK
 Moonim]