HAEMOO/ SEA FOG

Korea, 2014, 111 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Sung-bo Shim.

Haemoo was in consideration for Oscar nomination from Korea. It won many local and Asian awards.

The film is quite an intense piece, a story of poor fishermen on an old boat finding diminishing returns in the sea, the boat needing repair and causing accidents, the pressure on the captain and other members of the crew.

The captain is approached by a and persuaded to take on some, refugees from China making for Korea. The crew go along with the captain’s decision although the youngest member of the crew, Dong-sik, is cautious.

There is drama as the refugees are transferred to the fishing boat, leaping from the other boat, one falling into the sea and having to be rescued by Dong-sik. The refugees are hidden in the hold where the fish were kept but, after the inspection and payoff of the inspector, the hatches open and all the refugees are dead, gassed. To conceal the event, the captain quarters all the bodies to be hacked to pieces and thrown into the sea.

After this, there is some mayhem, especially when one sailor wants to report the events to the police and is killed, and when Dong-sik has sheltered the young girl he rescued, lustful envy crops up.
There is a rather rueful ending six years later.

1. Contemporary issues? Refugees? People-smuggling? Economy issues?

2. The Korean perspective, the fishermen and their difficulties, the old boats, the lack of fish, law and enforcement, refugees from China, the prospect of cash, working with the people-smugglers?

3. Audience response to issues of people-smuggling? Refugees, asylum seekers? The smugglers, money issues, motivations? The boats, the conditions, disasters?

4. The introduction, the boat, the details of all the activity, each of the sailors, the feel of life on the boat, the captain and his crew, the young Dong-sik? The port, the fishing, the difficulties, the accident at physical dangers? The captain going home, conditions at home? Dong-sik and going to see his grandmother? The men, in port, sexual relationships? A cross-section of the sailors?

5. The difficulties, the boat, the motor crisis, the people-smuggler approaching the captain, persuasive, the cash, making the decision? Telling the crew only after the event? Their agreement?

6. Putting to sea, the conditions, the night, the boat coming closer, the light of the signal? The dangers of boarding, jumping from the ship, the girl falling into the sea, Dong-sik and his rescue?

7. The authorities, the inspector, hiding the refugees, the inspector hearing the sounds, his being paid off?

8. The refugees on deck, the night, the crowd, cold, their being given the food, the men and their lustful approaches? Dong-sik and his taking the girl into the engine room? Her searching for her brother, self-consciousness? Going back on deck, being hidden in the engine room again?

9. The deaths of the refugees, their being gassed? The captain, his decision to chop up the victims and dispose of them in the ocean?

10. The increasing mayhem amongst the crew, the sexual advances, chasing the young woman? One threatening to report to the police? The captain and killing him? The fights, Dong-sik and his relationship with the girl, the sexual encounter? Others’ envy?

11. Six years passing, Dong-sik and his work, leaving, seeing the girl in the family? No contact?

12. A comment on the increasing issues of boat people, their treatment, people-smugglers?