English summary

‘High-level cinema that will keep the film audience on the edge of their seats’

‘Accessible, compelling feature that exposes the present situation in North and South Korea…the urgency of this movie is unmistakable.’

Compelling, exciting and lightly satirical story about suspicion and distrust, set against the background of the present tensions between North and South Korea.

Motor problems for the unassuming North Korean fisherman Nam Chul-Woo bring him into South Korean waters. He is immediately arrested on suspicion of espionage, whisked off to Seoul and endlessly interrogated. Though all this man wants is to get back to his family as soon as he can, the South Korean police try to get him to defect. Yet whether he returns to North Korea or not, his life will never be the same: he discovers the dark side of South Korean society, which contrasts starkly with the image he previously had. Director Kim Ki-Duk surprises the audience with his candid presentation of this sober tale.

Ryo Seung-bum is brilliant as the fisherman; with great charisma, he makes this movie human. No ideology is so good that humanity may be banned – a truth that applies not only to North and South Korea.