Mad Minutes - Program Note(SIDoF2003) :: 2004/06/08 22:33

Why do we remember the past? What does the past brings to people who are living the present as they fumble for the past? is about a genocide of civilians by the Korean army during the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War showed how the U.S.A. failed to perform the role of the international police and to maintain world peace and on the other hand, it gave rise to the anti-war, pro-peace will from all over the world. During the war, Korea had shed the young blood for economic interests of the U.S.A., forced by American political pressure. Even after the war ended, the soldiers participated has suffered from side effects of defoliants and are still suffering.

However, does not treat Korea as such victims. It rather talks about the massacre of innocent Vietnamese civilians by the Korean army. As Koreans get furious over the genocide of civilians by the U.S. army during the Korean War in 1950’s, Vietnamese rage at the genocide of civilians by the Korean army in 1960’s. does not reveal who killed whom, neither who the murderer is, nor how the victims are now. Instead, it makes the audience quietly ponder over why that war happened and what kind of human grief during the war is.

It calmly portrays a tragedy that happened in extreme situations such as a war, through testimonies of people who were there at that time. A woman who survived the massacre and now has aged and a middle-aged man, who was a mere kid at that time tell the stories of the past, still fresh in their memories, in shaking voices. An ex-soldier who had to pursue a streak of hope of madness and survival in fear of death tells us about brutality of the war and remorse for the massacre. The war is still present for them and also for the audience who experience the massacre following guide of the documentary.

Moreover, the documentary talks about the burden left to us. The present could not stand the weight of the past unless we deal with the burden. We could look away from the scene of the massacre, pretending that it is all forgotten past, or blame the extreme situation, insisting that it was unavoidable. Now, what are we trying to see? (written by Junghun OH)
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