Love
is.
Korean
Writer/Director Chang-Dong Lee's 2002 film
"Oasis" is a film of such power, grace and
beauty that it leaves me speechless with its
powerful portrayal of two outcast Koreans. One,
a young man with multiple incarcerations and
nowhere to belong, is wondrously portrayed by
Sol Kyung-Gu, while the other performance is, in
my estimation, perhaps the finest performance
anywhere of 2002. So-ri Moon portrays a young
lady with cerebral palsy who is basically
abandoned by her family and left to fend for
herself much of the time, except when they can
manipulate the system for her subsidized
apartment.
Moon's portrayal is so completely absorbing that
it is impossible to not draw comparison to
Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot." It is,
without a doubt, one of the best portrayals of
an adult with a disability in cinema today. Moon
captures the physicalization of her character so
completely, so accurately that it is often
painful and tiring to watch her.
This, in some ways, is a "stick with it film."
The first few minutes are quite challenging to
watch as the audience is forced to adjust to the
constant spastic behavior, the difficult speech
and the aberrant behavior of her soon to be
beau.
Without a doubt, feminists and disability
advocates will cringe early on as the young
woman is faced with a near rape by the man who
grows to care about her, accept her and
ultimately love her beyond what most would ever
recognize as love.
Watching the scene where he begins to assault
her, then suddenly and rather horrifyingly
recognizes his behavior is one of the most
painful scenes I've ever seen in a film. The
pain of both perpetrator and victim is pushed to
the forefront and, in essence, becomes one.
As the two become closer, the film deals
powerfully with the taboos of society...the
alleged impossibility of loving a person with a
disability...of being sexual with a person with
a disability.
It is horrifying to watch the young woman's
family...who had been so negligent and so
abusive to her suddenly "care" about her now
that she was being loved for the very first time
AND able to love freely for the very first time.
The filmmaker made so many wise choices
here...including the inter-mixing of scenes of
Moon fantasizing about having a normal body and
doing normal things and enjoying a normal day.
These fantasies gave us a glimpse of Moon
without disabilities...without a twitch or spasm
or speech difficulty. While this may sound a tad
judgmental, this "break" allows the audience to
breathe and to fully appreciate the challenges
that the character faces. Both sides are
presented.
In many ways, this is such a sad film...because
there is so much truth within it. One would like
to think these truths only exist in Korean
society but they ring true nearly everywhere.
The film is reminiscent of "The Waterdance" in
that it doesn't present a "Hallmark"
ending...yet it remains hopeful. Every aspect of
this production is outstanding from the
performances to the cinematography to the score
to the direction. "Oasis" is, indeed, a film of
power and beauty and grace and wisdom. It is, in
my eyes, a "must see" foreign film.
© Written by
Richard Propes
TC Candler's Comment
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Jacob
Hall's Comment
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