"Crossing" - Movie review

MOVIE : " Crossing " - A True Story About North Korean Defector.

When one sits down to watch a movie like "Crossing" - the story of a man who leaves North Korea to help his wife but never makes it back, and of his young son's long journey to find him - despite all the suffering and horror, one naturally expects everything to work out. But in Crossing, almost nothing does.

Recently, our SAM short term mission trip members gathered together to watch the movie. " Crossing". It is highly dramatic yet based on true story of North Korean defectors. SAM would, therefore, like to share this movie review with everyone and I strongly encourage people to watch this movie for the purpose of SAM's mission.

Kim Yong-soo (Cha In-pyo) is a once-famous North Korean football player who now works in a coal mine in South Hamgyong Province. He lives in a small earthen house with his wife and son, Jun-i (Sin Myeong-cheol) : Left and underneath side picture.

*Movie picture: Father (Kim Yong-Soo) and son (Jun-i) before getting seperated to find medicine and food

Yong-soo and Jun-i lead difficult but happy lives, playing football together and marveling at the technological wonders (for example, Whisky and Bibles) their family friends have smuggled in from China. But Yong-soo's wife is stricken with tuberculosis due to malnutrition, and because she is also pregnant, she requires special medication that is unavailable in North Korea. With his smuggler friend sent to a labor camp, Yong-soo is forced to cross the Tumen River into China to find the pills his wife needs.

Eventually Yong-soo finds a job, but when Chinese security forces start clamping down on the border, his boss tricks him into fleeing for South Korea. There he is ostracized even among the refugees for "abandoning" his family.

*Movie picture: Father (Kim Yong-Soo) is running away from Chinese security after crossing border line of North Korea to China while working with other defectors.



*Movie picture: Kim Yong-Soo and other defectors are trying to enter into German Embassy of China. And Chinese security guards are blocking them from entering

Meanwhile, Jun-i sets off after his father on a long and painful journey.Crossing is full of the sort of terrible scenes that are literally unimaginable - they could only come from real life. Jun-i learns to sleep with his shoes on to keep them from being stolen. In a gulag he chases a mouse into a room full of rotting corpses.

*Movie picture: Jun-i (son) and his friend is getting caught by North Korean Guards. Then, sent to the hard labour re-education camp.

And Yong-soo, after reading the Bible, wonders aloud why "God only lives in South Korea". For Jun-i and Yong-soo, life is a series of painful separations they are helpless to stop.

And for Yong-soo as he could not save his wife and son, life in South Korea, far from being liberating, is a forced exile.

Crossing is indeed a universal lament for refugees. Perhaps this film will inspire us to take action to help the millions of displaced people around the globe who have been seperated from their homes, friends and families.

Now, please spread your word to your friend and family to watch this movie. This is a not just a sad story, but cryout from the God to us to become his hands and foot to save the lives of North Koreans. Obviously, for political reason, it is not possible to enter into the country and help the poor. However, if all of us pray out loud thoughout the all nations, I am sure God will act upon as soon as time comes. If you not do it, nobody else can.

I urge everyone to watch "Crossing" , Genre: Drama / Korean with English subtitles112 min.