Way Back Home
Content
Way Back Home
Story: Jeong-yeon (Jeon Do-yeon) and Jong-bae (Ko Soo) are happily married, have
a little daugther (Kang Ji-woo) and their own car repair shop. However, one day they
lose everything as Jong-bae had stood as a guarantor for a credit of one of his
friends who then had been entangled in deep debts and took his own life. The
family can barely manage to get by. As times are tough Jeong-yeon wants to
smuggle a few precious stones into the country for one of her husband's friends. At
the airport in France she is checked, though, and it turns out that the bag she is
carrying is full of several kilograms of cocaine. Jeong-yeon is taken into custody and
since she doesn't get an interpreter because of the incompetent Korean consulate
she doesn't know what's going to happen to her. She is jailed in a French prison
under extremely bad conditions for as long as no one finds Jeong-bae's friend in
Korea, who has to make a testimony about whether Jeong-yeon knew about what
she carried with her or not. Before that there can't be any trial. Therefore, Jeong-bae
is desperately searching for his former friend who has disappeared while Jeong-yeon
tries to somehow hang on.
Review: "Way Back Home" is an interesting drama because it is based on true
events. Resulting from that are the movie's biggest problems as well, though. It is
all too obvious where the movie took some liberties in order to raise the impact of
the drama and at times this is done in such an extensive manner that you get the
impression the filmmakers wanted to get across the injustice and suffering, which
the female protagonist experiences, with a sledgehammer. Furthermore, there is a
gazillion of tears inevitably making the story so melodramatic that you easily could
think to be watching a soap opera. But for that again Jeon Do-yeon's acting is too
good. In technical respects the movie is also above reproach.
It takes quite a while until "Way Back Home" finally puts its focus on the actual
story. The introduction is rather long and shows the unfortunate circumstances that
led Jeong-yeon into carrying a bag without knowing anything about its content. Well,
it is pretty naive to do something like that, but then again there are in fact people
like that. However, what's supposed to make you feel really agitated is the course of
action from the law and especially the Korean consulate. Inquiries aren't taken
seriously, files are misplaced and officials live up to the cliché of incompetent and
lazy tax money wasters. Their incompetence leads to injustice and suffering which
we are presented with in the shape of Jeong-yeon's fate. Doing so the movie works
on different narrational levels.
Many of the depicted circumstances are so unbelievable that they are probably true.
Jeong-yeon remains locked up without anyone telling her what she needs to expect
will happen next. Because the Korean consulate doesn't want to pay for an
interpreter or there allegedly isn't one to be found on the island where Jeong-yeon is
locked up in prison. Then there are of course the mandatory cell mates that make
her life a living hell and there is a prison guard that later on has it in for her. Those
are apparently scenes that have been implemented for more dramatic purposes, as
is the attempted raping. Well, you could forgive that if it weren't for the fact that
those scenes go hand in hand with a lot of tears and a heart-rending score. But
more about that in a second.
The other narrational level the movie takes place on is that of the husband, played
by Ko Soo ("Taegukgi", "Haunters"). Ko doesn't deliver bad work, but particularly
during one emotional scene with Jeon Do-yeon ("The Housemaid", "Secret
Sunshine") it almost seems as if he isn't up to the task of playing his role. Jeon is
outshining everyone else in the movie and even manages to sell those scenes that
actually are overstepping the border to kitsch. On the one hand this kitsch has its
origin in a very frequently used melodramatic score, as already stated, and on the
other in scenes that are unnecessarily drawn out as if the filmmakers wanted to
capture every single tear. There may be movies that feature more tears, but
seldomly they are celebrated the way they are here, which for some viewers, and I
count myself among them, might turn out to be a big problem.
Story: Jeong-yeon (Jeon Do-yeon) at Jong-Bae (Ko Soo) ay masayang bagong kasal,
may isang maliit na anak(Kang Ji-woo) at ang kanilang sariling car repair shop.
Gayunpaman, isang araw nawala ang lahat ng mga ito ng tumayo bilang garantor si
Jong-Bae para sa isang kredito ng isa sa kanyang mga kaibigan na baon sa malalim
na utang at kinuha ang kanyang sariling buhay. Minsan sa hirap ng buhay nais ni
Jeong-yeon na magnakaw ng ilang mahalagang bato sa bansa sa isa sa mga
kaibigan ng kanyang asawa. Sa airport sa France siya ay nag-checkin, bagaman,
hindi niya alam na ang bag niya nagdadala ng puno ng maraming kilo ng cocaine.
Jeong-yeon ay kinuha ng custodia dahil hindi siya makakuha ng interpreter dahil di
makakuha ang Korean consulate at hindi alam kung ano ang mangyayari sa kanya.
Siya ay ibinilanggo sa isang Bilangguang Pranses sa ilalim ng hindi magandang
kondisyon para sa hangga't hinahanap ng walang kaibigan Jeong-Bae sa Korea,
kung sino ang may upang gumawa ng patotoo tungkol sa kung alam ni Jeong-yeon
tungkol sa kung ano siya dinala sa kanya o hindi. Bago iyon doon ay hindi maaaring
maging anumang pagsubok. Samakatuwid, Jeong-Bae ay lubhang naghahanap para
sa kanyang dating kaibigan na nawala habang Jeong-yeon sinusubukan upang kahit
papaano ay mag-hang sa
Story: Jeong-yeon (Jeon Do-yeon) and Jong-bae (Ko Soo) are happily married, have
a little daugther (Kang Ji-woo) and their own car repair shop. However, one day they
lose everything as Jong-bae had stood as a guarantor for a credit of one of his
friends who then had been entangled in deep debts and took his own life. The
family can barely manage to get by. As times are tough Jeong-yeon wants to
smuggle a few precious stones into the country for one of her husband's friends. At
the airport in France she is checked, though, and it turns out that the bag she is
carrying is full of several kilograms of cocaine. Jeong-yeon is taken into custody and
since she doesn't get an interpreter because of the incompetent Korean consulate
she doesn't know what's going to happen to her. She is jailed in a French prison
under extremely bad conditions for as long as no one finds Jeong-bae's friend in
Korea, who has to make a testimony about whether Jeong-yeon knew about what
she carried with her or not. Before that there can't be any trial. Therefore, Jeong-bae
is desperately searching for his former friend who has disappeared while Jeong-yeon
tries to somehow hang on.
Review: "Way Back Home" is an interesting drama because it is based on true
events. Resulting from that are the movie's biggest problems as well, though. It is
all too obvious where the movie took some liberties in order to raise the impact of
the drama and at times this is done in such an extensive manner that you get the
impression the filmmakers wanted to get across the injustice and suffering, which
the female protagonist experiences, with a sledgehammer. Furthermore, there is a
gazillion of tears inevitably making the story so melodramatic that you easily could
think to be watching a soap opera. But for that again Jeon Do-yeon's acting is too
good. In technical respects the movie is also above reproach.
It takes quite a while until "Way Back Home" finally puts its focus on the actual
story. The introduction is rather long and shows the unfortunate circumstances that
led Jeong-yeon into carrying a bag without knowing anything about its content. Well,
it is pretty naive to do something like that, but then again there are in fact people
like that. However, what's supposed to make you feel really agitated is the course of
action from the law and especially the Korean consulate. Inquiries aren't taken
seriously, files are misplaced and officials live up to the cliché of incompetent and
lazy tax money wasters. Their incompetence leads to injustice and suffering which
we are presented with in the shape of Jeong-yeon's fate. Doing so the movie works
on different narrational levels.
Many of the depicted circumstances are so unbelievable that they are probably true.
Jeong-yeon remains locked up without anyone telling her what she needs to expect
will happen next. Because the Korean consulate doesn't want to pay for an
interpreter or there allegedly isn't one to be found on the island where Jeong-yeon is
locked up in prison. Then there are of course the mandatory cell mates that make
her life a living hell and there is a prison guard that later on has it in for her. Those
are apparently scenes that have been implemented for more dramatic purposes, as
is the attempted raping. Well, you could forgive that if it weren't for the fact that
those scenes go hand in hand with a lot of tears and a heart-rending score. But
more about that in a second.
The other narrational level the movie takes place on is that of the husband, played
by Ko Soo ("Taegukgi", "Haunters"). Ko doesn't deliver bad work, but particularly
during one emotional scene with Jeon Do-yeon ("The Housemaid", "Secret
Sunshine") it almost seems as if he isn't up to the task of playing his role. Jeon is
outshining everyone else in the movie and even manages to sell those scenes that
actually are overstepping the border to kitsch. On the one hand this kitsch has its
origin in a very frequently used melodramatic score, as already stated, and on the
other in scenes that are unnecessarily drawn out as if the filmmakers wanted to
capture every single tear. There may be movies that feature more tears, but
seldomly they are celebrated the way they are here, which for some viewers, and I
count myself among them, might turn out to be a big problem.
Story: Jeong-yeon (Jeon Do-yeon) at Jong-Bae (Ko Soo) ay masayang bagong kasal,
may isang maliit na anak(Kang Ji-woo) at ang kanilang sariling car repair shop.
Gayunpaman, isang araw nawala ang lahat ng mga ito ng tumayo bilang garantor si
Jong-Bae para sa isang kredito ng isa sa kanyang mga kaibigan na baon sa malalim
na utang at kinuha ang kanyang sariling buhay. Minsan sa hirap ng buhay nais ni
Jeong-yeon na magnakaw ng ilang mahalagang bato sa bansa sa isa sa mga
kaibigan ng kanyang asawa. Sa airport sa France siya ay nag-checkin, bagaman,
hindi niya alam na ang bag niya nagdadala ng puno ng maraming kilo ng cocaine.
Jeong-yeon ay kinuha ng custodia dahil hindi siya makakuha ng interpreter dahil di
makakuha ang Korean consulate at hindi alam kung ano ang mangyayari sa kanya.
Siya ay ibinilanggo sa isang Bilangguang Pranses sa ilalim ng hindi magandang
kondisyon para sa hangga't hinahanap ng walang kaibigan Jeong-Bae sa Korea,
kung sino ang may upang gumawa ng patotoo tungkol sa kung alam ni Jeong-yeon
tungkol sa kung ano siya dinala sa kanya o hindi. Bago iyon doon ay hindi maaaring
maging anumang pagsubok. Samakatuwid, Jeong-Bae ay lubhang naghahanap para
sa kanyang dating kaibigan na nawala habang Jeong-yeon sinusubukan upang kahit
papaano ay mag-hang sa
