HAEMOO (2014)

Genre: Thriller/Drama
Director: Shim Sung-bo
Cast: Kim Yoon-seok, Park Yu-chun, Han Ye-ri, Moon Sung-keun, Kim Sang-ho, Lee Hee-jun, You Seung-mok
RunTime: 1 hr 51 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: GV
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 16 October 2014

Synopsis: Based on true events, HAEMOO is the story of a group of fishermen who are driven into madness when their attempt to smuggle illegal migrants ends in a horrible tragedy.

Captain Kang - longtime captain of Junjin, a 69-ton fishing vessel - is forced into a corner when the owner of the boat, Choi, decides to take advantage of the government’s buyback program and sell the boat after years of declining catches. The captain is disheartened when he learns that his entire crew is suddenly in danger of losing their livelihood. He is further dismayed when he finds his wife cheating on him with a Korean-Chinese migrant.

Swallowing his pride as a once venerated sea captain, Kang pays a visit to human trafficking broker Yeo. He decides to take on a dangerous job smuggling illegal migrants into South Korea. From then on, the Junjin crew is thrust into the world of smuggling previously unknown to them as naïve fishermen. The crew consists of Wan-Ho, the kindly engineer who lives on the boat to hide from debt collectors; Ho-young, the ship’s second-in-command and the captain’s loyal right-hand man; Kyung-koo, the foul-mouthed drum winch technician who values money over everything; Chang-wook, the slightly dim-witted deckhand who has trouble containing his animal urges; and Dong-sik, the youngest deckhand who was recently brought onboard. The five crew members dream of returning home with a boat full of fish, and they leave port unaware of the captain’s intentions. But they soon realize that their captain has enlisted them in a smuggling run without their knowledge.

The Junjin arrives at the coordinates in the middle of a rainstorm. After a long, agonizing wait, the Chinese vessel finally appears through the choppy waves and begins unloading the Korean-Chinese migrants onto the boat. While most of the migrants make it across, a young woman named Hong Mae hesitates to jump. When she finally musters the courage and jumps, she falls short of the Junjin and plunges into the sea. She begins to lose consciousness in the pitch-black ocean when Dong-sik dives into the water to rescue her. Captain Kang calls him back, but Dongsik defies his order and saves Hong-mae. The migrants are herded onto the open deck, and they shiver from the cold and the harsh, inhumane treatment. Meanwhile, Dong-sik secretly takes Hong-mae to the warm engine room. Hong Mae is initially wary of Dong-sik but gradually opens up and begins to tell her story.

Captain Kang radios Yeo, who asks him to stall in open waters for another day. The migrants begin to stir, and they insist on knowing why the boat has not moved. Driven to the edge by continued complications, Captain Kang quells the unrest by violently assaulting the migrants. Hong-mae asks Dong-sik to save her fellow passengers, and Dong-sik throws himself in front of the captain to stop the savage beating. As tension builds, a dense sea fog envelops the boat, and tragedy unfolds in the mysterious depths of the fog...

Movie Review:

What initially seemed like an innocent intent to keep his cherished old vessel and fellow fishermen, turned out to be one of the most tragic stories…

Haemoo, also known as Sea Fog, is a movie based on true stories revolving a fisherman’s life of strife during the 1990’s IMF financial crisis in South Korea. For the sake of earning some quick money, Captain Kang (played by Kim Yoon-Seok) agreed to an offer to smuggle in Korean-Chinese illegal migrants. And that, led them on to a path of no return.

The movie wastes no slack in introducing the crew on board. They each had a unique personality, and the movie was quite successful in establishing the distinct characters. Subsequently, when the migrants were brought on board the vessel, they too had interactions with the crew which further develops the story.

The human drama is probably one of the greatest draws of the movie. The crew, headed by Captain Kang, struggled to believe that the decision the captain makes is always the best. Their trust for each other, personal beliefs and principles were all put to great test. As it seems, the only way to evade responsibility for an unfortunate mishap pushes them to hysteria.

In the midst of the mental breakdowns, the tension continues to build up and pushes the men to their worst. Even the finest man on board, who seemed to uphold great principles, was forced to his wit’s end, and acted beyond what you could imagine. The human drama also draws attention to Kim Yoon-Seok, who displayed great maturity in handling his role of Captain Kang. He gave some depth and dimension to the character. Park Yu-chun and Han Ye-Ri, who took on the roles of Dong-sik and Hong-Mae, also convincingly and affectively brought out the exasperation and desperation at those difficult times. One of the scenes on Dong-sik and Hong-Mae’s copulation may seem absurd at first, but in fact highlights humans’ need for want to derive the will to live.

The plot development was quite engaging and kept the audiences interested, but not outstanding enough to be impressionable. Towards the end, it also got a little draggy and probably desensitized some of the audiences.

Overall, Haemoo was an affective tale of melancholy and offers an interesting purview of the human nature. Fear and love, though seemingly unrelated, both sets people to go to their extremes.

Movie Rating:

(This melancholic tale offers an interesting purview of the human nature that sets you thinking)

Review by Tho Shu Ling