The Chosun Ilbo has a sneak preview at the upcoming South Korean film “Crossing”, which opens next week and tells the story of a North Korean family divided and then destroyed by poverty and repression. They also have the trailer hosted on the same page, and boy does it look good. The film reportedly moved US audiences to tears in early screenings. This is one I will definitely be watching once the DVDs come out overseas.

Hamgyeongbuk-do, the northeast corner of North Korea and the border with China. For Yong-su, portrayed by Cha In-pyo, resident of a mining town there, the most important people are his wife Seo Yeong-hwa and his son Jun-yi.

The time he enjoys most is playing soccer with his son after work. He may not be wealthy, but for a family in poverty being together is their small happiness.

In the beginning he has not thoughts of “defecting” to South Korea. He crosses the Tumen River into China to earn money to treat his wife’s tuberculosis. Working as a tree-cutter he can earn a hard living, but as a defector trouble finds him.

Afflcited with worry for his bedridden wife, one day he has an interview with a South Korean who tells him how he can make more money. After risking entry to the South Korean embassy, he learns that that money is his resettlement allowance after defection.

The film “Crossing” (크로싱), which premieres on the 26th, leaves viewers with a deep impression of the division between North and South and the grave, distressing situation of North Korean citizens.

Like its title, “Crossing”’s characters must cross the border in order to live, but they also cross by each other in parting.

Director Kim Tae-gyun presents a North Korea where everyone understands the truth of the situation but nobody raises their voice about it.

The director concentrates his energy on presenting the true situation of North Korean citizens and the tragic state they are in rather than lingering on impressive moments.

To do so he places emphasis on reality over artistry. Mr. Kim, who previously did the cinematography for 화산고 and 늑대의 유혹, turns his camera to the real spaces of North Korean life like farming villages, detention centers, and the verdant border itself.

After arriving in South Korea yong-su continues to think of his family, alternating between thoughts of him and worries over his family.

While Yong-su comes back to Seoul, their situation is not in the equally “far-off” places of North Korea and China but actually makes it near to us. The expression on Yong-su’s face as he wonders through Seoul conveys to South Koreans the terrible situation in those far-off places.

When Yong-su arrives in Seoul his wife breathes her last. Alone, Jun-yi is helped by a grandmotherly neighbor and scrapes together money to search for his father.

Settled into South Korea, Yong-su cannot go a day without thinking of his family in North Korea. Hoping to contact his family, he hears that Jun-yi has been put to hard labor in a prison camp, and hires a ‘broker’ to take him to Mongolia.

The tragic tale of this film will tug on its viewers’ hearts, and the performances of Cha In-pyo and the child actors are strong and impassioned.

Cha In-pyo and child actor Shin Myeong-cheol clearly show the true hearts of their characters, and by the end every viewer will feel their sadness.

Mr. Cha, who worked zealously on the film and even aided in location hunting in Mongolia, recieved tutoring prior to shooting in the Hamgyeongbuk-do dialect and met with actual defectors to better portray one.

This film is rated for viewers 12 and over.