Esperança (2013)

Definitely not a movie for the casual viewer. This has to be one of the most heart-wrenching movies I have ever seen. It was horrifying and saddening to know that this took place in reality. It tells the story of the infamous Nayoung case of South Korea and captured the pain as much as possible. Every bone and fiber in my body felt the little girl's pain. I cried when she cried and laughed when she laughed.

This movie is a true masterpiece by all aspects. It was so warming and I felt like it hit me in all the right places. Nothing felt overdone or underdone and the cast did a wonderful job of portraying people suffering from grief and tragedy. Although the movie is sad, it also has immense hope in it, much like its namesake. It is all about picking yourself up from the downsides of life and moving on with a smile. It forces you to think about all the harsh realities of the world and question the thin line between justice and fairness.

I have to really, really commend the stellar performances but on by the little girl and the actors who played her parents. It was too good to be true and felt too real. For a while, I lost myself in the movie and forgot that what I was seeing on my screen was not real. The irony is that it is real and at the same time not real. My heart goes out to the family of Nayoung and hope she is doing well in real life.

However, the reason to watch this movie is mostly to take a cue from it and smile in your life. This movie is indeed very inspirational and the direction is flawless. There are no bits of it I would want to change. Everything from the casting to the script were smooth and neat. A thorough masterpiece of a film that manages to capture a lot of reality and present it to you without any sugarcoat. It tells you how if you end up with a bitter candy, swallowing it won't make the bitterness go away. You rather have to live with chewing the candy and ingest the bitterness that comes along with it.

Do watch this movie if you are looking for something different. But be warned and prepare yourself with a box of tissues.

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I was waiting for this film eagerly. I was expecting a heartwarming family drama and also afraid of over-dramatic melodrama. Fortunately I wasn't disappointed and I got much more than what I expected.

Like many other real cruel stories another cruel story is made into film. This film is based on a rape case known as 'Na-young case'; in which an 8 year old girl was beaten and raped by an old man. I've a problem related to reality...
Now the problem is that the case is only 5 years old. Girl was 8 and now she's just 13 years old. Few years ago someone made a song on this & now this film caught lots of attention and I think it's extremely hard for family to overcome the trauma because of this film. Especially because this film came into light at the point where family was (probably) starting to forget this event. I'm not saying that it's wrong to make films on such cases but this film came too early.

I'll keep this short since I'm still buried under emotions.
Beginning of the film is very sad and can make anyone angry easily. It was painful to watch but those scenes don't last for long. After those painful scenes there is series of many beautiful scenes. Recovery of So-won (Victim), friends helping family, a lot of people trying to restart life of devastated family, family trying to be positive for future and make the daughter happier instead of crying over past that can not be changed. I loved father-daughter relationship most.

What I loved about this film is it's strength in stirring up emotions (of characters & our) in meaningful way. It's not like usual Korean films that force melodrama and turn into joke (Fly High, You're My Sunshine and many more!). Everything in this film is genuine...

Good:

-Genuine & unforced situations-emotions
-Great cast
-Music is excellent. I loved the long track played during recovery scenes of So-won.

Bad:

-Mistimed release (Related to reality, it's bugging me)
-I didn't notice any bad points. I was very busy in watching film.

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