Story on the recording people and recorded people:
Meeting with PARK Bae-Il of film <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2> and Mr. KIM Woo-Chang, an activist
Kang Hee-jeong Editor
While I watched the film <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2> which got awarded with the judge’s special award at 6th DMZ International Docu-Film Festival, I came across a person familiar to me at the last scene of the film. He was a friend of mine in college days, who is one year senior to me. I was convinced that the man is truly my friend in college days because the film <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2> is a documentary recording the fights of Miryang residents against the plan of erecting the power line tower of 765kV and I had heard before that he was acting as a member of a team against the erection of the power line towers. Though I felt some respects to him when I watched his face on the screen, my impression did not go further. It was because he was not my close friend and I did not give much thoughts to Miryang incident. Although <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2> was recognized as the good independent documentary at that year, the number of the audience for that film was just 3,010, which was worse than expected and the demonstration camp was removed from the site by an administrative authority. Then, the power line towers were completed. Subsequently, 17 months have passed since the start of the operation of the power line towers. That process almost made it futile for residents in Miryang to fight against the erection of the towers.
Then, does it mean that there were nothing changed? I want to know about it. I wanted to directly hear from the activist and recorder participated in the field whether how Miryang incident affected their life in changing the unfair reality. To get the first hand information from their own mouths rather than second hand information, I visited Director Park Bae-Il and Kim Woo-Change or an activist and my college friend. At that time, Director Park was producing a film at a site in Busan while Kim Woo-Chang, an activist was admitted to Graduate School of Environment, Seoul National University and was studying the national energy policy. As soon as we exchanged our greetings, we moved over to the talk on the events which happened in Miryang.
“Old women felt anxiety without the camera whenever the police came.”
Activist Kim told that the activists got the encouragement from the camera. It may be because they believed that if there is any accident, the camera would record that. Director Park also told me that he also put more emphasis on the mind of holding the camera for protection of the people near the site than the mind of shooting a film when he decided to go Miryang at first. Actually, after the camera was introduced to the site, the level of violence by the police went down. On the other hand, the activits made the actions against the police’s illegal photo taking of the site. Director Park disclosed to me that he was not sure of his role between the media activities at the site and the director of a documentary. I also told me that he was also confused which one he should shoot between the old women who were against the police team and the old women taking care of the farming at the distance. He also said that it was a great chance for him to give a deep thought on the role of camera. He concluded that it would be better to focus on the role of camera depending on the time and situation instead of the role of media activities and director. While staying at the site, they recorded the actual reality of the residents in the site rather than the image of resident made by the mainstream media.
The story that <Legend of Miryang1> was shared with the resident of the village through the screen installed outdoor prior to premiere of <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2> was also interesting. It is said that after watching the film in groups, old ladies asked them “how can you shoot this film? This is how we are living. When did you shoot it?”. They said that they were a lot moved by this experiences. I could not image how the people would feel when they were faced with the violence of public power though they have been politically conservative or have rooted for the government policy for a long period of time but they had to experience their changes by watching a film shooting them. When Mr. Kim Woo Chang, an activist went to Miryang, he became to understand the severity of the problem when he heard the ordinary looking old women making the non-ordinary talks. He said that as he got along with those people in three meals a day and watched television together and played the card together, it was not always tragic as thought by people. The old women took care of the people by not allowing the people to skip the meal and provided them with the snack between meals. The fact that in <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2> there were more scenes of eating than those of fighting was because that was closer to the reality.
While hearing the story of Miryang, I was reminded of the images of <Summer in Narita> directed by Director Ogawa Shinsuke, which was played at 9th DMZ International Docu-Film Festival. This film described the first of 7 episodes of a documentary which depicted the struggle against the construction of Narita International Airport which happened in the village of Sanritsuka located in the city of Narita, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Recording the story of framers who encountered the public power for 10 years starting in 1967, Director Ogawa Shinsuke held the camera from the perspective of farmers and faced the violent public power. He recorded the scenes of farmers who had meals together even under the violent demonstration and the resulting arrests. But, even in those scene, people sometimes looks happy.
The daily life of farmers who kept their life even in the site of struggle may have some attractions for the camera. I find out the source of power for struggle in the film rather than the beauty of life in it. The directors holds the camera rather than the agricultural tools and entered into the life, thus becoming a member of them. The camera surpasses the boundary between recorder and activist as the time for shooting gets longer. Director Park also planned a documentary with the topic of denuclearization. As it is said that the film <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2> is one of them, I expected that more would come from him in the future.
“Those who experienced Miryang looks to have changed a lot after the incident.”
What is shared by two persons is that Miryang has greatly affected both of them. Director Park Bae Il said “I have changed a lot in terms of the sensible perspective rather than the emotion and physical perspective”, indicating that his experience and thought in the filed remains in the body in any way and affects himself afterwards. He told me that he became to put more priority on the people than field. It means that though he recognized the wrong system first and then look at the people in that system, now he sees in a way opposite to that. It is because all people living in the community is under the influence of the same system. He started to search on how each person lives on a system with what kind of sense and what kinds of common things are there between the people and the system. Further, he exposed his willingness that he would make more positive interpretation of the field. They even told me that they have sometimes felt frustration over the not-changed reality while making the film based on the reality and that if they do not find any reasons of going to the filed, they may eventually stop shooting the film. It can be said that though before the incident at Miryang, he just looks the camera, now he have to look after himself, showing his deep concerns about himself.
Mr. Kim Woo Chang as an activist told me that he got the answers through the time at Miryang as he personally experienced the field directly rather than through a third media. He happened to come to Miryang while studying for preparation for entrance to a media company and then, became to know the things which could not be acquired from the books, which led him to an array of choices and then to have a lot of questions for himself. The questions naturally led to the study at a graduate school and the interest in the energy policy As he changed his direction of life when he experienced Miryang while studying to work as a reporter, he told me that more thoughts are necessary to check what direction the study would lead him in. I could feel the sense of prudence in his saying.
“The record has its own meaning though it may not change the reality right away.”
People who encountered the incident of Miryang through media only may miss some facts that in the field of struggle, the people participating in the demonstration show good relation between themselves and sometimes were happy in their own space. It can be said to the extent that as they were so busy with having the meals, they had no time to feel the tragedy. As in the case of Sanritsuka case, as there were many political conflicts between the participants due to the political differences, the conflict got severe in the colation for struggle and some parties such as Social Party and Communist Party left the struggle. This kind of conflict among the participants are common. However, at Miryang, the participants did not show any conflicts between them so that they could struggle against the public power for a long time of 10 years.
Director Park says that even though the struggle against the public power may look to have failed, the participants in the field will remember it and it will be meaningful to record the people in the field as images. If the records are accumulated, they would lead the reality to change slowly rather than quickly. At this point, I was reminded of the last scene in <Miryang Arirang – Legend of Miryang 2>again. The scene in which there was a violent voice overlapped with the rough name calling on the background of the people eating the meals while sitting in a circle. I though that the film may be the media for them remembering themselves. I now feel more special feels from the talk of old women participating in the demonstration of “This is just the way we live. When did you shoot it”.