The way home (korean film)

The Way Home, is the heartwarming story of a city born and bred boy, going to live with his grandmother in the rural area of Korea. The movie at first portrays the lack of love and understanding by the grandson towards the grandmother, which at the end evolves to him loving and missing the grandmother greatly. In the movie, their differences in lifestyles quickly play themselves out, emphasising the stark difference between the two generations. The boy, Sang-woo, is shown to be rude and disrespectful, and often throws tantrums over the smallest of issues.

The grandmother, who lives alone, does not speak a word throughout the movie. Her lack of emotion and inexpressive personality is perhaps what makes this movie so sad. It posits her as the helpless, lonely and disabled one, with no voice or will to even defend herself or get angry at her grandson, which makes the viewer sympathise with her. The contrast between this aspect of her persona is at complete odds with her grandson’s active, lively, and loud personality. This is probably the intended effect of the producers. We see the grandmother going out of her way to make her grandson happy, and his unappreciative rejection of her efforts. It reminds us of how the younger generation tend to be to involved in their own needs and wants, and neglect the older generations in pursuit of our own selfish motives. I feel however, that this movie only depicts some types of grandchildren and some types of grandparents. It may be all too easy to assume the younger generations as the selfish and self-involved party, and the older generation as the victimised and helpless one. This movie should not be too overly championed as the truth of how intergenerational contact occurs. Furthermore, the differences between the two characters is made wider due to their living in totally opposite landscapes, one in the city, while the other in the village. Also, the lack of contact throughout their lives should also be considered when