For much of the 20th century, a rabid anti-communism formed the most important ideological pillar of South Korea’s government. Bolstered by U.S. policy and by the military threat posed by its neighbor to the north, this anti-communism spread to affect all layers of Korea’s politics and culture. For filmmakers, this resulted in severe pressure to depict North Koreans and communist sympathizers as unabashedly evil. For South Korean citizens who promoted the communist cause, this resulted in long sentences in jail under the nation’s oppressive National Security Law.
The Road Taken depicts the true story of Kim Sun-myung, a man who was arrested in 1951 for siding with the North during the Korean War. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he spent the coming decades being transferred from one prison to the next, together with other communist sympathizers. The film follows Kim’s life from the 1970s, when an unexpected thaw in relations between North and South led to hopes of reunification, up until the 1990s when Kim was recognized by Amnesty International as the longest-serving political prisoner on earth.
For much of his time in jail, Kim faced a choice (the film’s original Korean title translates as “The Choice”). Prisoners who agreed to sign a renunciation of their communist beliefs would be set free immediately. Those who refused would be beaten or locked in isolation, forced to continue serving their sentences. Apart from depicting the moving story of a man who suffered for his beliefs, The Road Taken considers the meaning of this choice, and how our convictions shape who we are.
Presented in a straightforward, some would say old-fashioned style, The Road Taken is an overlooked work of conviction and passion that could never have been made under Korea’s past governments.
Darcy Paquet