Our new semester just began again with the warm spring. Everyone will have different plans and resolutions for this new semester. The Sungkyun Times (SKT) sincerely wishes this spring to be different from last spring, which was definite chaos due to the pandemic. Let’s watch a healing movie, Miracle: Letters to the President, hoping our wishes all come true.
Dreams Come True, Miracle
Introduction of Miracle
Miracle: Letters to the President is a retro-style healing movie with the background of the 1980s. Since it has a comfortable mood, everyone can enjoy and empathize with it. This movie was released on September 15th, 2021, attracting a 710,000 audience in total. The movie title, Miracle, contains two different meanings: Kijeok, the Korean word for “miracle”, means both a surprising or welcoming event and the sound of a train horn. This movie first received attention because the movie director Lee Jang-hoon is famous for his other film, Be with you , a famous Korean remake movie of a Japanese film. The main actors and actresses of Miracle are Park Jeong-min, Lim Yoon-a, Lee Sung-min, and Lee Soo-kyung, who all have great filmographies.
Summary (*Spoiler Alert)
The movie starts with the male main character, Jun-kyung’s (Park Jeong-min) childhood story. He lived in a rural village with his older sister Bo-kyung (Lee Soo-kyung) and father (Lee Sung-min), an engine driver. In his village, there were no train stations and sidewalks but only railroads, so people had to solely depend on the vibrations along the railroad to pass through the underpass. After going through the underpass, there was a bridge with only one railroad, and this was the most dangerous place to cross because they could not avoid the trains, and so people died there. One day, Jun-kyung was on the way home with Bo-kyung after getting the first place trophy. That day, they crossed the bridge with villagers. While walking on the railroad, they heard the train horn and panicked. They ran toward a small space where they protected themselves in the middle of the bridge. However, Jun-kyung lost his trophy, which fell into the lake under the bridge. Then, the scene changes to the appearance of a high school student, Jun-kyung. He wishes to build a train station in his village and sends more than 40 Teaching People How to Cross the Railroad Carefully letters to the president, but there is no reply. At the same time, one of his classmates, Ra-hee (Lim Yoon-a), notices Jun-kyung’s smartness and starts to help his plans. Jun-kyung makes a temporary station with villagers and hopes the trains stop there. However, his father, an engine driver, follows the original policy and does not stop at the temporary station. As a result, Junkyungis discouraged and blames himself for persuading the local people to build the station. After looking at his situation and how depressed he is, his father stops by the temporary station and starts to support his dream and career. Lastly, Junkyungmeets Ra-hee again and makes a happy ending with her.
Points to Know Before Watching
Background Motivated by a Real Story
The temporary station that Jun-kyung and the villagers built together is based on a real story in Korea. Yangwon station, a real place in Bonghwa that was temporarily built on April 1st, 1988, is the motivation to the station in this movie. Even though the story in the movie, including the characters’ relationship, is all fiction, the story of the local people buildingthe temporary station together for their safety is based on a true story. Therefore, this makes the movie lively and helps the audience to sympathize with the story.
Roles of Retro-Style Items
Since the movie background is set in the late 1980s, diverse items and songs that were popular at that time allowed the audience to feel nostalgic. In the movie, a mascot of 1988 Seoul Olympics, Hodori, a cassette tape, a monochrome television, a red mailbox, a small game machine in front of a stationery store, and a paper map appeared; they are the rare items that modern people cannot find easily. Moreover, the movie played some music that was popular in the late 1980s, which made the audience become more immersed in the emotion. For example, the music played at the ending scene is called “Reality,” a well-known soundtrack of La Boum, a French romantic comedy film released in 1980. Like this, old items and music of the movie make adults retrace their memories, and children experience new ideas and images.
Memorable Intonation of Local Dialect
The lines in this movie are all composed of local dialects, which brings uniqueness and freshness. Since the dialects used in the movie are not well-known dialects, many Koreans felt unfamiliar with a unique accent; however, this point made the movie more interesting. The local dialects played a big role in vitalizing the mood and making the movie sound funnier. For non-Korean speakers, the lines based on local dialects might sound like a song since they have high and low accents. Therefore, the usage of local dialects allows everyone to enjoy the movie since people can feel the touching and funny emotions while watching it.
Even though the warm spring has come, many Kingos might be worried about various things as a new semester begins. Why don’t you stop hesitating and wish for a miracle? By watching Miracle: Letters to the President, the SKT hopes Kingos can relieve their anxiety and fill their lives with positive energy.