[비즈한국] "That son of a b****." A remark heard low but distinctly inside the theater. It was a scene featuring former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon. Perhaps that remark acted as a vent. Before that moment, the whispers had been quiet, but afterwards, intense reactions erupted from time to time. When the movie ended, applause and cheers broke out together. This was the scene at a theater screening 'Election Fraud, Is It God’s Work?'
"Ugh, quit showing up already." This was the scene at a different theater. When the former president appeared repeatedly in the archive footage on screen, a voice seemingly pulled from the gut was heard from one of the seats. Similarly, in several climactic scenes, voices of support and cheers erupted, and applause poured out when the film ended. This was the scene at a theater screening 'Revolution of Light, Protecting Democracy.'
There are more fandoms in movie theaters now. Are these K-pop fans who came to watch concert films? Of course, it is true that K-pop fandoms have held a significant share of the theater audience for several years, but the hot trend in theaters these days is political fandoms. Several documentary films containing political messages were released in April and May alone. Starting with 'The Promise of God’s Protection (Habouman)' released on April 16, films like 'Search and Seizure: The Beginning of Insurrection', 'We Hate the Communist Party', 'Meeting Again, Cho Kuk', and 'Election Fraud, Is It God’s Work?' were released, followed by 'Revolution of Light, Protecting Democracy' on May 30. A notable feature is that the messages are so explicit that one can clearly identify which political camp the film belongs to just by looking at the titles.
The box office results are also not bad. This is because most have lower production costs than commercial films and are low-budget documentaries released over a short period. Usually, in the reality of the domestic market, an audience of 10,000 is the baseline for success for independent art films, and 50,000 is considered a hit. Yet, most of the currently released political documentaries have surpassed 10,000 viewers. As of May 29, 'The Promise of Habouman' neared 20,000, and 'Meeting Again, Cho Kuk' also mobilized nearly 30,000 viewers. What about 'Election Fraud, Is It God’s Work?', which rallied supporters after former President Yoon Suk-yeol watched it in person? It drew 31,911 viewers in 8 days. Notably, 'Search and Seizure: The Beginning of Insurrection' recorded 64,206. This is nearly double the figure for the independent art film 'Jang-son (The Eldest Son)', which made waves last year by winning awards at various film festivals.
The catalyst that made political documentaries a popular "commodity" in theaters was 'The Birth of Korea', released in July last year. Of course, there were popular political documentaries before. These include 'Our President Roh', which ranks first among political documentaries with 1.85 million viewers, as well as several other films about former President Roh Moo-hyun, 'You Are My Destiny (Cho Kuk)', which gathered 330,000 viewers, 'Criminal Conspiracy', which covered the Lee Myung-bak administration's media takeover and drew 260,000, and 'Good Morning President Kim Dae-jung', which recorded over 100,000. However, the political documentaries that gained popularity were generally aligned with the progressive camp. Films from the conservative camp did not perform as well, but 'The Birth of Korea' ignited a fire with group viewings by major ruling party politicians and large church congregants, rising to second place among political documentaries with a staggering 1.17 million viewers. Since then, conservative films have appeared one after another, such as 'Park Chung-hee: The Man Who Dreamed of an Economic Powerhouse' and 'And When the Magnolias Bloom', which tells the story of President Park Chung-hee and his wife.
Another catalyst was former President Yoon Suk-yeol's declaration of emergency martial law. The citizens who watched the night of December 3, 2024, trembled with fear and bewilderment, which became an opportunity to call the people back to the plaza. Soon after, 'First Lady', a controversial documentary film about former President Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, First Lady Kim Keon-hee, was released on December 12, drawing 80,000 viewers and becoming a hot potato. Following suit, the conservative camp released 'Cheer Up, Republic of Korea' on February 27 this year, which gathered over 70,000 viewers. 'Junstone: Year One', covering former New Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, who had declared his candidacy for the presidential election early following the impeachment decision, was also released in March (the production itself was reportedly prepared long before his presidential bid was announced).
However, aside from the heated production fervor and box office performance, not many political films receive good reviews when evaluated solely on their craftsmanship. Of course, since the target is clear, the audience ratings for each film are good. No, they are excessively good. That is to be expected. How can a fan criticize the person they follow? Just as K-pop fans watch concert films to follow the stars they love, fandoms of left and right political camps also go to watch films based on the logic of their supported side. So, there is no way they would give stingy ratings. Watching the audience react in real-time as the movie plays, it feels almost like being at a sing-along screening. Because many are focused on spreading political messages or acting as propaganda rather than cinematic quality, there are not many reviews from critics, either. Therefore, the comment by film critic Kim Kyung-soo on 'Junstone: Year One'—that he "hopes for the end of political fandom documentaries on both sides"—is quite impressive.
Even from the perspective of a moderate who has yet to decide who to vote for in the next presidential election, recent political documentaries have not been impressive. In particular, the quality of 'Election Fraud, Is It God’s Work?', which stirred controversy due to former President Yoon Suk-yeol's "direct observation," was, while expected, at a level that leaves one speechless. Putting aside the lack of logic and evidence, if producer Lee Young-don, who was once a prominent broadcasting PD, put his name on it, shouldn't there at least be a proper narrative flow? I was dumbfounded when ambiguous angles that paid no attention to "composition" dominated the screen, and I couldn't help but chuckle when a typo was plastered on the screen in big letters.
I haven't seen the occult political thriller 'Sinmyung', scheduled for release on June 2, but I have concerns. Although this film, which uses the former president and his wife as motifs, is fiction rather than a documentary, the trailer is filled with surprisingly tacky metaphors rather than sophisticated parodies. Even if it is non-fiction wearing a mask of fiction, since it adopts the occult genre, I feel it should at least guarantee genre-specific entertainment, but it is highly questionable whether it can deliver.
There can be many films that explicitly contain political messages. As they target specific fandoms, they may contain biased perspectives. However, if it stops at people of the same inclination saying, "Aww, our side is so great," that is no different from a form of self-gratification. If they want to attract even moderate viewers, they need to make an effort to show a sense of balance through objective and diverse perspectives. At the very least, since they wear the guise of a film, they should guarantee a certain level of proper craftsmanship and entertainment value. That is likely something even the audience on the same side would want.
Who is the author, Jung Su-jin?
She has worked at various magazines, covering and writing about movies, travel, and popular culture. She does not want to fall behind trends, but has become an old-timer who, while watching the latest dramas, only predicts obvious clichés for the next scene. She is trying to regain her lost edge while drifting through the vast world of OTT, and her current wish is for a bundled OTT subscription plan.