It all started with Korean culture day, and the innocent idea of watching a Korean movie as a treat. I am alone on the floor with my 21 girls for 3/5 days a week, so Maggie, my amazing Korean co-worker, sat down to find us a movie for that evening. We thought to ourselves, let's find a movie that isn't so romance-centred! Let's find something with better messaging! So Maggie came across this Korean movie called Maeumi about a kid and a dog. She hadn't seen it, but it looked great. Not about boys, but doggies and family! The best!
Doesn't it look lovely?!
Even the trailer was totally heartwarming.
So we tell the girls we're going to watch something Korean, and they are AMPED. I turn it on.
A really, really important thing to remember about this story is that I do not speak Korean.
It starts and I decide to watch for fun. Initially, it was a wonderful film.
- There is a super, super cute kid with a tiny adorable little white lab puppy
- The dog's name is Maeumi
- She loves the dog and her older brother really loves her
- They do all kinds of things together and the girl grows and the lil puppy grows and everyone is really happy
This movie also had super, super intense orchestra music throughout.
Then, things take a HORRIBLE turn.
- The kids are playing on sleds on the ice having a lovely time until Maeumi falls through
- The little girl runs out to save her beloved puppy
- She falls through the ice
- SHE DIES.
- The brother is destroyed
- Maeumi lives but is also very sad
It was only 10 minutes in at this point.
I am surprised to find myself on the verge of tears.
What kind of movie is this?????? Doesn't she get saved? Nope. She dies. My girls are pretty upset, obviously. And things just spiral from there. Following her death:
- The brother hates Maeumi for killing his sister
- He leaves the dog tried up at the train tracks because he hates him and gets on the train without him. The dog gets free and runs along the train, but he can't keep up. It's very sad
- The dog walks aimlessly along the tracks forever. He carries a bowl he found at the dump so that people will give him water but he's not having much luck
- The dog sees the boy from afar but loses him
- The pound catches him. We all think it's over for Maeumi
- At the last second the boy sees Maeumi, hesitates, and then tells the pound people to let him keep the dog. We breathe a sigh of relief
- BUT, despite the reunion, the boy once again manages to lose Maeumi. The dog is apparently too much of a sad reminder of his lost sister
The girls, throughout all the scenes, gasp in horror, and cry out in sadness at the misfortune of Maeumi and this boy. The tears start to fall. I wasn't entirely sure of the plot (remember guys, no Korean), but the brother appears to now be homeless.
I won't even give a play by play. But suffice it to say, it only got worse from there. Just when Maeumi finally wins over the boy and they share moments of happiness and friendship, their fates continue to spiral into deep deep misfortune and suffering. The rest of the film included:
- Maeumi getting violent training to become a guard dog
- The dog and boy being beaten into bloody messes by a mean mean man
- The dog and boy almost starving on the streets (Maeumi at one point puts a newpaper on the boy to keep him warm, which, 1- great dog acting and 2- WOW so sad)
- The dog and boy ending up in a dog fighting ring and Maeumi has to fight a terrifying German Shepherd who is as mean as the mean mean man who owns him
- Maeumi fights to the death for the boy not once but TWICE and almost doesn't make it
- The boy finds his mother??? I think??? But she doesn't want to reunite or something????? It looked stressful
- Maeumi is blind and sick but the boy can't afford the vet bills so the poor lil beb just gets worse
- The boy is taken in a van and almost killed by the mean mean man, but Maeumi chases the van and finds the boy eventually and fights the mean mean man and the police come and everyone is rescued
- At the end of the movie, Maeumi dies in the boy's arms right before the reunion with the mom, BUT NOT BEFORE THE FILM PANS TO MAEUMI AND THE LITTLE SISTER BEING REUNITED (in heaven?) AS PINK PETALS FALL FROM THE SKY AND THE DOG AND GIRL RUN OFF TOGETHER HAPPILY AND LEAVE THE BOY BEHIND AND THE FILM ENDS WITH A BLACK SCREEN AND THE LITTLE GIRL'S VOICE LAUGHING AS SHE CALLS MAEUMI.
The credits rolled and the girls were SOBBING.
Like, SOBBING.
And here I am, a 25 year old woman WHO DOESN'T EVEN SPEAK KOREAN and I am barely keeping it together.
It. Was. Tragic. From beginning to end.
And maybe even mildly traumatizing.
A truly heart-wrenching tale with barely even a happy ending.
And there I was with 21 girls balling their friggin eyes out.
Maggie showed up, she wasn't even working, and was like WHAAAAT HAPPENEDDDDD and I was like, MAGGIE, MAEUMI IS DEADDDD!
And.
To make matters even worse, as I tried to soothe these WAILING girls (like, just sitting there, crying their eyes out and hugging each other), I find out that it was a TRUE STORY, so I can't even say that it was just a movie.
It took us probably 20-30 minutes to get them to all calm down. On the plus side, they were all asleep much earlier than usual because of all the emotional exhaustion, but ohhhhh myyyy GOD what a ridiculous time.
The next morning everything was back to normal and no long-term damage seemed to have been afflicted. There were, however, some very puffy eyes that day.
Who would have known?! Like, guys. Just watch the trailer.
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