"Hopeless fight against the fate"

Made in 1961, the movie ‘Aimless bullet’ well depicts the problems that were present post-war period in Korea. All the characters in the movie strive to live a better life, but soon they find out there is no point in trying when there are so many obstacles stopping them. The protagonist of the story, Chul Ho, lives his life morally. He tries to be a good son, husband, father and a brother. To achieve this, Chul Ho does not even treat his toothache and gives his salary right away to his wife. However, even with all his efforts, conflicts continue on after one another. Chul Ho’s brother, Young Ho, got caught stealing money. Chul Ho’s sister, Myoung Sook, became a prostitute to military men. Chul Ho’s wife dies giving birth to his second child. What a devastating life is this to Chul Ho? Chul Ho is truly a bullet that has no target to penetrate. When Chul Ho’s fate was made to be in a mess, why fight for it? It really is a ‘hopeless fight against the fate.’ The movie overall appears to be pessimistic, but we can see the hope is yet to be gone from Myung Sook when she says “Chul Ho, please come back…this baby will learn how to smile too, and will have to smile and we, too, can help him smile, can’t we?” while looking at the baby.

This movie surely focuses on representing the reality of the society after war in 1960s, but majority of the present population in Korea might still understand the movie with ease. There still exists this unspoken struggle within Korean society where everyone strives his or her best to live a better life. However, many will become ‘aimless bullet’ when they realize the countless amounts of pressure on their shoulders. They want to get out of their normal routine life but just do not know where to go. On this thought, a question comes to mind, is ‘Aimless Bullet’ a national movie? Director Yu Hyon Mok produced this movie, not for entertainment, but to raise the issues of reality during post-war era. Therefore, I would answer yes to the above question. I personally think this was a great movie and the reality was well portrayed.