Ode To My Father

The film Ode to My Father depicts the history of South Korea from the 1950s
upto the present and it is shown through the life of an ordinary man who lived through it
all. Duk-soon, the main character in the movie, went through the Hungnam Evacuation,
where civilians were evacuated from Hungnam to Busan by the US Navy during the
Korean War. He became one of the first dispatch workers in Korea to fly to Germany to
be a coal miner where he met his wife Youngja. He then becomes part of the Vietnam
War to also earn money.

Duk-soon potrayed the life that Koreans had to go through during the 1950s upto
the present and I think that the life he lived is very remarkable. I, personally, saw
Duk-soon in many of my countrymen who also went through different wars including
Korean war and Vietnam war. They were people who had to face and fight wars that
they did not want to but had to just to be able to earn and survive.

A part of the film that struck me the most was when Duk-soon sent a letter to his
wife, Youngja, saying how he is glad that it was them who had to experience the wars
and misfortune events and not their children. This really shows his love for his family
especially his children. This scene shows the character of someone who is ready to
sacrifice his life for the people he loves, from going to a different country to mine coal to
going to a warzone to earn extra for a sibling’s wedding.