"Spirits' Homecoming" 1943: Where did those girls go?

Their average age was 16. These girls should have been at home eating their mother's home cooked food and playing with their friends but where have they gone?

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The premiere of the movie "Spirits' Homecoming" was held in Megabox Dongdaemun on the 4th and the atmosphere was like no other. Reporters who are discreet with their emotions were crying and so was everyone else. The story of those girls in 1943, who have become old grandmothers or are not in this world anymore, made everyone solemn.

"Spirits' Homecoming" is a movie made by Jo Jeong-rae in 2002 based on the stories of comfort women and especially the drawing of 'the burning girls'. The release of "Spirits' Homecoming" took 14 years to come into light so it's welcoming news to the staff and cast as well as the investors.

14-year-old Jeong-min (Kang Ha-na) was taken by Japanese soldiers and couldn't go back home. She was kidnapped and became a comfort victim. She was at the prettiest age of her life but Jeong-min and other girls her age had to become victims to the beastly Japanese soldiers.

The place was hell. Japanese soldiers lined up for their turn with the comfort women and if they got sick, the women were abandoned. They were nothing but 'things' to the Japanese soldiers and lived miserable lives. All that Jeong-min could do was scream so loud in hopes her parents far away would hear her. If only she could be heard in her hometown.

"いらっしゃいませ.(Welcome)"

Jeong-min used to scream at the Japanese soldiers but as time passed she gave in and greeted them. The sadness of a greeting that should be welcoming is something no one felt before watching this movie.

"Spirits' Homecoming" connects the years 1943 and 1991 with a girl named Eun-kyeong (Choi Ri) who became a shawoman. She is the link between the past and the present and she embraces 200,000 comfort women before she sends them home. Eun-kyeong is about the same age as Jeong-min in 1943 and maximizes the heart-trend.

The reason the director sets his movie in 1943 and 1991 is because that is the time the late comfort woman Kim Hak-soon made her first statement about the lives of the poor women. She had shouted to her interviewer, "How can someone admit that they were a comfort victim unless they are crazy? I am that crazy woman!"

"Spirits' Homecoming" OST "Go On" sounds like a tribute to the 200,000 comfort women. At the ending credit, the 70,000 supporters' names go up and the drawing 'The Burning Girls' drawn by victim Kang Il-chul during her psychiatric treatment bring about fear to the audience. This movie shouldn't be ignored and it's coming on the 24th of February.