Article: Top 10 Life Lessons Korean Movies Taught Us

Everyone has difficulty and has the lowest points in their life when life seems to come to an end. These ten movies portray characters who hit the most melancholic point and eventually, soar on top of and on the far side. These characters, that aren't afraid to tackle social norms and overcome challenges, are guaranteed to inspire you with touching nonetheless sensible life lessons - battling some difficulties in life? Check out these ten motivational Korean movies to find some answers to your problems!

1. Marathon (2005)

This movie is inspired by a true story of a marathon runner who was autistic named Bae Hyeong-Jin. His mother, Park Mi-gyeong, said in one of the interviews that she did not want people to treat his son as someone who could not do anything. So, when he was ten years old, she taught him every kind of sport, like running, swimming, and hiking. After years of tough grind, hustling, and challenges, Hyeong-Jin won the 2001 Chuncheon Marathon in the time limit of 2 hours, 57 minutes, and 7 seconds.

The role of Hyeong-Jin is played by Cho Seung-woo (Cho-Won) in the movie which was around 20 years, lives with his mother Kyung-Sook and younger brother. Observing that Cho-Won has a talent for running, Kyung-Sook hired a trainer for him.

This movie raises awareness about autism and teaches us that disability is just an excuse; if you have a will, there is a way.

 

2. Miracle In Cell No. 7 (2013)

This movie requires you to get ready with many tissues because it is too emotional. This motivational movie tells us what happened after Sean Penn in “I Am Sam (2001)” was wrongly accused of murder. The film revolves around Lee Yong-Gu (Ryu Seung-Ryong), a mentally challenged person with the brain of a six-year-old kid. But destiny had other disastrous plans, he was accused of molestation and murder. When he was in prison, he made many criminal friends who were impressed by his kind and honest nature, so they helped him see his daughter.

The movie was a huge success, and it taught us that we should always be kind and helpful to others because it is what counts.

 

3. Little Forest (2018)

If you want a movie without mind games or villains, then Little Forest is your shot. This movie is directed by Yim-Soon-Rye and is based on a manga series with the same name. The story is about Song Hye-Won (Kim Tae-Ri), who came back to her childhood home, in a village after she failed the qualification test to become a teacher. Back in her home, she started spending time with her childhood friends and finding purpose in her life.

This movie gives a simple lesson about life. If some plan did not work out, it means another fantastic project is waiting for you. And you have to take a break, reflect on yourself and find that plan.

 

4. The Sound Of A Flower (2015)

If you want to watch a movie breaking any superstition or stereotypes, then this one is for you. It is a period drama based on the life of Jin Chae-Seon. She was the first female singer during the Joseon dynasty who sang pansori. Pansori is Korean musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer. Chae-Seon has loved pansor performance since childhood, but because she was female, she was not allowed to learn or perform in public. After many difficulties, she found a teacher for herself to train her for the national pansori contest. But no one has to find out that she is a female otherwise, they both will be executed.

Bae Suzy plays the role of Chae-Seon, who practiced pansori for a year to prepare for the position in real life.

 

5. Harmony (2010)

Hong Jeong-Hye (Kim Yunjin) is sentenced to prison for ten years for killing her abusive husband. She was pregnant at her arrest, so she gave birth to a baby boy in prison. But she has to give up his son to an adoption agency because of the law. The prison chief was a lovely lady, and she offered Jeong-Hye to spend a day with his son if she formed a prison musical choir group. This movie is all about if Jeong-Hye will succeed in this task or not? This is a woman empowering movie which was a hit at that time.

 

6. Train To Busan 

This movie was released in 2016 in which there is a divorced, workaholic father, Seok Woo (Gong Yoo), who is taking his daughter Su An to meet his mother on her birthday. As they hop on the train from Seoul to Busan, their happy family trip turns into a horrific journey. This all happened when a hungry zombie attacked a passenger, and suddenly, the train was filled with flesh-eating zombies.

The movie portrays how panic brings out the worst in people and how essential is teamwork in a time of crisis.

 

7. His Last Gift (2008)

This story revolves around Tae-Joo (Shin Hyun-Joon), who is a murderer and serving a life sentence in prison. He has a best friend, Yeong-woo, who has a daughter Se-hee who is suffering from a disease and urgently needed a liver transplant. Tae-Joo was given a temporary release to help Se-Hee. He later discovered that the mother of Se-Hee was his ex-wife and that Se-Hee was his biological daughter. After knowing this, he became determined to save her life.

 

8. Punch (2011)

This movie was based on the novel Wandeuk by Kim Ryeo-Ryeong. It tells us about a high school student Do Wan-Deuk (Yoo Ah-in), who lives with his father, Jeong-Bok (Park Su-Yeong), and uncle Min-Gu (Kim Young-Jae). His teacher Lee Dong-Ju (Kim Yoon-Seok), lives on the rooftop as his neighbor. The movie revolves around a teacher and student relationship between Wan-deuk and Dong-Ju and how the teacher inspires him to be a good person.

 

9. The Himalayas (2015)

This movie circles around a mountaineer Um Hong-Gil who was the first person to climb the 14 highest points on Earth, and how he inspires two fellow climbers, Park Moo-taek (Jung Woo) and Park Jeong-Bok (Kim In-kwon). When they were climbing Mt. Kangchenjunga, Hong-Gil saved their lives and refused to climb any more mountains. But when a new adventure project comes up, they both were recruited into the team again, to which Hong-Gil refused, but they would not give up. So, he had no choice but to accept them, and that’s how they became good friends. Later due to his injury Hong-Gil is not allowed to climb mountains. This is the scene where Moo-Taek decided to form a new team with the help of techniques taught by Hong-Gil. But while climbing Mount Everest, Moo-Taek died. The movie goes on as how Hong-Gil and his old crew went on to find the body of Moo-Taek.

This movie is inspired by actual events that how Hong-Gil, instead of injury, went ahead to find the body of his friend and how Moo-Taek did not give up.

 

10. A Barefoot Dream (2010)

A Barefoot Dream is inspired by the actual events in the life of Kim Shin-Hwan, who is a retired Korean footballer who goes to East Timor to teach football to young people; after that his business fails. In the movie, the main character Kim Won-Kang (Park Hee-soon), whose life has a lot of ups and downs so, he migrates to East Timor, thinking his life will change there. One day he noticed many children were walking, running, and playing barefoot, so he decided to open a shop selling football shoes, but none of his shoes were sold because the children there were poor and could not afford these things. So, he started teaching them football and decided to compete with them at the International Youth Football Championship in Japan.