In a home in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, a 6-year-old child, who had developed an intellectual disability due to sustained abuse by her mother, was found dead of starvation after being left alone when his mother did not return home for ten days. Notices about unpaid electricity bills, overdue for four months, and welfare service notices were posted on the door.
The 6-year-old — bound by chains her mother tied, who had gone on a trip with her young lover, tied to her — waited in vain for her for two weeks. Despite hunger, she could not cry out for help and eventually succumbed.
This tragic story is depicted in the K-movie The Child Who Doesn’t Cry, based on a true child abuse case from 2022. The film begins with Jung Min, a man from apartment 301, disturbed by constant noises and the sound of footsteps from apartment 302, discovers a young girl left alone in the apartment.
Jung Min, concerned about the woman who hadn’t returned for ten days and the possibility of a child trapped alone in the apartment, tries to deny his suspicions, avoiding the responsibility that an adult should bear.
Two weeks later, he meets an elderly woman lingering outside unit 302, and learns that her granddaughter lives there. Only then does Jung Min finally break down the tightly locked door covered in warning notices, discovering the young girl inside, her body cold and lifeless.
Jung Min watches, consumed by anger, the grandmother cradling her starving granddaughter, chained around the waist, and crying out in agony.
As the grandmother’s tears fall, the child’s breath begins to faintly return, and thus, like a miracle, the seed does not die but is revived.
However, when the mother arrives with the police at the hospital to take her granddaughter, the grandmother has no choice but to let her go. With her back against the wall, she makes one last, desperate choice.
This work, portraying the story of a grandmother who makes a tremendous sacrifice to save her granddaughter from dying due to abuse, faced over a year in limbo, unable to be completed. Yet, with the support and interest of ArtContinue, an IT auction company specializing in art, the film has finally found a way to reach the world.
The K-movie, The Child Who Doesn’t Cry, which won the Best Film award at the Asian Film Festival and was selected for official screenings at the Yubari International Film Festival and Hanoi International Film Festival, is scheduled for domestic release next February.
The cast includes Choi Dae Chul, Lee Kan Hee, Lee Seul Ah, Park Jung Hak, and Kim Jun Hyun, with child actress Park Eun Byul portraying Soo Ah, a child enduring abuse. Director Lee Hyuk Jong took on the roles of screenwriter, director, and producer for this film.
ArtContinue remarked, “This work portrays the tremendous love of a grandmother who sacrifices herself to save her granddaughter and delivers a shocking twist. It will touch the hearts of the audience who visit the theater, and deeply move and resonate with them.”
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