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For the past days, I have been on a Korean movie spree, and this time I’ve chosen to watch, Miracle: Letters to the President. Over the years, I have watched a lot of movies and dramas, and there have been a few that have deeply moved me in a very unusual way. I’m glad to say that I can contently add this movie to my list. If you have been following my blog, you know that I am not quick to endorse movies and dramas unless I feel quite strongly about the project. So with that said, please unless you have, go check out Miracle: Letters to the President.
The movie Miracle Letters to the President is set in the 1980s and revolves around Jung Joon-kyeong (Park Jung-min) who wants to build a train station in the remote North Gyeongsang Province region where he lived. The village is a long walk away and takes at least 2 hours on foot and there is the ever-increasing fear of danger and death lurking around every time the residents walk on the train tracks.
From writing letters to the president to building the train station himself, Joon-kyeong is dead set on bringing the station to life, and it does not stop there. Throughout his journey, he is also helped by his girlfriend, Song Ra-hee (Im Yoon-Ah), his older sister Bo-kyeong (Lee Soo-kyeong), and other villagers.
Reading the synopsis made me think that the movie was going to be quite romantic inclined and primarily focused on Joon-kyeong and Ra-hee’s love. In my opinion, the movie would be focused on their relationship with Ra-hee acting as a motivator and driver for Joon-kyeong to put up the train station in his remote village. While the movie does focus on their relationship in the first half of the movie, it is concentrated on their love story, but that was shifted to the background when the focus transitioned to the family dynamics and issues involving Joon-kyeong, his father, and sister in the second half of the movie. And this shift in focus is why I personally love the movie so much.
I don’t want to oversell things, but I found it fascinating how Ra-hee and Joon-kyeong connected and showed their affection towards each other. And yes, Ra-hee was able to motivate Joon-kyeong to use his imagination, be courageous, and take the initiative to try to realize his goal of building a train station. She instructed him on how to write so that they would be able to write to the President together, and she supported him in other ways too. As the daughter of a Congressman, she used her connections to secure them both places to study in Seoul, which was a crazy opportunity. She presented a variety of different suggestions on how to get the train station built and she did what else she could to support Joon-kyeong. But later we find out, there was more to Joon-kyeong’s decision to stay in his isolated hometown. It was never simple for him to move from there, he had family bonds from his childhood days in that town that he just couldn’t sever.
It was puzzling to me as to what Joon-kyeong’s attachment was towards his hometown while I was watching the movie. I personally thought that as the movie progresses, it would explain what I was thinking which would have made the movie better than what it is now. You see him devising plans to assist his fellow villagers with the train tracks and then you see them all as a community together, helping build the train station. Although it was nice to see, I was still a bit confused as to why Joon-kyeong wouldn’t relocate from his hometown when he had more than a couple of great opportunities to further his education abroad, or even in Seoul. Be it Ra-hee or his teacher, they all supported him knowing how intelligent and brilliant he was, which fueled him to step out of his comfort zone. Yet for some reason, Joon-kyeong didn’t want to leave. And I have to say, I myself was quite puzzled about that too.
But then the second part of the movie changed and revealed to us why Joon-kyeong was so set on constructing the train station in his village, and why he was incapable of leaving the village in the first place. It all had to do with his elder sister Bo-kyeong who, unfortunately passed away when he was still a child after she bravely tried saving him from a train wreck. The two did get away from the train but she succumbed to the bridge. While the two were safe from the train, she came close to the bridge to grab Joon-kyeong’s trophy that he had won from a math competition earlier that day. Now we switch over to the present, and Joon-kyeong is a grown man who is still convinced that his elder sister died because of the accident And all of that trauma, he is unable to get over. The trauma left him speechless, and unable to move on. What was even more painful for Joon was the fact that he was hallucinating his sister and suffering from a mental breakdown. The movie didn’t reveal this astonishing fact until the second half of the movie so it all started to make sense then. It answered my questions of why Bo-kyeong still looked exactly the same 6 years later while Joon-kyeong looked much older. It’s because she never grew up.
She didn’t have the chance to. For Joon-kyeong, Bo-kyeong will always be his elder sister.
A particular scene from the movie comes to mind in which Joon-kyeong spends his birthday with Bo-kyeong and she happily tells him how he is older than her. In terms of age, he has surpassed her, but as far as Joon-Kyeong is concerned, he will always be Bo-Kyeong’s younger sibling. That part tore me apart. And yet, it’s during that part of the movie where Bo-kyeong asked Joon-kyeong how much longer she could remain by his side which isn’t particularly uplifting either. She had thought of leaving him, but she was also waiting for the day that he would be able to let her go. To a world where he can move on to the next stage of his life. For the day that he will be prepared to say goodbye to her, but will continue to miss her every single day. That part and the conversation was heart-wrenching and I felt so much anguish for both the siblings. Joon-kyeong knows that he has to keep moving forward and say goodbye to his sister, but he really can’t. He is far too scared to let her go and misses her too much.
This very scenario made me love the movie even more. I found the wordless internal back-and-forth that Joon-kyeong had toward the village, alongside everything else, to be incredibly emotional. The film did a great job depicting Joon-kyeong’s grief and the reality that looms when one has to cope with a loved one’s death. Losing someone is never easy, as we will soon learn from the sad side of the story reversed on Joon-kyeong’s Father, and everyone goes through the motions differently. Even though, for Joon-kyeong, this process involved imagining an alternate reality where his older sister was alive and building a life with her in his hometown. He gradually started drifting further and further away from reality. The crippling sorrow for Joon-kyeong also stemmed from the shame and self-blame he internalized for his sister’s death. He felt like he bore the burden of her death which, in turn, made it impossible for him to move forward. Therefore, Joon-kyeong’s story is drenched in pain, and beauty at the same time. He misses his sister desperately and is grieving in ways, most painful and paralyzing, dealing with the trauma of his childhood.
Toward the conclusion of the movie, we notice that Joon-kyeong starts to recover from the trauma and grieving process. The beginning of the movie had some scenes showing a very strained father-son relationship between Joon-kyeong and his father, who is played by Lee Sung-min. There were no conversations between them. There were no greetings between them. At one dinner, Dad asked when Joon-kyeong intended to leave town, basically telling him to get his act together and move on with his life. But Joon-kyeong had no plans of doing so, and it was clear from that scene why the two had such a distant bond. Joon-kyeong had different plans than his father, and it appeared that there was no common ground between them. The relationship was impacted by the death of both Bo-Kyeong and Joon-kyeong’s Mother, and the silence and regrets they both had regarding the tragedies kept them from being truthful with one another. So that’s why the two grew apart after so many years.
But everything changed towards the end of the movie when the dad finally uncovered the reason Joon-Kyeong built the train station, and he allowed himself to share his feelings with his son. Dad too bore extreme guilt because he was the conductor of the train that ran over his daughter. The hardest part is that Bo-Kyeong invited Dad to go watch her compete in the math competition that day, which Dad declined to attend in favor of going to work. His loyalty to his job cost him twice in his life, first to his wife and then ultimately to his daughter. And the dad learned his lesson by not repeating the same mistake with Joon-Kyeong. After revealing the truth to his son, the duo were finally able to lift the burden that was weighing on their hearts and truly feel each other’s pain. The movie also came full circle in the sense that the dad did not forget the train station built by his son Joon-Kyeong and when asked whether it was a stop, he replied in the affirmative and picked up his son to a life changing exam that, unbeknownst to him, Joon-Kyeong would place first in.
Joon-kyeong’s tear-jerking moments did not end there. His burning tears were also the result of him knowing he topped the math competition where the only outcome of it meant that he would have to swap his home for an abroad study and a parting with his sister. And then the last part where Joon-Kyeoung actually did that where he was sitting at the train and in the company of Bo-Kyeong where he did all of the things that Bo-Kyeong had wished him to do which was to look at her and smile and add on to that tell her that he has to get off the train. For a while, Joon-kyeong tried to raise the corners of his mouth when he was inside the car that was going to the airport, but his eyes would just not stop letting those tears flow freely. He gave the gentle reminder to Bo-kyeong that he is the one leaving and just like that, to Bo-kyeong, there was no bone left in her body to resist. She was certain that her brother was in a much better position and would be completely fine on his own. Bo-Kyeong will always be in Joon-Kyeong’s heart.
Many elements in the movie were stunning and deep, particularly as it pertains to parental and familial relationships. I often find myself in tears after watching films and dramas that deal with these two themes as it deeply reminds me of my connection with my parents, which is why I enjoy watching them. I have found myself tearing up on more than one occasion, whether it be while watching Go Back Couple, or Record of Youth, and now this movie. In so many ways this film just kept on delivering so phenomenally on all facets. This movie isn’t just the good, the bad and the ugly in sibling love and familial relationships. This film also isn’t just about the broken bond between a father and his son, both of whom want to scream out for help to ease their pain. This movie was also about grief, and the struggles and challenges that come with losing a loved one. This movie was about experiencing the grief of losing others while having the sentiment to sympathize with the difficulty of it all.
This movie is also about pursuing your aspirations and objectives as well as taking charge of your life. It was about progressing in life while at the same time being able to reminisce on the people and events that influenced you. It was about accepting the process of moving forward even in moments where you feel as though you are not ready to take that step. Because the harsh reality is… sometimes, you won’t be ready. There will be times when going out of your comfort zone is the last thing you want to do. But every now and again, you have to. You jump. There is never going to be perfect timing for everything. Sometimes, life is about overcoming the fears that lurk beneath the surface and seizing the chances that are given to you, no matter the risks involved. All of these lessons and messages were put forth in ‘Miracle: Letters To The President.’ And they were put forth beautifully, focusing on the character of Joon-kyeong, while also giving enough screen time to Dad and Bo-kyeong so that they could portray equally powerful roles.
As phrase suggests, a movie is as heavy and impactful as the cast members and that is a skill well executed in the film. In my opinion, Park Jung-min is one of the best actors and I have loved him since ‘Bleak Night’ back in 2011. He once again shines in this movie. What also helps is when you pair up a good actor like Lee Sung-min who just excelled in the role as Dad. He completely killed the role. He was remarkable in the moment when he told Joon-kyeoung how he was completely broken after losing Mom and Bo-kyeong. But there were also softer scenes in the film, like the dinner scene, where Joon-kyeong’s father displayed powerful emotions without saying a word. Even with limited dialogue and long silences, the dinner scene between Joon-kyeong and Dad was definitely remarkable. It was captured by simply using a still camera which added to their unspoken dialogue, and it still conveyed so much.
That scene illustrates perfectly what happens when two phenomenal actors showcase their talents on screen: they perform without verbal cues and convincingly carry the emotional burden of the character during critical moments.
I must also mention child actor Kim Kang-hoon, who played the younger version of Joon-kyeong. This little kid has been everywhere and it’s also funny because he reunited with Lee Sung-min once again in currently airing drama ‘Reborn Rich.’ As it turns out, Kim Kang-hoon is such a talented child and the scene in this movie where he cried so hard after seeing his sister post the incident makes my heart so sad. He, undeniably as always, delivered in such high regards, and I applaud his elementary part in the film because it showed us the aftermath of how his fractured relationship with his father was due to his younger sister’s death.
Shifting our focus to the female performers, Lee Soo-Kyung excelled as the sister and worked hard to ensure that the movie was spectacular. While Joon Kyeong was the protagonist in the movie, I’d say that Bo Kyeong was the motivational element that advanced the movie. In addition, it was a necessity for Lee Soo-Kyung to act as Bo-Kyeong and she did that excellently. She moved the needles and she was effective and and pulled off the role of Bo-Kyeong so well.
Yoon-Ah’s portrayal of Joon-kyeong’s girlfriend Ra-hee kind of fizzled out towards the latter half of the movie when it placed its scope on the family drama. I do not hold the movie against it and, in fact, believe that is exactly where it needed to go. In the latter half, it felt like the film had dropped entirely the romantic subplot between Ra-hee and Joon-kyeong as was clear when the film finally brought her back for the closing scene after a bulk of Joon-kyeong and his family’s story. The movie telegraphed all these emotional family punches and then, at the very end, got around to addressing the status update on Joon-kyeong and Ra-hee’s relationship.
All in all, ‘Miracle: Letters to the President’ sure was a sight to see. I expected the movie’s title to have more significance than what it did. The actual plot was very different than what was summarized. My expectation of the president actually reading the letter sent by Joon-kyeong and agreeing to build a train station was extremely off. The movie was an emotional roller coaster with two subplots, one being Bo-kyeong and Dad and the other reinforcing how powerful dreams and goals can be. Joon-kyeong wanted to build the train station because he knew and understood the suffering that his family, along with countless others, had to endure because of losing loved ones. From this perspective, it was extremely difficult to understand how the movie was going to move forward. Fortunately, I can say that the movie surpassed my expectations and moved me in ways that are hard to describe. I have never felt strongly after watching a movie to the point that it makes me reconsider my position, but ‘Miracle: Letters to the President’ certainly changed me in ways that are truly impressive. If you have time on your hands, I highly recommend watching this movie.
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