‘In silence’, when justice is flouted by bribery on all fronts

Taking advantage of people who cannot defend themselves or think that they have no rights because they are vulnerable are the order of the day and even more so when it comes to children. Almost every day there is news of children being sexually abused either by a family member or by people who are within the circle of the minor, incredible, but that is the reality not only in Ecuador but worldwide.

And precisely one of these cases is exposed in the South Korean film Silencedwhich is available on Netflix, and stars the actor Gong Yoowho is the recruiter in the squid game, series that was directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, who fulfills this same role in the film.

Director of ‘The Squid Game’ says he was so poor that he would have liked to participate in that competition

Impotence is a word that is not enough to describe what several children with disabilities experienced in a school and that are shown in the film that is based on real events. Dong-hyuk based on the novel The Crucible (2009) from the writer Gong Ji Young to make the tape.

Both in the novel and in the film, the events take place in a school in the fictional city of Mujin, where a teacher arrives, who as the days go by realizes what is happening inside the establishment and decides to help them, but the process cloudy because it will have to face various obstacles such as corruption,

For this fight, the teacher has the intervention of a human rights activist, who is brought to life by the actress Jung Yu Mi. Willing to reach the end of the cases, the teacher and the activist will find themselves with the influence of the power of the accused on all fronts. Through the lawyer, the perpetrators bribe those who can give a testimony that reaffirms guilt.

Real life

In real life, the events occurred in Gwangju Inhwa, a school for students with disabilities, deaf and dumb, founded in 1961. The abuses would have occurred between 2000 and 2003 to nine students, by six teachers, including the principal. Nine victims reported the cases, although it is believed that there were more. In 2005, a teacher disclosed the case to Human Rights, then was fired. The institution was located in the South Korean city of Gwangju.

The insistence that the victims be heard took several months. The authorities had the complainants from one side to another, during that time one of the former students spoke on a television channel and the cases became media coverage. Justice intervened, however the sentences were not in accordance with the crimes, some of the teachers even gave them probation and reinstated them as teachers in the institution.

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Silent was released in September 2011 in South Korean theaters, becoming a success at the box office, it attracted 4.7 million viewers, but beyond that, two months after the premiere of the tape, the school was closed for good. The cases were again reopened for investigation. And again the crimes shook South Korean society.

Among those who reacted was Lee Myung-bak, who was the president of South Korea between 2008 and 2013. Also, Jang Jung-hee, a judge of the Gwangju High Court. “The court could not sentence them to harsh punishments because the victims dropped the charges against the perpetrators,” Jung-hee said.

Director of ‘The Squid Game’ says he was so poor that he would have liked to participate in that competition

In 2010, a law was revised that prohibited a child sexual abuser from being prosecuted if there was no complaint made by the victim. Even mild laws were repealed in cases of sexual abuse of children and minors with disabilities.

the filmmaker Hwang Dong-hyuk He has worked in productions, in which his base has been the problems that hit society. “I started making movies because I was so frustrated by all these unresolved social issues that I saw. You can’t change society with just one movie, but looking at the repercussions of the release of this one (Silent), we can think about the power that a film has in terms of positively affecting society,” said the filmmaker.

On Netflix the film premiered in November 2021. (YO)