“Roh Moo-hyun, who shook the whole country in 2002, from being the last candidate with 2% approval rating to becoming the first presidential candidate and becoming the people’s president, that miraculous reversal drama… .”
The documentary film ‘This is Roh Moo-hyun’ was introduced to the public that way. There was also an atmosphere of dubiousness about how much the audience would respond to a movie about politicians. Due to the nature of documentary films, it is difficult to expect the same audience mobilization as commercial films.
However, the movie ‘I am Roh Moo-hyun’ surprised the film industry from the first day of its release on May 25, 2017. According to the integrated computer network for movie theater admissions, it created a sensation by recording a cumulative audience of 86,144 on the first day of its release. It was the second highest-grossing film at the time.
Still cut from the movie ‘I’m Roh Moo-hyun’
Eventually, a new history of documentary films was written. On June 3, 2017, 10 days after its release, the movie ‘I am Roh Moo-hyun’ recorded a cumulative number of viewers of 1,053,177, exceeding 1 million. Among the documentary films, the film that reached 1 million viewers in the shortest period was a work that shed light on the life of politician Roh Moo-hyun.
Among the documentary films, the main box-office hit ‘Wonangsori’, ‘My love, don’t cross that river’ and ‘This is Roh Moo-hyun’ were different in that they were films about politicians who could not be free from the confrontation between ideologies and political factions.
It is something to be wary of using only the number of viewers as a criterion for evaluating a work, but in terms of box office success, the movie ‘This is Roh Moo-hyun’ also set a record. The cumulative number of viewers was 1,854,867.
It seems like a small audience considering the past years of living in the era of 10 million Korean films, but compared to the recent movie report card, the story is different. Among Korean films released this year, the highest box office hit has yet to surpass the movie ‘This is Roh Moo-hyun’ in terms of cumulative number of viewers.
The movie ‘I’m Roh Moo-hyun’ set a box office record six years ago, but it left a great record.
Photo = still cut from the movie Roh Moo-hyun
What led the audience to the movie ‘I am Roh Moo-hyun’? This is related to the life of politician Roh Moo-hyun and the political situation at the time of 2017.
Politician Roh Moo-hyun passed away on May 23, 2009. His sudden death shocked the nation. Currently, several politicians belonging to the Minjoo Party of Korea have a sense of debt related to the death of politician Roh Moo-hyun on that day as one axis of political power. It means that he is doing politics to inherit the spirit of Roh Moo-hyun.
To them, May, especially the 23rd, is a cold day. Every year, when May 23 approaches, the time of remembrance continues in Bongha Village in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do. Politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties visit the site and pay their respects at the tomb of former President Roh Moo-hyun. It’s been 14 years since the incident happened that day, but the memories of pain don’t go away easily.
The movie ‘I am Roh Moo-hyun스포츠토토‘ was released in 2017, 8 years after politician Moo-hyun Roh ended his life. The president of the Republic of Korea was Lee Myung-bak, Park Geun-hye, and then Moon Jae-in. In particular, on May 25, 2017, when the movie ‘I am Roh Moo-hyun’ was released, it was right after Moon Jae-in, candidate of the Democratic Party, was elected president.
The joy of winning the presidential election and the sense of relief that politician Roh Moo-hyun was relieved may have been the basis for the box office success of the movie ‘I am Roh Moo-hyun’. At that time, President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating for running state affairs exceeded 80%, and it was a time when the warm wind continued.
Preparation sketch for the 11th anniversary of the death of President Roh Moo-hyun
With Moon Jae-in, a friend of Roh Moo-hyun, taking over as president, the movie ‘I’m Roh Moo-hyun’ expanded the foundation of box office success by riding on the warm winds of supporters.
The influence of the political environment cannot be ignored, but that was not the only background of box office success. The dramatic elements of the human Roh Moo-hyun’s life and political story itself are also indispensable for the box office success. In fact, the process of a person who was in the bottom ranks in the presidential race rising his approval rating vertically and being elected president in just one year is a drama in itself.
The movie ‘This is Roh Moo-hyun’ may have been a movie that had no choice but to be a box office hit from the beginning regardless of the completion of the work. Just as there are no coincidences in politics, there are no coincidences in the public’s choice of movies. This is a time to reflect on what moved the public’s heart and made them go to the cinema.
The 23rd of May is coming again. Around Bongha Village, yellow ribbons and pinwheels are expected to fly in memory of a politician who left.