| Abstract |
In a remote fishing village, life is simple and tranquil. Dance and song open the film as the fishermen sing of their good harvest. Their cherished traditions keep the call of modern Seoul at bay, but not for In-soon, the daughter of fisherman Chun-san. She wants to join a friend in Seoul (Ok-boon, an independent woman) to make money and go to school. When her father is lost at sea, the debt he owes to a village lender falls upon In-soon, as her bereaved mother takes more cash from the lender who wants the daughter as his concubine. However, the lender's son, Cheol-soo, woos her into going with him to Seoul where he says she can find a job. Instead, he keeps her for himself and takes her purity. In-soon's friend Ok-boon knows Cheol-soo's ways and helps In-soon to escape. This sets In-soon on a course that threatens to destroy her life. Fisherman's Fire is one of the films from the late Japanese colonial period that the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) obtained through the China Film Archive (CFA) in 2004. Along with Homeless Angel (Jib-eobsneun cheonsa), Story of Sim-chung (Sim Cheongjeon), and Military Train (Gun-yong-yeolcha), it is one of just four films from the 1930s whose existence in Korea has been verified. |
