Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary tells the stories of women who had fought on the side of North Korea during the Korean War and had been captured and held for many years in South Korean prisons before being released into South Korean society. These unconverted, long-term communist prisoners married and raised families in South Korea but remain passionate about their cause.

The filmmaker, Jin Yoel Kim, tells the story of these women by following Soonja Park as she attends reunification rallies, meets with a new generation of activists, marches in protest of the war in Iraq, visits North Korea to take part in the Inter-Korean Women’s Reunification Rally, reminisces with her comrades, and tends to her disabled daughter. Park discusses her childhood, how she came to be involved in the anti-Japanese resistance movement, her activities during the Korean War, and her life after being released from prison. Park, and the other women interviewed in the film, speak of rejecting the lives they seemed to have been destined for in favor of a cause that they saw to be a path to freedom and equality. Kim does a fine job of capturing the passion these women warriors hold for communism and Korean reunification. This documentary should be of interest to those with an interest in modern Korean history. It is recommended for viewers from high school through adult and the libraries who serve them.