Okja Film Difficulty Ranking: 1
At last, a film on Film Root that you can watch with a large popcorn and coke. It’s just like the Hollywood blockbusters you are familiar with and you can watch it on Netflix! It has a recognizable cast, action, clear demarcations between good and evil, and drama. You’ll also get Film Root points for watching this, as it is made by Korean Bong Joon-ho and features a bit of Korean! So have a day off from the art-house and slow films usually on here and enjoy!
Here’s a teaser trailer (no spoilers this time)
Why Watch Okja?
- It’s a Hollywood film, it’s mostly in English, and it’s on Netflix! It’s an easy way for you to say you’ve watched an international film!
- To see more from Bong Joon-ho, the great Korean director behind The Host and Snowpiercer
- Learn about the brutal side of the food industry (to learn even more check out Food Inc)
- If you like cute pigs!
Breakdown
You’ll see the high heeled Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) open the film with a swanky presentation that is one part Steve Jobs and two parts Pop Idol. She introduces Mirando (a rip on the real life Monsanto) and their latest innovation that will solve world hunger: a Super Pig.
For the Pop Idol twist, Lucy Mirando introduces a worldwide competition. She will send a bunch of Super Pigs to the best farmers from around the world and see who can raise the best Super Pig.
Sure enough, one of these Super Pigs is sent to Korea. As next we follow Mija, the young farm girl who takes care of Okja.
From the scenes with Okja and Mija, the director makes it clear that Okja is more than just a piece of meat. Okja helps Mija catch fish and harvest fruit and even saves Mija’s life in one of the opening scenes. These early scenes with Mija and Okja establish that Okja is a sentient and intelligent being.
However, Mirando, like the real life Monsanto and any good capitalist business is all about profit margins. Despite the best PR attempts of Lucy to hide her company’s lack of responsibility, it is obvious to us that they are bad!
Conclusion
Okja brings the ugly corporate controlled food industry to Hollywood with style! It has everything you want if you’re used to Hollywood blockbusters and you can watch it at home on Netflix!
Favourite quotes from the film (the first is also a personal goal of mine):
“Learn a new language – it opens doors!”
“Translations are sacred”
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