Okja wasn't a moive that I thought would turn into one of my favorites of all time. It was one of those nights I just wanted something in the background when I was doing homework. It is was in the recently realesed in my netflix catogary so I thought why not. It started playing and it was in another language and I istantly eye rolled. To be honest I have never watched a moive in a different language before and I wasnt really sure if I wanted to start, but I am glad I did. This movie made me laugh, scream, and cry.
We are introuduced to Lucy Miranda(Tilda Swinton) at the start of the film who turns out to be the “villain”. She is introducing her idea of this super pig that is breaded special so that it is huge and will be able to produce a great amount of food. She is going to ship out 26 of these pigs to the best farmers around the world to raise, and then after 10 years crown the biggest/best pig. She is sure that her idea will fix the problem of world hunger. We are then introduced to the family who is raising Okja(one of the pigs) that consist of Mija(Seo-Hyeon Ahn) a young girl who lives in the countryside in South Korea with her grandfather. At first this movie gave me dark disney vibes but after watching it I had a completely different mindset. This film is very mature and tackles a lot of environmental/food industry issues well telling a great story.
After Lucy explains her marvelous idea to end the problem of worl hunger we are brought to the countryside of South Korea where Mija and Okja are fishing for food. You can quickly tell that two have a special bound by watching them do what looks like a daily routine.
The scene that really made me catch an intrest in this movie was when they were waking back on this very sketch mountain. Mija starts to fall down this steep mountain and Okja throws down a rope to catch her, that she is holding with her teeth. The rope is slipping for her teeth so she quickly throws herself off the cliff saving Mija.
From this we are able to see the bound between the two is way more then a friendship. You are emtionally invested in the twos relationship after seeing Ojka risk hie life for Mija. I think what makes this movie so good is the emtional scenes like this throughout the film. With this movie having an animated character, Okja, I think it is easy for the film to come of as kiddish, which it is anything but. With a scene like this that has such great graphics that makes Mija look like she is actually falling from a cliff add to the credibility of this being a serious film. Although Okja is an antimated character the film does a great job of making everything feel real.
Joo-ho Bong, who wrote and directed Ojka is known for centering his films around ecological or environmental issues. His other films include The Host, involving the dumping of chemicals in the Han river. The Snowpiercer, a film about saving the last habitants of the frozen earth. He is great at showing awareness about controversial issues well also telling a story with a great plot that will keep you at the edge of your seat. Bong wanted to have Tilda Swinton, or the CEO of the company, in this film because he fell in love with her acting in his previous film — Snowpiercer. I think Tilda fits the part of Lucy perfectly and plays the part marvelously. Her look and style add to the characters crazy side wonderfully.
Bong had the idea of Okja over four years before he wrote the movie. It all started when an image of a large exotic creature popped into his head, which became known as Okja. It was hard for him to find a studio that was intrested in his idea, but Netflix finally hopped on board.
“If you want to make something strange , Netflix is a good place to go” (Bong).
This film goes from a feel good movie about a little girl and her companion, to a crying on the couch and wanting to become a vegetarian film real quick. After winning 1st place and being crowned the best super pig Okja needs to go to America to be the poster pig for Lucy’s great idea. Mija is agaisnt Okja going to America but her grandfather lets them take her back to the states. The next 45 minutes of the movie is Mija traveling all the way to america to get Okja back. On the way she meets a pro animal group that consist of actors like Red(Lilly Collin) and Jay(Paul Dano). They team up and try to rescue Okja from Lucy and her creepy scientest Dr. Johny(Jake Gyllenhaal). This is where the heart string start to get pulled. We are shown the harsh conditions Ojka has to face by a hidden camera the team has on the inside. She has some of her skin taken for testing and you can see the pain in her eyes. Dr. Johny played by Jake Gyllenhaal does a great job of making you feel some type of way during this scene by how he plays his character. All of this is taken place in a very eerie dark room with no windows and dark lighting giving such a dark mood. Dr. Johny is intoxicated and rambling on well doing all of this making you feel even more sorry for this poor animal. Then tears begin to fall when a humongous male super pig enters the room and is forced to rape Ojka to produce more super pigs. The director does a great job of panning from Ojka to the reaction of the team members witnessing this. Seeing the pain and sadness on their faces can’t help but make you burst out into tears.
Just when you think they have saved Okja their plan is derailed and she is snatched and is to be sent to the “Factory”. We are made to come face to face with the issue the director is trying to get across, the food industry. Ojka is brought to a slaughterhouse to be killed and produced into meat. As the team and Mija pulls up to this factory we see thousands of super pigs in a fenced in area waitng to be slaughtered. If you have ever seen one of those documnetries on how inhuman slaughterhouses or mass farms are this is the exact same thing but just on steriods. Of course this all takes place at night making everything more depressing. Every part of this scene is planned perfectly, the camera work and angles of shooting cant help but make you feel at unease. Mija’s (Sea-Hyeon Ahn) acting is on point and her emtion throughout the scene is so real and believable, which is hard to come by in an actress this young. Ojka is saved and you cant help but catch yourself smiling when Mija is reuinited with Okja.
“Films either show animals as soulmates or else we see them in documentaries being butchered. I wanted to merge those worlds” (Bong).
looking at the quote above Bong did just that and amazingly. This movie has a great plot that couldn’t help but keep you intrested well opening your eyes to a major issue we have in America. Watching this I couldnt help but ask myself, how realistic is this to our actual food industry? Doing some research I came across and article by PETA that explains their thoughts on the film. They related everything Okja went through to what real life animals face.”If you felt for Okja in any of the following situations, remember that there are billions of real animals experiencing these horrors every year” (PETA). The film did a great job exposing the reality of the harsh conditions animals face.
I highly recommend this movie — not just becuase it brings light to an important issue — but because the plot and acting is quite honestly extrodinary. This movies has some of the best acting I have ever seen! There is no way you can watch this movies and not feel all different types of emtions. Okja will have you on an emtional rollercoaster for two hours straight.
