마부

 예술과 문학은 무슨 역할을 맡는 걸까?  우리 아는데로 보여줄까? 아니면, 우리 보는대로 보여줄까?  이 질문은 왔다 갔다 하는 추처럼 예술의 역사의 핵심 질문이다.  Caracci와 Caravaggio, Constable과 Turner, Manet와 Monet, 예술 뿐만 아니고 전체 문화의 쟁점이다.  한편에, 오발탄과 같은 작품이 우리 겪는 대로 존재를 반영하는 점에 가치가 있다.  윗사람들이 아랫사람들을 밟는 게 현실이라 그렇지 않다는 게 착각 뿐이다.  예술은 위로해야 하는 역할 아니라 아무리 끔찍해도 현실을 밝여야 한다는 측면이다.

다른 한편에 오발탄과 같이 1961년에 개봉한 마부는 무참히 현실을 반성할 필요가 없다는 측면이 있다.  우리 다 겪는 고통스러운 생활을 화면에서 볼 필요가 있냐는 작품이다.  잠깐이라도 인생에서 탈출해서 안도할 수 있다면 좋은 거 아닌가에도 의미가 있다.  마부에 나오는 얘기는 현실에 볼 수 없다.  아무리 열심히, 아무리 도덕적으로 살아도 결국은 또 같다. 인명재천이라더니.  기적을 기다리자는 작품 아니고 잠시 기적을 기다리면 안 되는짖를 잊자는 작품이다.

바보들의 행진

미국 친구들한테 "한국을 이해하려면 오발탄과 The Best Years of Our Lives을 비교해보"라고 하곤 한다.  같은 시절에서 나온 두가지 영상을 비교하면, 차이가 밝히게 된다는 말이다.  앞서 엉급한 두 영화를 보면, 50년대의 개념차이를 알 수가 있다.

마찬가지로, 바보들의 행진과 같은 시절에서 나온 Animal House와 같은 미국 영화를 보면 물론 70년대의 개념차이가 보인다.  미국 70년대의 번영과 낙관은 한국의 군사독재를 겪는 고통과 완전 반대한다는 게 당연하다.  근데 이 두게 영화의 비교는 또 다른 사실을 보인다.  Animal House말고 The Graduate와 같은 품질이 높은 70년대 미국영화도 예술로서 바보들의 행진과 비교가 안 될 정도로 흥해 빠진다. 70년대에서 나온 영상, 시,미술 포함된 한국 작품은 같은 시절의 미국 작품을 주목할  피료없다. 

자유부인

이러한 신파극에 의미가 숨어있을까요? 한형모 감독이 그런 목표로 촬영했는지 아니면 그냥 이익을 위해서 했는지 잘 모르겠지만 뒤늦게 보면 사회적인 영향을 받았다는 게 확실이다.  감독이 사회적인 영향을  일부로 강화하든 함부로 하든 결국은 마찬가지다.

자유부인에 무슨 영향이 미치냐면 작품명과 동일 한 자유가 아니다.  오히려 자유는 한국 부인을 부패하게 만드는 것으로 다루고 있다.  파방판에는 그 부패된 부인을 가부장제만 살려줄 수 있다.  그래서 이 작품에 "자유가 위험하다"는 의미가 숨어있다고 할 수 있다.

아직도 자유부인의 자손된 현재 한국 드라마에 같은 가부장제를 강화하는 내용을 찾기 어렵지 않다.  자유러운 여자가 남자 없이 잘 사는 장면을 언제 까지 기다려야 할 건가?

오발탄 (aimless bullet)

It was originally my intention to view this film, number 2 on The Korean Film Archive's recently published list of 100 Korean Films, alongside an item from the American Film Institute's list from the same time period (North by Northwest). Released one year apart, I assumed that the two would give conrasting takes on the world of the late 1950s in a way that might shed open an interesting conversation about Korea-American relations.  Of course the two were in marked contrast in just about every way, and I'm sure I could stich together some nice comparisons and package them up in little bites that would make everybody happy.



But comparing the two would really be like comparing Jaws to Cabaret.  Sure, the two were filmed at around the same time, but are so divergent as to make any comparisons seem a bit pointless.  North by Northwest was a beautifully filmed, but ultimately harmless romantic thriller.  오발탄 was not only shot with seemingly the lowest of budgets and the most ramshackle of equipment (the actors were not even paid), but was so inflammatory that the fascist government of Korea forbade its screening.  It was only seen at all due to the intervention of an American who managed to see a screener and bring it to San Francisco for entry in the 1963 International Film Festival.  The hastily painted (and error ridden) subtitles were still visible on the copy I found.  To this day it has still not been restored and is out of print.  If ever a film were begging for the attentions of the Criterion Collection, this is it.


Rather than North by Northwest, 오발탄 is reminiscent of an earlier American film--to the extent that I refuse to believe Director 유현목 didn't draw inspiration from it:  The Best Years of our Lives.  Both movies tell the same story, with almost the same cast of characters, and it is by viewing these two films side by side that the real contrast between the two worlds comes into focus:


Character:  wounded soldier returning from the war to try and find his place in a changed world.


The Best Years of Our Lives variant: real life amputee Harold Russell won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Homer Parrish, a man who lost both his arms in the war.  Homer returns home to find his girlfriend waiting for him, but he can't allow himself to be loved.  Ultimately he realizes that she loves him just as much without his arms, and they are married in a climactic and touching final scene.



오발탄 variant: The main character's army buddy is injured, and forced to walk with crutches.  He can't bring himself to accept the love of the woman to whom he was betrothed, preferring to remember the dream they once had of a happy life together.  Unable to bear it, he finally throws himself in front of a train.


Character: his beloved


TBYOOL variant: plucky and independent Wilma sticks by her man, and convinces him of her love after lovingly helping him remove his prostheses.


오발탄 variant: 명숙, unable to deal with her injured lover's rejection, becomes a prostitute for the American G.I.s .


Character: Hard working finance executive who is lucky enough to have a job upon the war's end.


TBYOOL:  Fredric March's Al returns to find his wife waiting for him, and eveything changed in his absence.  His children seem to have grown up wthout him, and he doesn't know where he belongs in this world any more.  Over the course of the movie, he gets to know his family again, as if for the first time, and is promoted to a cushy position at his bank.


오발탄: 영호 (the eponymous bullet) works his fingers to the bone as a clerk, and brings his meager paycheck home to his family, declining even to have a painful tooth removed.  But the check is not nearly enough to support his two kids, pregnant wife, brother, sister, and delusional mother, all living in the same hovel. 


Character: his wife


TBYOOL: Myrna Loy's Milly has been doing just fine in her husband's absence, and helps her well-meaning husband to adjust to his new reality.


오발탄: 영호's wife, who does not even seem to be named, is malnoursished and accordingly dies during childbirth.


Character: decorated war veteran, whose skills don't seem to have a place in a post-war reality

TBYOOL: As Fred, Dana Andrews goes from war hero to soda jerk, and even gets fired from that insulting job after defending a fellow veteran from an abusive customer.  His wife, expecting a little more glamorous life, files for divorce and runs off with a dandy.  All's well that ends well, though, as this frees him up to marry the woman he really loves, and accept a simple but honest position at a scrap yard.


오발탄: 철호, a well respected Captain during the war, is unable to find any work whatsoever as a civilian. Desperate, he turns to crime and robs a bank at gunpoint.  He is caught and arrested, presumably to be hanged.


Character: his love interest


TBYOOL: Smart, kind Peggy (Teresa Wright) falls for a married man, but heartbreaking though it is, she does the right thing and lets him go.  Only later, after his divorce, do they meet again (at the happy wedding  of the first couple) and set about a simple, but honest life together.


오발탄: 철호 sees a glimmer of light when he is reunited with a nurse that tended to him during the war.  They declare their love for each other, but the next morning he returns to find that her neighbor threw her to her death in a fit of jealousy.


These are only the most striking parallels that can be found in the comparison.  Even without the benefit of a foil, however, 오발탄 is a masterpiece of cinema.  Visually stirring, symbolically poignant, well-acted, and haunting (the insane mother's "가자!" is still ringing in my ears), and all this on a budget of around $8,000 (compared to $2.1 million for The Best Years). As good as the latter movie is, it wanes in comparison to this Korean masterpiece.