The documentary by Sue Kim titled ‘The Last of the Sea Women’ kicks off with a peculiar lady’s first recount of a story as she gets ready to get into the water for some seafood gathering. As the camera focuses out, it is apparent that the ocean is filled with women dressed in swimming suits. These ladies reside at Jeju Island in Korea, where they earn a living as Haenyeo divers, a woman who fishes without the aid of oxygen tanks. Or as they say where they come from, “with their own breath.”
Another narrator proclaims, “This is a job you pour your heart into. Passed down from our mothers and grandmothers. Even when it’s cold or we don’t feel like diving, we still dive. It’s in our bones. We are women, after all.” The women of this island have combed the sea for urchin and conch for centuries. At one point, there were close to 30,000 women who took part in this peculiar manner of occupation. But until today, there are only 4000 who actively do this style of fishing even though it was added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2016. “It’s like our culture is melting away,” shares another woman.
Nowadays, the majority of the Haenyeo are in their late sixties to their eighties. It is without a doubt that these ladies have been performing this job for years.
Initially, we are introduced to some older women who have worked as Haenyeo for a long time. To become one, they start training as young as seven and train for ten years. While it is now accepted as an essential cultural aspect of Korean society, it was previously seen in a negative light. A number of the ladies have tales of being looked down upon because of it. Even though this form of disrespect is now thankfully cultural, there is still a very small number of younger women who tend the sea.
This involves Jin Sohee and Jeongmin Woo, who are in their 30s and record their work on YouTube and TikTok. Like many of her older colleagues, Jin decided to do this work because of the freedom it offers. Jin left her job at a corporation because it was crushing, now she feels comforted and soothed. Woo transitioned into this career after her husband’s company went to work. She said it is one of the only flexible jobs for working mothers in South Korea.
Other than the exquisite underwater cinematography, Kim’s documentary is distinctly conventional. At home and on land she works with a basic camera that, as well as a basic, straightforward, camera interview style along with life and get their stories. She captures mesmerizing words of women’s power and the eloquence of both their commitment and fervent cry for a better future serves as a clarion call to all.
These women’s livelihoods are endangered by a shrinking workforce. There has been a mt0n of trash that has started to contaminate the water.
The women will have to travel deeper into the ocean to create more of these facilities. Some people are fearing it will lead to overfishing. Jin and Woo make sure to document these changes on their social media as well. There is some silver lining in the hopelessness of the documentary as the women do display some strength and share laughter as they keep the tradition alive alongside the other women, but unfortunately, further news proves to be even more threatening not just to the Haenyeo, but every living person on the island.
Jeju Island shares its sea borders with Japan, which has announced plans to release radioactive from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown into the oceans. Even though the Japanese government is said to be agreeing to international regulations, nuclear activists and even environmentalists alike are scared that after 30 years, it will lead to the destruction of sea life for thousands of years.
The camera does not give them the tourist attention that they so crave, even when the Haeneos fight in unison for their rights and the future of the respective sea. One of the elderly women, Soon Deok Jang tries to make audiences deal with the case at the Human Rights Council meeting based in Switzerland. And she, ladies with elderly wisdom, dares to tell the powers that be the absolute truth without fear. Jang is a brave woman. But then again, and it goes without saying, these highest international courts of law may be well and truly devoid of empathy and compassion towards ordinary men and women everywhere.
Perhaps, Jin is correct in saying, “Where there is sea, there will always be Haenyeo,” one only hopes that the sea will exist all over for every single person. The joy is everlasting among these women exhibiting complete assurance that this will prove true. There undergoes such faith alteration in the heart of Jang as well because her documentary comes to an end with celebration glee that bursts forth when the community cross celebrates the Haenyeos at its annual festival. Unfortunately, I fall on the lines of the doubtful.
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