My heart is no broken yet

Song Sin-do, who lived through the postwar years in Miyagi Prefecture. She often joked, laughed heartily, and flew into rages. Her fiery temper, sharp tongue, and extraordinary insight were honed through seven years as a “comfort woman” in China and half a century living as a Zainichi Korean in Japan.

‘The human heart is shrouded in darkness just an inch ahead. I absolutely never trust people.’

This documentary follows Song Sin-do, a woman who was a bundle of distrust, as she encounters people willing to accept her entirely and, through the process of fighting her court case, gradually regains trust in others and in herself.

Song Sin-do was born in 1922 in Chungcheong-namdo in Korea. At the age of 16 (1938), she was deceived and forced into “comfort woman” system in Wuchang, central China. She experienced her first menstruation at 19 and subsequently became pregnant several times. She gave birth to a child in Hankou but, unable to raise it in the comfort station, entrusted it to neighbours and moved to Yuezhou. As a “unit-attached” woman, she was sometimes sent to places like Yingshan and Chang’an. She learned of Japan’s defeat in Xianning, but with nowhere to go, she clung to a sliver of hope offered by a Japanese soldier who said, “Let’s get married and go to Japan,” and travelled there. However, upon arriving at Hakata Port on a repatriation ship in the spring of 1946, the soldier’s attitude changed completely, and she was abandoned in a foreign land. She was subsequently rescued by a Korean man residing in Miyagi Prefecture. They lived together until his death in 1982, after which she lived alone.

In April 1993, she filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government demanding the ‘delivery of an apology letter’ and an ‘official apology in the Diet’. To support this lawsuit, the ‘Support Group for the Lawsuit of Korean Former “Comfort Women” Resident of Japan’ was formed in January 1993.

The film depicts the process of Ms. Song meeting the Support Group, fighting the lawsuit together through tears, laughter and gnashing of teeth, and the journey of recovery she undertook through this legal battle.

The lawsuit was dismissed at the Tokyo District Court in October 1999 and the Tokyo High Court in November 2000. In March 2003, the Supreme Court also dismissed the appeal, confirming the defeat. Yet, at the final trial report meeting after the defeat was confirmed, Ms Song declared: ‘Even if I lose the lawsuit, my heart is not broken yet.’ 

That decade forged a bond between Ms. Song, the support group, and her supporters – a bond where they could say such things to one another.

Funded by donations from 670 individuals who supported and watched over Ms. Song’s legal battle, this work advocates for the importance of approaching the “comfort women issue” not merely as a “problem”, but from the perspective of the “people” involved.

In Korean and Japanese language with English subtitles

In koreanischer und japanischer Sprache, eng. untertitelt

The producer, Yang Jing-ja will be at the screening and the talk afterwards.

Snacks will be prepared.

credits:

Directed: Ahn Hae-ryong

Produced: Yang Jing-ja

Starring: Song Sin-do

Narrator: Moon So-ri

Cinematography: Park Jeong-sik, Yang Jing-ja, Ahn Hae-ryong

Music: Pak Poe

2007 (Japan), 95 minutes

Triggerwarnung:
Beschreibung sexualisierter Gewalt
Description of sexualized violence