Save My Seoul (2017) User Reviews

Shame

[dcarsonhagy · 8/10 · 6 July 2017]

Just caught this one On-Demand. It is a documentary about the "oldest profession in the world." This particular film takes place in Korea where it seems EVERY male is introduced (at a very early age) to the practice of sex for pay. In fact, it would seem that NO woman is valued above what is between their legs. Older men have no problem at all paying for sex from early teenage girls, yet have the audacity to state they would kill their own daughter if they found out she was doing this.

We are introduced to two girls, Esther and Crystal, friends since grade school and both in the trade...not by choice. This would seem the general backstory for just about everyone of these young women. Either raped by their father, uncle, brother, or mothers who simply choose to ignore their abuse, they felt no choice but to leave their situation and this was the only way they knew how to survive. As in most cases, their pimp make the business seem so attractive and an easy way to make money. One girl stated "You think you're selling your body, but you're really selling your soul."

Police and government officials are dirtier than any of these women, as they choose to ignore the obvious, as well as never referring to these women as "victims." I have never been as sickened by a documentary as I was by this one.

Unrated but does contain adult situations and language. In Korean with subtitles. More of a 8.5 movie for me and recommended.

You don't need a big budget to make a good documentary

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 16 October 2020]

Not all documentaries need big budgets behind them to succeed, and SAVE MY SEOUL is a case in point. A couple of Korean-American filmmakers head off to South Korea with their hand-held camera to shoot a documentary on a taboo subject, which is the rampant prostitution industry in that country. It's something very much hushed up and never spoken about domestically or abroad, but there's plenty to say on the subject. The two interviewees, Crystal and Esther, who are talked to extensively, both have tragic stories to tell and there are many shocking moments revealed along the way here.