Forever the Moment

Inspired by a true story, Forever the Moment (2008) depicts a human drama surrounding the South Korean women’s handball team that won the silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Released in Korea in early 2008, this film was a huge box-office success. Yet, it is a mistake to read this film as a mere sports melodrama whose primary function is to lift national spirits.

A proper understanding of Forever the Moment requires knowledge about the director of this film, Yim Soonrye, and the status of handball as a sport in Korea. Yim Soonrye is one of the few female directors in the current Korean film industry and her previous films focus on disenfranchised groups of people in contemporary Korean society – e.g., three young men who face social prejudices after graduating high school in Three Friends (1996), four male musicians in a failing nightclub band in Waikiki Brothers (2001). In her third feature film, Forever the Moment, Yim chooses to look at a group of female athletes on the national handball team. Handball is not a popular sport in Korea and thus it constantly suffers from a minimal fan base and lack of financial support. Despite the fact that the women’s team has won gold medals at previous Olympic games, its players still receive little attention in contrast to other athletes who often become national celebrities after winning the gold. Director Yim’s continuous and conscious effort to make films about marginalized individuals in Korea culminates in one of the rare sports movies that focus on female athletes who excel at what they do yet are largely ignored by society.

The film centers around three veteran players – Mi-Sook, Hye-Kyung, and Jung-Ran – who are brought in to revive the national team, which has the worst record out of all the previous national teams. However, these women in their thirties are often looked down upon as “seniors” by the team’s younger players, thereby comprising a disenfranchised group within the already disenfranchised women’s handball team. To make things worse, they each have personal problems that interfere with their professional career.

Mi-Sook was the best player of her time and a significant factor in Korea’s gold medal win at previous Olympic games. Handball was, and still is, “a meal ticket” for her. Mi-Sook’s husband is on the run from debt collectors after being swindled by his business partner. She has no choice but to work at a supermarket selling fresh produce after the dissolution of her professional team. Mi-Sook decides to join the national team to pay back her husband’s debt and to support her family. Yet, she has to bring her son to the training camp, and his innocent soccer play often interrupts the national team’s training sessions.

Hye-Kyung, after the Korean national team hires her as the interim coach, quickly embarks on recruiting older players like Mi-Sook and Jung-Ran to compensate for the presence of inexperienced younger players on the team. Hye-Kyung persuades Mi-Sook, her former rival, to join the national team by arranging a cash advance. Unfortunately, Hye-Kyung is soon replaced by a new male coach, Ahn Seung-Pil, who is her former fiancé. The Chairman of the Handball Association explains that a divorced female coach like Hye-Kyung is not appropriate for such a public position as the national team’s coach. Hye-Kyung then unwillingly joins the team as a player under the leadership of her former fiancé. The ambitious and arrogant Coach Ahn, who only cares about winning the gold in Athens, adopts a scientific, European training system and puts a lot of pressure on the players both physically and emotionally. He even humiliates Hye-Kyung in front of other players when she arrives late to training as a result of her daughter’s illness.

Jung-Ran is happily married to a restaurateur who willingly supports her career as a handball player. However, she struggles with infertility resulting from hormonal pills that she took over the course of her career in order to control her menstrual cycles. Jung-Ran often finds herself in the middle of conflicts with the younger players at the beginning, but she ultimately wins them over by looking out for them like their older sister.

In fact, all the women on the team look out for each other as the film progresses. The “senior” players are attentive to other players’ personal issues and they also give encouragement and advice to the younger players. This inspires the younger players - and even the insolent Coach Ahn - and their compassion functions to truly unite the team. Hye-Kyung’s comment toward Coach Ahn in response to his lack of empathy – “after having a kid and coaching players I learned to be compassionate.” – particularly stands out as an example of “difference feminism,” which asserts the virtue of femininity (in this case, motherhood) as well as the superiority of female leadership that is based on compassion and personal relationships. Coach Ahn begins to change and becomes a better person that eventually leads the team to the finals at the Athens Olympics.

Mi-Sook is the character with which I identify the most. Her husband attempts suicide the night before the finals, which forces her to consider returning to Korea. However, she decides to play in the team’s final game against Denmark. Shots featuring Mi-Sook rejoining the team are juxtaposed with shots in which Mi-Sook calls her husband. She tells her husband, “I’m not going to give up. I’m going to see this through. So, don’t give up. You can’t give up.” It was as if I was on the other end of that line nodding and crying, “Yes, Mi-Sook. I will not give up.”

The finals go into overtime and then into a penalty shootout. Mi-Sook is the last one to shoot among the Korean players. Echoing the dynamic of Mi-Sook’s life outside of the stadium, the pressure for success is all on her shoulders. Whether or not Korea wins the gold depends solely on Mi-Sook’s final shot. The fact that this film is based on a true event, in which Korea won the silver, may make your viewing experience less climactic. Yet, winning or losing is not an important matter in this film’s context. History may be written by the victors, but the female handball players who competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics will never be forgotten. They will be remembered as fighters and survivors thanks to Forever the Moment.

JaeYoon Park © 2009