The movie "도가니/Dogani" with its English title "The Crucible" is one of the most watched movies in South Korea since its release and has been getting a lot of international attention as well. It is based on a true story of a 13 year old deaf school girl raped by a school official. This film had a huge impact on public and has tapped into widespread anger over official reluctance to take sexual crimes seriously, and over how justice is served, or not, in South Korea.
In The New York Times article, the author mentioned that the head of the Supreme Court admitted that “society is simmering with resentment” toward a legal system long criticized as “yujeonmujoe mujeonnyujoe,” or “not guilty for the rich, guilty for the poor.”
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| Film Poster |
This movie reminds me of an endless list of brave women from Pakistan like Mukhtaran Mai, Sajjida, Dr. Shazia Khalid and many others who have been the victims and have been seeking justice until today. Here it is important to note that in a male chauvinistic and patricarchal society of Pakistan, it is the women who are giving hope to the other women in Pakistan as Kristof puts it...and men (generally), they are just on the other side of the fence, most of the time.
Last week, I saw a brief news piece that a 5 years old deaf girl was gang raped in Punjab and the most unfortunate thing is that both her parents are also deaf and are living in extreme poverty...I wonder, what has the government done to help the victim and her family and has justice been served? Here in Pakistan, every single day, we hear of rapes, of harrassements, of abuses, of human rights violation against women in particular but generally - people do NOT react the way they should. I think that the entire population must be on the streets to protest such heinous crimes but unfortunatley everything is taken very very casually here, hardly anyone was punished.
The only thing I cherished living outside Pakistan was "safety and respect as a woman" from men overseas. Last week, Dr, Fauzia Saeed put it in a humorous way while hosting a live show at Lok Virsa that: "Celebrating [Rural]Women today means that out of 365 days, just one day, we hope that we will be spared from those hundreds of eyes staring at us, following us 24/7, giving us a feeling of being watched and making us uncomfortable - almost always - in Pakistan" - sarcastic yet deep! I NEVER had this feeling anywhere else and I wonder why?
Related Article below:
Korea Times
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