I Can Speak (2017)
9/10
A lesson from history bringing light to the dark.
31 October 2018
This is the tale of the lonely Granny Nah who has earned the nickname Goblin Granny because she has filed 8000 housing complaints to her district office. An ambitious Civil Servant on his first day is confronted by Nah with more complaints and is forced to deal with her due to the reluctance of shell shocked colleagues. The film then proceeds for an hour as a light hearted comedy in which the Civil Servant tries to appease Nah with English lessons so that she can visit her younger brother in the US.

The final part of the film is a drama where we discover that the loneliness of Nah and the abandonment of her family is due to her being a former enslaved comfort woman. These were women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during World War II. The sudden change in tone due to the dark and emotive subject will leave many viewers confused but it a history lesson that should be taught and repeated when required.

This is a great movie that brings light to dark and tackles that which should never have happened. I fully recommend the film and commend both Moon-hee Na for her performance as Nah and Lee Je-hoon as the Civil Servant.
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