Bae, Doo-na and Kim, Si-eun star in “Next Sohee”, a movie based on a real story that depicts the cold reality of Korea. Kim,Si-eun played ‘Sohee’, who becomes frustrated during field training. Bae, Doo-na followed Sohee’s footstep after her death and uncovered social issues. This movie reveals a shameful side of Korean society but also allows us to some together and imagine a society free of people like Sohee.

The problem of socially disadvantaged people being disadvantaged in the workplace is not only a problem in Korea. Bae, Doo-na, who gained fame overseas for her roles in <Cloud Atlas> and <Sense 8>, stars in “Next Sohee”, offering a glimpse into modern-day Korean society.

Sohee, a senior year student at a vocational school, goes in field training. The place where Sohee went to work was a customer center, a subcontractor of ‘Korea Telecom S Plus’. Her teacher is excited to send a job to a big company, but Sohee knows it’s just a subcontractor.

“Next Sohee” Information

• Director: Jeong, Ju-ri
• Cast: Bae, Doo-na, Kim, Si-eun, Choi, Hee-jin, Kim, Woo-geyeom, Jeong, Hee-rin, Kang-Hyeon-oh
• Rating: 15+
• Release Date: 2022
• Running time: 2h 15m

“Next Sohee” Plot, Ending, Overall

Plot_

Sohee, who went to work for the first time wearing a suit that she rarely wears, is to defend against customers who request to cancel their internet service. However, it is difficult from the first call. Sohee tries to adapt to her job, but the job becomes increasingly difficult. Sohee and her colleagues, who suffer from emotional labor every day, are always on the verge of explosion. Then one day, while offering counseling, her colleague suddenly stood up and stopped the counseling.

The team leader tried to handle a customer who was swearing at Sohee’s colleague, but got angry and hung up when the customer reacted excessively. The customer filed a complaint, but the higher-ups blamed the employee and the team leader, causing Sohee’s co-worker to quit.

Sohee finds out her contract has two ends, which means her salary differs from what she thought. The company explains everything by saying Sohee is just a trainee, leaving her speechless. Sohee got angry and started swearing when a male customer sexually harassed her during a late-night shift. The team leader rushed over to answer the phone, but the man on the phone cursed again and hung up.

Because of this, Sohee apologizes to the team leader, saying she will never do that again. The team leader did not reprimand Sohee, but people later discovered him dead. He had left a suicide note, which exposed illegal activities of the company. In the morning, Sohee discovers her him dead in his car and is heartbroken. The company demands that she keep quiet about the suicide note and forces employees not to attend the funeral, but Sohee attends the funeral alone.

The company made a document and offered for employees who agreed not to talk about the team leader’s death. Sohee hesitated to sign until the end. In the end, the company comes to get Sohee’s signature in person, and Sohee reluctantly signs. It was from then on that she changed. Sohee works hard only for money. She doesn’t care if her actions cause harm to her colleagues, and Sohee just thinks about working hard and earning incentives by improving her performance. However, the amount shown on the paystub differed greatly from the amount Sohee calculated. When Sohee questions the new team leader, she is told that since Sohee is a “trainee”, the company will not pay the incentive right away, but will pay it two months or later.

Sohee, who was angry, received a phone call where she responded to the customer’s request for cancellation without defending in on purpose. She got into a big fight with the angry team leader and ended up hitting the team leader. Because of this, Sohee is subject to disciplinary action of 3 days of unpaid leave and will no longer go to work. On the way back from drinking too much with her friend, Sohee cuts herself on her wrist while drunk.

Fortunately, Sohee survived, but she feels terrible about going back to work. Sohee had drinks with her friends, gets drunk despite in was only afternoon, after the lunch, drinks beer alone, and heads to the reservoir. Later, the police find Sohee’s frozen body in a reservoir. Eugene, the detective on Sohee’s case, initially thought Sohee simply committed suicided, but discovered a structural problem while tracking her movement before the death.

Ending_

However, no one is willing to investigate the case, which already ended as a suicide, and they reprimand Eugene for over-investigating. However, Eugene continues the investigation with the belief that someone must be responsible for Sohee’s death.

Eugene follows Sohee’s footsteps, meets her friends and colleagues, and learns that Sohee is not the only problem. Eugene cannot stop her investigation after learning that many children could become “Next Sohee.” However, the police orders Eugene to stop investigating. But, Eugene goes to the company or school that may be responsible and asks about Sohee’s death.

It disheartened Eugene as people refuse to take responsibility for Sohee’s death and instead label her as problematic. Many Children like Sohee are still being forced to work in the name of field training, but Eugene cannot do much as a detective. Upon finding Sohee’s missing cell phone. Eugene becomes emotional as she watched Sohee dancing happily inside it.

overall_

The movie “Next Sohee” is about Jeonju customer center suicide case of Ms. Hong, Soo-yeon, which was featured on a Korean current affairs accusation TV show in 2017. Because it is a movie based on a real story, I feel even more depressed while watching it. Especially, like Hong, Soo-yeon, when Sohee takes steps toward the reservoir, I wanted to reach out and hold her.

The movie shows young students working as laborers under the name of “field training” in different environments. Society needs to protect the human rights of children. However, cruel society often measures in numbers such as employment rate and performance rate at school or at practical training sites. Society forced them into the most vulnerable class as soon as they enter it. The red name tags and vests worn by students returning to school again are cruel and were a factor in the suicide of Hong, Soo-yeon.

“Next Sohee” points out that the responsibility for this problem lies with adults and society, not with children’s ability to be patient and adapt. Just like in the movie, no one takes responsibility even if a child like Sohee appears. In an intertwined structure, everyone is a little of a victim and perpetrator,and it becomes unclear who is truly responsible. But, the people who are responsible are not the children who are “trainee” who have gone on “training.”

“Trainees” are not expendable children whose salaries can be reduced or cut off arbitrarily due to lack of work, but our children who must be given “training.” and protected.

The movie “Next Sohee” confronts the problem of our society by showing the sad reality as it is calmly. I hope there is no next Sohee.

If you want to read the review of this movie in Korean, visit my blog!