A few months ago, my wife and I went to see the movie "The Way Home" (Chip ero). This movie is the first Korean movie that I can remember with such wide distribution in the USA. I read the reviews ahead of time so I was somewhat familiar with the storyline before I viewed the movie. I was pleased to see that about 100 people were in the theater for "The Way Home" and only a few appeared to be Korean.
At the moment I am in a Christian seminary preparing to re-focus my life from education to ministry. Maybe this is why I understood this Korean story to be a re-telling of the parable of the prodigal son. The movie's director, Jeong-Hyang Lee, first presents us with an unhappy mother riding on a bus. We are not given many details about the mother. Like the biblical prodigal son, she appears to have left her loving parent and lived a wasted life in the big city of Seoul. She has squandered whatever money she had. The mother does not have a job or a husband, but she does have a spoiled son named Sang-woo. The two of them are returning to the small rural town where the mother was raised. The spoiled, prodigal grandson is about to experience the steadfast and unconditional love of his god-like grandmother.
 The ancient, bent over, and gnarled grandmother is the image of a caring God. She suffers his indignities with amazing grace. The grandson mocks her, calling her "Stupid, stupid." He lies to her, steals from her, breaks her possessions, and forces her to walk miles. In spite of all this abuse, the grandmother never loses patience or becomes angry. It seems like the more the grandson abuses his grandmother, the more loving she becomes toward him. The more outrageous his behavior, the more pity shown toward him. Sang-woo is the image of lost humankind. This spoiled and selfish grandson rebels against every good thing that his grandmother represents. He is so spiteful that he breaks his own chamber pot. Of course the person he hurts most by this temper tantrum is his own self. It is only the consistent faithful love of his grandmother that makes Sang-woo grow from being a self-centered brat to a loving grandson. The message is simple. Love transforms. Love generates love in others. This is the Christian message that I see. I suppose that my Christian message is not much different from a Buddhist or Confucian message in this regard. Some truths are so apparent that they show themselves in many religious faiths.

Besides the allegory of the prodigal grandson, there is one other point in this movie that is too delicious to pass by. There is the scene in which Sang-woo refuses to eat the grandmother's food. Instead he feeds on chocolate bars taken from his secret storage place. I am sure that most Korean people laughed at his adolescent behavior. And yet, I have witnessed the same behavior among Korean adults. When I was on mission to Africa I lived among Korean people. I was content to eat whatever the locals would offer to us. This was mostly potatoes, chunks of beef, fired banana, and fresh fruit. I was amused when my Korean friends would break out their dried seaweed, hot bean paste and packs of ramen noodles. Why not accept the hospitality of the locals? Is this how missionaries identify with people to whom they are ministering? How much different are they then Sang-woo? How much different are all of us (including myself) from this rebellious boy?