Presented at the eighteenth edition of the Korean festival in Paris (FFCP), Legend of the Waterflowers traces the daily experience of proud divers from Jeju Island in South Korea. Against winds and tides, this tradition continues since the 17th century.nd century. There were 30000 in 1950, but today they are only 5000. Their decline threatens the transmission of a centuries-old culture recorded in 2016 as an immaterial heritage of UNESCO. Immersed in the heart of an atypical matriarchal society.
The girls of the sea
Born from the director's approach Koh Hee Young, Legend of the Waterflowers is the result of six years of work during which the young woman gradually integrated the circle of haenyeo, « Girls of the sea » who live on the fruits of the ocean. The strength of this documentary is to have been able to erase to let us appreciate their everyday life without fireworks. The camera becomes invisible and the matriarchs evoke their memories and the harshness of the sometimes extreme weather conditions of South Korea. The practice haenyeo does not suffer from any truce and the most reckless dive up to fifteen meters of bottom in apnea and despite the Siberian winter. Some aerial plans are magnificent, as the snow falls on the rough waters.
Today more than 80% of divers are octogenary. It is with a natural sensitivity that one has visited the last dives of an unageenary who has been officiating under the seas since its eight years. It is in fact according to a well-functioning protocol that these women dedicated themselves to the ocean. There are three levels to reach: the first dives begin from childhood and continue to adolescence to target the first level of sanggun. It is only after five years that deep-sea fishermen will be able to covet the intermediate level after having demonstrated their ability to hold their breath for a minute up to six metres. The best of them will be able to win the title emeritus of hagun and cross the ten-metre barrier. To this is added the need to know how to map the scamoted reliefs of the seabed and memorize every corner of it without GPS and other modern technologies.
The matriarchal society of haenyeo and its origins
This practice was born in the 17th century.nd A century of confucianist and very patriarchal society of South Korea, which is said to have long conferred on women a status inferior to that of men. Jeju probably took advantage of its island properties to incubate another model. On these remote volcanic lands, the culture of haenyeo was reserved for women for several reasons. First the island enjoys a ratio of masculinity in disfavor of men and from 19nd This activity becomes essentially female.
This gender ratio naturally favoured the work of women who had to occur to their own needs. Second factor of explanation of tax origin this time, men were taxed more heavily than women, resulting de facto in this distribution. Finally, Koreans explain on a secondary basis that female physiology involves a fatty natural surplus compared to men, which would have allowed them - at least psychologically - to better withstand the ice cold of the island where temperatures can fall significantly in winter.
Because of the hard work, the status of women has given them the role of head of the family, making men more part-household roles. In addition to these particularities, which have largely contributed to making Jeju an alternative to patriarchal societies, it is probably necessary to integrate the fact that the Korean peninsula was constantly taken up by neighbouring countries. It will remain under the threat of the Japanese Empire until the end of World War II after a ruthless occupation by the Japanese. If the medieval kingdom of Korea had become a vassal state of China to 17nd The following centuries were not tender and the path to Korea's independence was painful.
Faced with the imperialism of the Western powers, Japan also embarked on an expansionist policy of fierce domination of its neighbours from the Meji era (1868-1912). Korea changed its position as a protectorate in 1905 before being annexed five years later by the Japanese. The territory has long been bruised by the Russian-Japanese lusts and appetite of the two Empires. Long before the Korean war, which remains one of the most deadly post-war conflicts, Korean men mobilized at the front or used as cheap labour have long been victims of colonial rivalries, leaving another division of labour on the peninsula.
An Extinct Secular Culture
If these reasons are not all directly exposed in the report, Koh Hee Young anchors her work in culture haenyeo and the veneration of the sea which provides for the needs of a population threatened by overfishing. Today tourist curiosityOne can see, helpless, the extinction of a lifestyle threatened by marine pollution caused by industrial overfishing. The ecosystem of abalone, octopus, sea urchins and oysters has been affected by man and the capitalistic exploitation of coastal resources.
There is something touching and depressing to see her old women revolt by going straight to the root of the problem: a nearby company that dumps its chemicals into the ocean and thus destroys the flora of the seas that acts as habitat for precious shellfish. These women know their place of work as a person. They are also part of this ecosystem, which is much more than their livelihood. One of the dean laments, disgusted by the impact of trawlers in deep waters:
« The sea is so sick that she can no longer offer us anything »
Legend of the Waterflowers is a fascinating report that sins only by a rough editing sometimes clumsy and a more hesitant shoulder camera during the first years of shooting. Some sequences still seem to require some adjustments starting with a musical theme where three piano notes repeat themselves tirelessly on the last third. Yet the authenticity of the testimony of these women who have dedicated their entire lives to the ocean is captivating. Legend of the Waterflowers is a documentary to highlight with the work of the photographer Hyung S. Kim who made beautiful portraits of the haenyeo. Like Koh Hee Young, he manages to capture these exhausted faces marked in the flesh by effort but whose penitibility cannot substitute for pride: those of women connected to the ocean by a bond that one hopes will be eternal.
Legend trailer of the Waterflowers
It just looks crazy! I really need to catch him up, thanks for sharing. 😉 I have the impression that this year 2023 is particularly rich in brilliant documentaries!