Prostitute Runs for National Assembly Seat

˝When you get used to it, you must feel bored. It is time to try something new, a new position in relationship. You try hard to enjoy it, but it is not fun and gives no pleasure. Then you have to have courage to talk about a change.˝

Goh Eun-bi, a prostitute running for a National Assembly seat, delivers a unique yet interesting speech during her campaign. `The First Article of the Constitution,` is a movie about a low-class prostitute entering the world of politics where schemes and deceit abound.

Even before the shooting, the movie caught spotlight by adopting a provocative story that betrays our common sense.

A lawmaker in the opposition party was killed in a mysterious accident. Though the truth was never revealed to the public, he died of a heart attack while having sex with `an assassin` sent by the ruling party. Now the National Assembly is evenly divided between the ruling and opposition party and all eyes are on a by-term election in Surak City.

Eun-bi (Ye Ji-won) is a prostitute working in the downtown area of the city. And one of her friends is raped by a group of gangs in the neighborhood. The police, however, give the cold shoulder saying there is no rape against a prostitute. Frustrated by the bitter reality, Eun-bi now decides to run for the National Assembly seat.

˝It is not a political movie. Just enjoy it,˝ said an official from the production company before the premiere of the movie started. Watching the movie, the audience will understand what he means. Politics is just a tool for making a fun movie. This is fully comedy. The audience can laugh from time to time by following episodes instead of trying to find a message.

Aparting from actress Ye Ji-won’s impressive and carismatic performce, the performace of actor Nam Jin who used the Jeollado dialect freely in the movie also deserves the public attention and induce smiles from the audience. Nam jin starred as a priest who uses always bad words in the movie by reading the line from the Bible in which the Jesus said, “if there is a person who never committed sin, throw a stone at the woman who committed adultery,” in a perfect dialect sound.

However, the movie seems to fill the 110-minute running time with jokes and bad words that feed the audience’s sexual appetite, and which forced the audience to feel there are only the fist and last parts of the movie, missing the mid-parts. And then the movie does not have a refined ending because it ended with the anticipated ending. It is regrettable that the movie failed to build a solid framework of a story and bitterly lampoon the society.

Director Song Kyung-sik who debuted as a movie director with Sabangji, directed the movie in 14 years since his debut. Screening day is March 14. People with the age of over 18 will be permitted to see the movie.

Soo-Kyung Kim skkim@donga.com