It is always fascinating to see how two different filmmakers, with their starkly different backgrounds and filmmaking approaches, visualise the same issue on screen.
At its heart, both Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Parasite’ and Ken Loach’s ‘Sorry We Missed You’, are both weaved around similar issues of inequality and exploitation under the capitalist system. Yet, there can’t be two movies that are so dissimilar on the surface.
At the 24th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) schedule too, these two movies somehow segued into each other, with a delegate watching ‘Parasite’ on Sunday night waking up to catch ‘Sorry We Missed You’ on Monday morning. Both the films have at its centre a four-member family, who have been working hard at odd jobs for years and yet failing to improve their lot even as the billionaires they work for getting richer by the year.
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In ‘Parasite’, the one advice that Ki-tark, the father of the struggling family of Kims keeps repeating to his children is to have no plan at all.
But, the Kims do have a plan, a dangerous one that could fall apart any moment — to infiltrate a rich household one member at a time posing as complete strangers to each other.
It all begins with Ki-woo, the son, who poses as a university student, becoming a replacement for his friend as the English teacher for the daughter of the filthy rich Park family. Soon, he gets his sister hired as an art teacher for Park’s son. Before long, they get Park’s existing driver and the house help fired, and get their parents to take over these jobs.
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The film also seems to be talking about how the neo-liberal system affect the workers’ psyche, almost making them see a fellow worker as enemies. With no real improvement in their lot even after putting in decades of hard work, the unfortunate ones down the ladder cannot really be blamed for cutting corners although in ‘Parasite’, it is taken to extreme levels.
The ones trampled upon by the system have figured in director Bong Joon Ho’s previous works too, but here they appear as a full-blown machine that will mow down everyone who could be a roadblock. In the initial scenes though, they appear helpless.
The big question that the film seems to be asking is, “Who is the real parasite, the few running the oppressive system or the many fighting it?” It is no wonder that ‘Parasite’ became one of the biggest grosser this year in South Korea, where inequality is a burning issue, like elsewhere.
In contrast to the ‘Parasite’ family, the one in ‘Sorry We Missed You’ does not attempt to cut any corners. They just diligently do all the work that they can get their hands on. Ken Loach, who has pursued the issues that have always made him angry, trains his lens on the gig economy that is currently in the limelight.
Crisis
Ricky has been facing a crisis since the economic downturn of 2008. He signs up with a parcel delivery company, which has a tight delivery schedule. Along with the electronic scanner, which tracks his every movement, he is handed an empty plastic bottle since he won’t have the time to find a urinal. Abbie, his wife who works as a nurse on contract, has her work affected too.
‘Sorry We Missed You’ is the heart-breaking story of how the pressure of the couple’s job seeps into their family life. The stress gets into Ricky, who for the first time ends up using physical violence against his school-going son.
Here, the viewer gets a different kind of jolt, as compared to ‘Parasite’, as they see on screen the human cost of the quick food deliveries and high discount sales. The promise of being your own boss is exposed to be a lie, as a mere slogan for the corporates to evade responsibility towards their employees.
As Rick gets violently mugged and scanner is damaged, the boss calls him up and reminds him of the fine amounts that he would have to pay for each of these. There is no talk of medical reimbursement for the injuries that he sustained. Watching ‘Sorry We Missed You’ might help viewers who were horrified by the acts of the family of Kims in ‘Parasite’ in a better context. Both the films thus complement each other.