The Bacchus Lady (2016)
Director: E J-Yong
Bacchus was a new word to me. It actually refers to the Greek god of wine, sometimes associated with Dionysus. Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, many elderly people found themselves needing to fend themselves. The Miracle at Han River, following years of economic boom following the Korean War, left a country so entwined in the material chase that the traditional Confucian values had lost their appeal. Many young Koreans had emigrated, leaving their elders at home. South Korea is said to be having one of the worst social safety nets amongst OECD countries for its senior citizens. OECD (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) countries comprise intergovernmental economic organisations with 38 nations founded in 1961 to stimulate world trade and stimulate economic progress. Its precursor, OEEC, was started in 1948 following the implementation of the Marshall Plan to develop post-WW2 Europe.
 |
The poverty rate of elderly people in South Korea
is the highest among the OECD countries |
In 2015, the local police arrested 33 ladies, including an 84-year-old woman, in a park in Jongno district in Seoul for soliciting customers for prostitution. Sociologists determined that the poor retirement benefits put the elderly, especially single ladies, below the poverty line and fend for themselves. Many turn to prostitution to survive. These ladies make a living by selling bottles of Bacchus-F, a popular energy drink, hence their nickname 'Bacchus Ladies'. The packaging suggests that it is sold as 'Livita' here in Malaysia. The Bacchus ladies' clientele is usually lonely old men. Transitioning to sexual services is optional.
The film starts with a postmenopausal lady, So-Young (sic), getting treatment for gonorrhoea. Just she exits the doctor's room, a ruckus begins. A Filipino lady barges in to demand from the doctor paternity support for their kid. In confusion, the kid left outside scoots off only to miss a major accident and be saved by So-Young.
Slowly the movie shifts to the day-to-day of So-Young. She lives in a house with a transgender lady and a leg-amputee artiste. Like So-Young, these people are considered fringes of society, scorned for not conforming to the perfect mould to make money. We follow her through her clientele seeking exercise, the fights for customers, the bad-mouthing colleagues, the escape from police busts, and meeting old friends/clients.
So-Young discovers that an old acquaintance, called Saville Row Song for his immaculate haberdashery perfection, is now unwell with stroke. A visit to his nursing home revealed a dispirited Song, all ashamed for his condition, incontinence, immobility and all, begging to die. After a few visits, she actually helps him to die.
All through, she introspects on the appropriateness of her action. She once sees a cardboard collecting lady by the roadside and ponders who had sunken lower in society - the lady dealing with dirty discards or herself for prostituting?
A good movie with a positive social message. A good watch.
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