By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
“Do you not have a future?” asks haenyeo Sohee Jin. “The ocean has to be healthy for all of us and the earth to be happy.”
They are sea women, female divers, “guardians of the sea.” The documentary, “The Last of the Sea Women,” premiering on Apple TV+ on Oct. 11, chronicles what may be the last days of their way of life. More than that, this engrossing film, directed by Sue Kim, and produced by activist Malala Yousafzai, Erika Kennair, with Kim, shows us that it’s not just the livelihood of these hearty and brave women that is threatened, but all of our lives. From the damage done by climate change, and by other humans, the ocean and the earth are changing, perhaps irrevocably.
It’s a lot to bite off—and you don’t realize it at first. You think, oh this is an interesting story about a very particular group of people. As you continue watching, you realize this film is so much more—that it is about all of us, and that it is very important. Kim has been captivated by the haenyeo since she was a child and her family took a trip to Jeju Island, South Korea, “homeland” of the haenyeo, where she saw a group of them in a cove.
“I was instantly struck by them,” Kim shared with the Asian Weekly. “Back then, they were exactly as you see in the film. They’re so loud and funny, half arguing, half laughing. They projected this very big, bold energy, this confidence…I was inspired by them as [being] a different kind of Korean womanhood.”
The tradition of diving into the ocean for food has taken place in many parts of the world for centuries. In Korea, men had done so since at least the 5th century CE. However, by the 1600s, the profession was majority female. It wasn’t necessarily a respected job for a woman, but it allowed—and does allow—for an independence rarely found in a male-dominated society. We are told in the film that around the time of the Joseon Dynasty, men stopped doing the job because it was “too hard.” Women took it on as sometimes an only means of income available to them. Training as a haenyeo traditionally started as young as 7 years old, with the girl becoming an official haenyeo worthy of the name around the age of 15 to 17. Then, it’s for life.
Ten years after that childhood trip, Kim met an elder haenyeo who told her that the current generation of haenyeo was likely to be the last. In her own career, Kim had become known for her documentary, “The Speed Cubers.” She knew she wanted to share with audiences this “incredible community and sisterhood” of haenyeo, and to do so while they could still “tell their own story, in their own words.” Enter Yousafzai, who happens to have formed her own production company, with Apple TV+, called Extracurricular. The president of Extracurricular, Kennair, asked Kim, “Is there a story you are dying to tell?” Then “The Last of the Sea Women” project was born. It happened that in the midst of this came terrible news, very much related, of the dumping of Fukushima wastewater into the sea.
“The ocean feeds us and feels like our mother’s arms,” a haenyeo says at the start of the film, which offers us a view into the underwater world like no other. It is mesmerizing, gorgeous, and devastating to learn that it is fast disappearing. Although not a single one of us should be learning this for the first time, firsthand testimony is vital if we really want anyone to grasp the true urgency of our situation as a people and a planet. The effect of climate change is already there—seen up close and personal by the haenyeo, who have noted dying species, fewer species in shallow water, and new species because now the water is warmer. Not to mention the buildup of garbage. Since August of last year, the situation has been further complicated by the release of nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The radioactivity is supposedly diluted, and claimed “safe,” yet believed by many to still be dangerous to human life and sea life.
The haenyeo are in the middle of it. In the film, we meet several haenyeo briefly and a few at length. Of these, one in particular, Soon Deok Jang, who at the time of filming was 72, becomes a spokesperson for the haenyeo, both locally and via a visit to the United Nations, Council of Human Rights.
“I am a haenyeo…I made my life through diving…please stop dumping the water before it’s too late,” Jang says in the two minutes allotted to her in a room where almost no one is looking at her. While her bravery is admired, it doesn’t work. The waste is dumped, and will be dumped little by little for the next 30 years. Can we really say it is harmless?
“There is more interest since haenyeo culture was recognized by UNESCO,” says Joo Hyun Kim, a “school officer” at Jeju Hansupul Haenyeo School. In fact, there are two young influencer haenyeo, Jin, quoted above, and her friend, Jeongmin Woo, creators of a YouTube channel, “Meet the Modern Haenyeo.” In spite of many best efforts, though, the job and the environment are probably still doomed (it has really come to that). Nevertheless, haenyeo young and old have pledged to continue to dive “with their last breath.” It is heartbreaking.
“The ocean is our home,” says elder haenyeo Geum Ok. “We can’t stop diving. We have to go to the sea. Even in my next life, I will dive again. Just an old woman and the sea, forever.”
Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.