What does it mean to have those with severe physical and mental disabilities portrayed on screen by the able-bodied? It might seem silly to make an issue of it, since finding the right disabled actor for the part would prove to be a difficult task. But what happens when you're watching a film that requires an actor to pretend to have some severe, disfiguring disability, while knowing in the back of your mind that in real life the actor does not? I tried to sort out such thoughts while viewing Lee Chang-dong's 2002 "Oasis."
"Oasis" is a believable and sympathetic film. It is a love story about a troublesome man, Jong-du (Sol Kyung-gu), who has been in and out of jail, and who, at 29 years old, thinks and behaves like a boy. Jong-du falls in love with Gong-ju (So-ri Moon), a young girl with cerebral palsy. Jong-du is clueless to the point of annoying, with Sol portraying him as a sniffling 7-year-old in a 30-year-old body. His complete incompetence is supposed to arouse our sympathies, though the fact that he tries to rape Gong-ju on their first meeting doesn't make him very endearing.
Despite their horrific first encounter, it becomes apparent that Jong-du and Gong-ju are a good match, as these two childlike souls are stuck in a world of adults who scorn and ruthlessly exploit them. Jong-du and Gong-ju are good-hearted beings in a world that doesn't accept them, so what else but to have these outcasts fall in love?
The movie has its share of lyrical moments, most of them via Gong-ju who imagines herself an able-bodied young girl who can talk, dance, even sing. In this extension of herself, we see director Lee play with images such as a pigeon that becomes a mirror's reflection of light, butterflies and Indian belly dancers with elephants.
"Oasis" also goes to some unexpected and uncomfortable places, the most dramatic of which is the sex scene. Here, Lee doesn't give us Gong-ju's dream version of the sex, but a real and awkward one. It is uncomfortable to watch and yet you can't help but appreciate that you're viewing a scene that probably hasn't been filmed before.
Returning to the issue of actors playing the physically disabled, how do we know when the portrayal is done with consideration and not just to show off acting chops? The answer is found when the characters themselves surface. They're not defined by their physical disabilities. In this film, it's not about the stereotypes, but the people.
I know nothing about cerebral palsy, and I cannot speak from personal circumstances. But I'm sure Moon's portrayal of Gong-ju was done in earnest, with a close eye to the details of those who have the condition. Moon does bring out the sweet girl underneath the scrunched-up face and herky-jerky arms. Yet, there's also a kind of grotesquerie in it that makes me think this is a case of overacting. Add to this the dream sequences of an able-bodied Gong-ju and the film seems to almost announce the fact that an actor is mimicking a disability. Maybe for the benefit of the story, it was unavoidable to show an able-bodied Gong-ju, but was it necessary to make such a display of it?
"Oasis" is a good movie. In fact, it is very good because it's simple. Unlike the portentous symbolism of Kim Ki-duk, there is no great message here. The symbolic depth in "Oasis" begins and ends with the title, which means just what it is, a safe place far from the world. And unlike the hyper-stylized flash of Park Chan-wook, Lee has no visual tricks or twists; he just tells the story as it is. Everything is about the story and the cast of fairly rounded characters. This is what makes Lee a far better director than his overly self-conscious contemporaries.