The Last of the Sea Women

Given that it's an A24 production, I had high hopes for good characters and storytelling but was ultimately disappointed.

The film is beautifully shot and the women profiled are incredible, but there is so little character building that an hour and a half later, I don't feel any closer to any of the characters. The film touches on some of the seawomen's past, the discrimination they faced, the lack of labour rights, and how they finally rose above it all. But the director gives the issue quite a superficial treatment using a few standard soundbites without diving deeper.

I also feel I didn't learn much about the "haenyeo" women. Why are the divers all women but their "bosses" all men? Is the area accessible to haenyeo divers only? Why are they able to compete with more modern forms of fishing? Given Malala is the producer, I also expected a deeper dive into related social issues.

Overall, the film is beautiful but lacklustre in emotion and substance. It's fun to see dozens of septuagenarians free diving, laughing and having a good time, but this isn't enough to sustain the film for an hour and a half. It feels like it's TV film you can watch on Discovery Channel.

It's fascinating to me that I learned for the first time about these strong, fearless, cheerful grandmothers called haenyeo, who in their 60s and 70s still snorkel a few meters and collect seafood to sell, and that's a tradition in South Korea. On the island of Jeji, a craft that has been handed down for generations, but is now dying out due to climate change, ocean pollution, and because the new generations do not want to do it. UNESCO protected this tradition in 2016.

However, although the film is visually wonderful, they failed to elaborate on some very important topics, such as when the government of Japan decided to release radioactive material into the ocean after Fukushima and when a haenyeo representative was invited to the UN to give a speech on what consequences this would have. . We don't really get a full epilogue to it, it's just scratched the surface. In essence, they did release that material into the ocean.

I enjoyed the concept very much and it was fascinating to learn about these women, but I felt the narrative lacking a bit. Felt like there was an opportunity to say a lot more, and I found the attempt to tie it into existential circumstances in the last third was a bit forced and didn't totally land for me.

I would've been much more interested in learning about the women's personal lives and their families and their mental hurdles and struggles rather than the focus on relatively dry speeches at the UN and whatnot. But overall pretty solid and touching, and the women documented are nothing short of remarkable.

Greetings again from the darkness. They consider themselves "the guardians of the sea". My guess is that most of us have never heard of the haenyeos, the women divers on Jeju Island in South Korea. Director Sue Kim introduces us to these remarkable women who are carrying on a tradition that dates back to the 14th century.

We learn the haenyeo practice sustainable seafood harvesting. They dive "with their own air", which means no air tanks - just their lungs. Their equipment is limited to a wetsuit, a hook, and a net basket. The underwater photography is spectacular and has us diving alongside these women who admit to disliking sea urchins, which require intensive labor to get to the good part. Director Kim dedicates separate segments to a few of the women, and what we immediately realize is that every haenyeo is a tough woman living a tough life.

What we also recognize is the passion, commitment, and camaraderie. Not only are they talented divers and fisherwomen, they have a community of respect and friendship. However, the picture is not all rosy. Their tradition is being threatened on many fronts. The divers have been pushed out to deeper water due to trash in the water. They have also noted a distinct shortage of sea life from their younger days, and attribute this to the warmer water from climate change. Beyond these threats, the women are facing generational differences. Most divers are in their 60's and 70's, and very few younger women care to carry on this tradition. The haenyeo numbers peaked in the 1960's with 30,000 divers, whereas now the count is fewer than 4000.

The most recent threat to the sea and the haenyeo comes from Japan and the proposal to dump nuclear wastewater from Fukushima into the sea to minimize radioactivity. The fear is the danger to all sea life for the foreseeable future. This threat inspired one of the elder divers, Soon Deok, to travel to Switzerland and deliver a personal statement to the Human Rights Council, followed by official protests.

In addition to the group of elderly divers, director Kim introduces a couple of thirty-somethings who have joined the haenyeos, and have utilized YouTube and TikTok to document the sea changes and generate some attention for the profession. Haenyeos have been recognized by UNESCO, and their work is as fascinating as the personalities of the women. However, the long list of threats cannot be overlooked, and perhaps the notoriety this film will bring can make a difference. One of the producers is renowned activist Malala Yousafzai and it's distributed by A24.

Releasing on Apple TV+ on October 11, 2024.

A documentary film about a group of female divers, most of them elderly, from South Korea. They dive without any kind of assistance to collect seafood.

It has all the basics you'd expect in these cases: interviews with different protagonists, basic information about how long this tradition has existed, how it continues today, etc.

You might find it more or less interesting overall; personally, it didn't catch my attention at all.

The main problem arises when they mention that this group has partnered with the United Nations, throw in some low-quality meetings about the Fukushima issue, and, finally, showcase the waste of taxes and the time politicians spend padding their agendas.

You're not missing anything by skipping this documentary.