Oasis

There may be less direct political commitment than in his début Green Fish, but Oasis is no less confrontational and Lee Chang Dong uses it to offer criticism on a micro-level of the indifferent, selfish side of modern society. Jong Du, a mentally handicapped petty thief, is arrested almost as soon as he is released from jail because he has no money to pay a restaurant bill. Some time later, his brother arrives to get him out on bail and to give him a job and a humble abode. Jong-Du goes to visit the family of the man he is supposed to have killed in a road accident – a crime that was actually committed by his brother – and meets the daughter of the house, the spastic and handicapped Gong-Ju. After a first encounter that goes gruesomely wrong, she seeks contact again with Jong-Du and a close bond develops between these two outcasts. He is the first person who sees Gong-Ju as more than a cripple and she is the first person not to judge him instantly by his deeds. Oasis has been filmed in a loose, documentary style, without much stylistic intervention, so that all attention is focused on the characters. Gong Ju and Jong Du are portrayed brilliantly by the actors who also played in Lee’s previous film, Peppermint Candy. Moon So-Ri rightly won the prize for the best young actress Venice.