Movie Review: Zhang Lu's "Dooman River" (2009) - Part 4

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Zhang Lu’s Creation of Dooman River as the “Third Space”
Eun-Ha Son’s analysis of the movie’s Dooman river being the “Third Space” seems incoherent as Bhabha’s third space actually gets rid of the binary oppositions and the differences between the self and the other, creating a mutual consent. The movie instead shows the realistic conflicts between the two groups, creating some binaries mentioned above, by putting boundaries between the Choseonjok and the North Koreans. In the first part of the film, Zhang realistically portrays the conflicts and problems that arise because of the North Korean defectors crossing the borders to Yanbian; he also shows the widening gap between the Choseonjok generations.
The Dooman River becomes the “Third Space,” but not in the sense of Son’s analysis. It is Zhang, who idealistically reconstructs and literally makes the Dooman river the “Third Space.” He uses unrealistic scenes to successfully and slowly erase the border between North Korea and China. He has children easily cross the Dooman river, with Jeongjin coming back and forth to bring food for his sister and even play soccer. The very first scene where Changho lies on the frozen river, or when the grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease almost crosses the river is literally impossible. The river is a dangerous place; from the beginning of the film there are dead bodies found there, and Soonhee also hurriedly reminds Changho to be careful when playing near the river, but the Zhang makes the audience automatically follow the characters crossing back and forth.
Zhang also adds more unrealistic elements by using children as the main characters. It is significant in that they do not reside in the grownups’ world; Jeongjin easily risks his life crossing the river to play soccer with Changho, and in return, Changho puts his life in danger too when Jeongjin is being arrested. This seems unreasonable for the viewers, but the director wants the children to transcend the Chinese and North Korean authorities and political boundaries. He wants to show his hopeless dream of the North Koreans and Choseonjok rebuilding their relationship, not with the sort of connection they used to have in the past, but while having different identities. The way he finishes the movie with the grandmother magically crossing the bridge Soonhee drew further shows the director’s wish of recreating Dooman river into a place of hope, not death. Zhang wishes to relink the ethnic Koreans, giving Dooman river the role of becoming the “Third Space” which gets rid of all the boundaries.

Conclusion
Through the movie Dooman River, Zhang Lu shows the fluidity of the diaspora identities of the Choseonjok living in Yanbian, continuously changing with the different influences of North Korea, South Korea, and China. Stuart Hall’s definition of diasporic identity fits well in this movie’s representation of the Korean diaspora. Furthermore, the director attempts to construct Dooman river as Homi Bhabha’s “Third Space.” On the surface, the movie might just show a deep friendship between two boys from China and North Korea, but the director’s hopeless dream is embedded in this relationship, representing the bigger relationship between the Choseonjok and North Koreans, relating to one another.
Unlike the recent South Korean movies that portray the Choseonjok as violent and reckless, Zhang Lu has attempted to show the much humanly side of the Choseonjok. As realistically he has tried to represent the Choseonjok, he has also idealistically put them in positions of becoming the actual bridge that will link China and North Korea.

Bhabha, Homi K. “The Third Space.” Ed. Jonathan Rutherford. Identity: Community, Culture and Difference. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990. 207-221. Print.
Dooman River. Dir. Lu Zhang. Perf. Cui Jian, Yin Lan, Lin Jinlong. 2011. DVD.
Son, Eun-Ha. "한국 영화 속 재현된 조선족 디아스포라 (Korean Chinese Diaspora Represented in Films)." Korean Studies Institute, Pusan National University 63 (2017): 231-56. Print.