Samjin Company English Class

Lee Jong-pil's 2020 South Korean film follows three women working at a company in the mid-1990s. Ja-young, Yu-na and Bo-ram, kept at the same grade because they are high school graduates, enrol in an English class in order to be promoted; meanwhile they notice that the company is discharging toxic waste from a factory and decide to expose it. The film is known to reference a real event, the 1991 phenol spill into the Nakdong River. What it does best is show in detail the position of women inside the company: identical uniforms, the duty of carrying coffee, numbers used in place of names. Those details turn the heroism from a career story into collective action. The tone is sometimes too light. Who it's for: viewers who like Korean cinema, workplace drama and stories of solidarity among women. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a realistic corporate critique, or who will think the comic tone unsuited to the subject.