Name: Mira Meg B.

Basilio
Course & Section: BMMA-201
Subject: The Contemporary World
Professor: Jumel G. Estran͂ero
MIRACLE IN CELL NO.7

I.BACKGROUND OF THE FILM

This is a Korean film it was produced by Kim Min-ki and Lee Sang-hun with executive
producer Kim Woo-taek. It was directed by Lee Hwan-kyung, written by Lee Hwan-kyung, and
his co-writer Yu Young-a, Kim Hwang-sung, Kim Young-seok. Music by Lee Dong-june and
edited by Choi Jai-geun and Kim So-youn. The Cast of Miracle in cell no.7 starring Ryu Seung-
ryong who portrayed the role of Lee Yong-gu, Kal So-won who portrayed the role of child Ye-
sung, Park Shin-hye who portrayed the role of adult Ye-sung, Oh Dal su who portrayed the role
of So Yang-ho, Jung Jin-young who portrayed the role of Jang Min-hwan, Park Won-sang who
portrayed the role of Choi Chun-ho, Kim Jung-tae who portrayed the role of Kang Man-
beom, Jung Man-sik who portrayed the role of Shin Bong-shik, Kim Ki-cheon who portrayed the
role of Old man Da-do.
This peculiar combination of wide-ranging humor and problem-based drama is what makes
Miracle in cell no.7 so mystifying and logic-defying. It's difficult to know whether Lee has made
a social drama masked as a goofy comedy or a comedy with an undercurrent of justified
indignation. This is a way, if it was not filled with entertaining performances by the most popular
second-stringers in Korea, this movie wouldn't work at all.
Director Lee and his team of daily authors are completely dedicated to the imagination and
creating the universe so that it's easy to let reality fall away. On the incredible plane, also the
main package, the jail cell, remains. The cheerful, homey prison of production designer Lee Hu-
kyoung is free of steel bars and bare concrete (the toilet has a door), filmed with soft edges by
filmmaker Kang Seung-gii to be a space suitable for a little girl; it probably looks better than the
orphanage classroom Ye-sung attends. As well as the jail executing the most sincere laughs,
sometimes refreshingly not relying on the comedy of the bathroom. Among the highlights are the
preference of Ye-sung to paint over the Playboy pinups decorating the walls, Boss Yang-ho 's
reading lessons, and the sight gags centered around keeping Ye-sung secret.
Then there is the melodramatic scene, a sad feature that gives the film its jarring feel. In a
flashback, the jail scenes are told as an adult Ye-sung addresses a court to prove the innocence of
her father. Jang Min-hwan, a warden at the time of Yong-gu's arrest, is her greatest ally in the
search. Jang was a mourning father in 1997, whose maturity and gut feelings convinced him that
Yong-gu may be innocent. By looking the other way as Ye-sung sneaks in and by raising the
little girl, later on, he does his part. He also searches around police documents and uncovers a
trend that confirms their allegations of a political prosecution, police ineptitude, and misconduct.
Also, Director Lee has a propensity for dramatics (walking the green mile) and heavy-handed
imagery (the hot air balloon that gets snagged on barbed wire) that may have been judicious
editing.
 Due to the strong advertisements, the film received 4.6 million admissions equivalent to
more than 30 million US dollars in its first two weeks. Alongside the publication of The Berlin
File, on the third week, it gained 15 percent more audience members, with a 75.8 percent seat
booking. It became only the eighth movie in Korean cinema history to crack the 10 million mark
in ticket revenue 32 days after its debut.
It became particularly remarkable because Miracle in cell no.7 had no major stars and a
small budget with a break-even point of 1.7 million admissions, making its ultimate profit the
best among the 10 million films. In 46 days after its release, the film surpassed 12 million
viewers. Ticket sales reached 12.32 million on March 15, 2013, 52 days after its release, making
it the fifth highest-grossing Korean film of all time.
In 2017, the movie was adapted into a Kannada movie named Pushpaka Vimana. Kross
Pictures in association with Indian Film Studios to produce the official Hindi remake of the
movie and was directed by Umesh Shukla Shukla. It was also adapted as 7. in Turkey in 2019. In
the lead role, Koğuştaki Mucize stars in Aras Bulut lynemli. This is a purely theatrical
interpretation that applies qualities and characters to many myths. In the Philippines, the film
was also adopted under the same title, starring Aga Muhlach, Bela Padilla, and Xia Vigor. It was
also adapted by Indonesia in 2020 with the same title.

II.BODY
Ye-sung is an attorney who defends her deceased father for a felony he has not done. Ye-
sung sees a balloon being stuck on the barbed wire before fleeing the prison court because of the
good prosecution and looks back to the past.
Back in 1997, A six-year-old girl Ye-sung and her dad, Yong-gu is an old mentally disabled
man with a brain like a child. His daughter wanted to buy a Sailor Moon backpack. However, it
was bought by the police commissioner and his daughter before Yong-gu could and beat him as
he attempted to get it back. The daughter later simply shows Yong-gu some other store that sells
the same backpack, but after falling on the damp pavement and dropping a brick on her head, she
dies in an accident. Yong-gu was arrested for rape and murder after he administered CPR on the
child in a desperate effort, apparently seen as sexual assault.
Yong-gu is sent to jail, where he and five other inmates share a jail cell, all of whom dislike
him for his wrongly accused crime and mental disorder. One day, Yong-gu seeks the help of his
prison gang boss and cellmate, So Yang-ho, from being stabbed by a rival jail gang leader. So
Yang-ho then agrees to assist Yong-gu with returning the favor in whatever direction he can.
Yong-gu tells So Yang-ho that he would like to see Ye-sung, his daughter. The five prisoners,
discovering the innocence of Yong-gu, then decide to make the miracle happen together. The
prisoners were successful in sneaking Ye-sung into the jail and reuniting Yong-gu with her. She
is found a few minutes later, however, and the police escort her back to daycare. The warden
realizes that Yong-gu wasn't the girl's attacker after Yong-gu rescued him and another prisoner
from an arson attempt, but that he couldn't do anything to help him in the face of the
commissioner's strength. He is, however, willing to allow Ye-sung after school to visit Yong-gu
every day.
Ye-sung, the security guard, and the seven prisoners in the room all head to Yong-gu's
courtroom to prove his innocence. Unfortunately, before the hearing, the commissioner calls and
beats Yong-gu, threatening to murder his daughter unless he confesses. Yong-gu left with no
other alternative, kills himself by lying that he killed the daughter of the commissioner to defend
Ye-sung. Yong-gu was sentenced to death on December 23rd, the date of Ye-sung 's birth. The
prisoners plan to create a hot air balloon for Yong-gu to escape, feeling guilty for Yong-gu. At a
prison festival, the prisoners send Yong-gu and Ye-sung on a balloon and attempt easily to stop
the security officers from catching Yong-gu, but the barbed wire holds the balloon's rope.
Yesung's birthday is celebrated by the prisoners and Yong-gu before he is executed. Soon, Yong-
gu names the executor. Yong-gu and Ye-sung continued to cry and embraced each other, asking
Yong-gu not to be executed by the executor. Yong-gu dies after the execution.
Ye-sung is now an adult and adopted by the warden she is emotionally saying within the
court in the present time that she will forgive Yong-gu for his actions. By granting him a
sentence of innocence and permission to re-investigate the death of the child, the head prosecutor
exonerates Yong-gu, to the relief of the freed seven prisoners, the warden, and Ye-sung.
The scene switches back to the film's beginning. Ye-sung then notices a glimpse of Yong-gu
on a hot air balloon and her younger self smiling farewell to her. She then tearfully says farewell
to her father as the balloon flies into the sky, indicating that Yong-gu is free to leave for heaven
and symbolizing that Ye-sung is letting her father go (Kerr, 2013).
In the summary of this movie. This movie is all about a mentally retarded man. He made
friends with the criminals in room 7 and was jailed for murder, and they let him see his daughter
again by sneaking her in. Yong-gu is a mentally retarded man with the intellect of a six-year-old
who is, in fact, the age of Ye-sung's his daughter, who is much smarter than her peers. They live
a happy life while Yong-gu works at a store in a parking lot. One day, though, when the daughter
of the police commissioner gets into an accident, Yong-gu is the one who watches and attempts
to assist her.
He is convicted, due to the accusation that he sexually harassed a child. Since everybody had
a misconception that he was going to kiss her and sexual harassment while he was trying to do
artificial breathing. Yong-gu couldn't, however, deny the argument because he can't talk clearly.
Fortunately, Yong-Gu is willing to see his daughter at the childcare institution's prisoner show.
So, he sends her to prison. However, she finds her a few minutes later and they take her back to
childcare. Probably, Jin Yeong, head of jail, realizes that Yong-Gu wasn't the assailant, so he
couldn't claim something in front of the police commissioner's strength.
Fortunately, Yong-Gu has been supported by the people in prison so that he can defend the
case at trial. The police commissioner talks to him through the phone on the trial day, before he
goes to court, and beats him up, and threatens that if you are found innocent, your daughter will
die. After this, Yong-Gu lies that he murdered the daughter of the police chief. He was sentenced
to death. People have agreed to support Yong-Gu and the family of Ye-sung. Inmates make a
hot-air-balloon and let them in. They were going to fly out, but the cord of the hot air balloon
suspended from the jail's barbed-wire fence. Suddenly, the day was December 23, which is the
electrocution day of Yong-Gu and the birthday of her daughter, Ye-sung. Ye-sung needs her
father's compliments, so Jin-Young helps to see his dad before he gets electrocution. Room 7
brings people together and wishes Ye-sung a happy birthday. But the executor will call Yong-Gu
shortly. Yong-Gu and Ye-sung began to weep, and they embraced one another. Sadly, Yong-Gu
was wrongly charged and left in the clouds. Yong-Gu 's daughter was adopted by Jin-Yeong and
Ye-Sung became an adult. Then Ye-Sung attempts to clarify that her father a false accusation.
For his boss, she became a judicial assistant. She eventually got a phrase of innocence. After
that, she saw a balloon as she stepped out, dangling from the fence and tossing it down.

III.ANALYSIS
 The movie shows the undeniably and genuine love of a father to his daughter. The mental
illness of the father doesn’t stop him to do his responsibility for his daughter, which makes it a
relevant point for the current era even though the time phase in the movie was in 1997. The
scene where his daughter wanted the sailor moon bag and the father saving his money for it
shows the father’s determination to give what his child needs and wants. Unfortunately, the said
bag was in its last stocked and was bought by another child, who he followed for the reason to
negotiate about the bag. This scene shows how much gap between the two families is. The scene
where he is trying to revive the child after an accident that happened and leads to child’s death, is
the part of the film which makes people realize how humanity works in everyone, no matter what
race, status, illness, and color you have.
The conflict started when he was accused in harassing the child. Note that the phase of the
film was in 1997, mental illness is not considered and looked in judging a suspect. On the other
hand, this mirrors how people easily come up by their own story, according to what they so and
not knowing the whole picture. Also, there was this scene where his daughter came to the prison
to present a performance. This happened when he is already in prison. It was the scene movie
where they had a chance to be together again due to the fact that his daughter intentionally stayed
in the prison, which is a touching scene. However, this also shows how the officers in charged
works and loose their system was. The father was then sentenced to death leaving his daughter
behind. The ending shows that his daughter strived to be a lawyer just to clear his father’s name,
which she achieved. This where the justice was served.

IV. CONCLUSION
The film revolves around a father and a daughter story. As what is written in the analysis,
1997 was the time phase of the film. However, it is still relevant in the present year. The justice
system in the film serves as a wakeup call and reminder on how important rights, law, equality
and fairness are. This also mirrors how those who have power can manipulate those who are
beneath them. Note that in the film, he was sentenced to death due to the accusation that he
sexually harassed the child. Death penalty is a punishment that until now, the government in the
Philippines are still debating. Also, the topic of sexually harassing a person and especially that it
is a minor is a crime that in the present time is still happening. The scene where the daughter
becomes a lawyer and serve the justice that his father deserves, serves as an inspiration that no
matter how long the trail to take, you will eventually arrived in your desired destination. The
movie tackled different issues in the society that people in the past neglected. In the present, it is
now discussed, has the attention it deserves and served in people’s table.

Reference:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/miracle-cell-no-7-film-479285
http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=2277
https://giftofroom7.weebly.com/summary.html
https://entertainment.inquirer.net/337137/nadine-lustre-aga-muhlach-to-star-in-miracle-in-
cell-no-7-remake