Produced for Netflix, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s Okja (2017), which was made right before his Oscar-winning triumph Parasite (2019), presents the alternately light-hearted and grim modern-day fairy tale story of a girl and her superpig.
A prologue introduces a woman named Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton), the public face of the meat-processing Mirando Corporation, who wants to buff the company’s bloody abattoir image by announcing a contest in which 26 genetically-modified “superpiglets” will be raised by farmers in various countries over a 10-year period, after which one would be crowned the winner.
Flash forward a decade: young teen orphan Mija (An Seo Hyun) is seen cavorting with her now super-sized pig Okja in a pastoral rural setting. The girl and pig are clearly having fun and share an emotional bond that becomes nail-bitingly evident in a scene in which Okja saves Mija from a life-threatening fall. Although Mija’s grandfather has assured that he has bought Okja to keep, in reality, the corporation is coming for their property, beginning with the arrival of Mirando spokesperson zoologist Dr. Johnny Wilcox (a delightful go-for-broke performance by Jake Gyllenhaal), who crowns Okja as the proverbial best in show.
While grandpa takes Mija to visit the graves of her parents, Okja is whisked away, headed for Seoul as the first stop in a trip to New York City for her photo op before becoming food. An outraged and heartbroken Mija leaves home in the middle of the night in hot pursuit, catching up with Okja in an action-packed chase scene that winds up in an underground mall (think: bull in a china shop on steroids).
Both Mija and Okja are rescued by the ALF (Animal Liberation Front), which is headed up by Jay (Paul Dano)—a man who pointedly eschews violence (until he severely reprimands a cohort). Through translator K (Steven Yuen), Jay explains that they want to replace the black box inside Okja’s ear (which tracks vital data) with a camera that will allow them (and the world) to see what is really going on inside a Mirando slaughterhouse. When Jay says that they will only proceed with Mija’s blessing, she replies that she just wants to go back home with Okja—but K (the only other Korean speaker) falsely says that Mija is OK with the idea, eventually setting up an elaborate rescue mission for the pig when things go wrong.
Okja initially feels like a family film—an obvious descendant of Babe: Pig in the City—except for the numerous f-bombs and darker aspects of late scenes. Mija is a can-do heroine who loves her best friend and only wants to return to her little patch of paradise. Ultimately, she will face off against Nancy Mirando (Lucy’s behind-the-scenes, coldly-calculating twin sister, also played by Swinton) in a confrontation that quickly strips away all pretensions of PR benevolence to reveal the capitalistic truth, which is nakedly unemotional and strictly transactional.
Presented in a gorgeous 4K digital edition, extras include a conversation between Bong Joon Ho and producer Dooho Choi, interviews with actors An Seo Hyun and Byun Heebong, interviews with members of the crew (about the film’s cinematography, visual effects, and costume and production design), short programs (including a director’s video diary, featuring Bong; actors Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, and Steven Yeun; and others), and a leaflet with an essay by critic Karen Han.
Part girl-and-her-pig fable, part animal rights satire, and part economics critique, Okja is all entertainment—a big-hearted, visually eye-popping adventure with a bite, aimed at both the heart and the mind. Highly recommended for public library film collections, especially on international shelves.