The most touching drama about the love of a grandmother for her grandson: A mute grandmother teaches her naughty grandson to become a nice kid
It’s been 20 years since “The Way Home” was premiered, the messages about grandmother’s love and family love delivered through the film still remain in the audiences’ hearts.
In April 2022, the movie “The Way Home” was shown on the big screen and attracted up to 4 million audiences. This film tells the story of the little boy Sang Woo (Yoo Seung Ho) who comes to live with his mute grandmother (Kim Eul Boon) in the countryside. Without thrilling action scenes or a story with many twists, “The Way Home” only tells simple daily life stories that can often be seen in any poor rural area. This movie left a great impression on the viewers with its message about the unconditional love of the mute grandmother that makes her naughty grandson become a nice kid.
Love that comes from the smallest things
Sang Woo is a city-born boy. Due to some reasons, his mother takes him to the countryside to live with his grandmother for a period of time. Sang Woo’s grandmother is poor and she doesn’t have toys for him to play so he often gets angry and disrespects his grandmother.
After recognizing the love and care from his grandmother, Sang Woon gradually changes his attitude. His grandmother is not rich enough to buy expensive toys for him but she can “cure” his broken robot. She doesn’t have money to buy Sang Woo’s favorite KFC chickens but can run in the rain to the point that she catches a cold just to bring home a raw chicken and cook it for her grandson.
Love that changes humans
In the first half of the movie, Sang Woo is a naughty and disobedient kid. He calls his grandmother “the slow old woman”. He kicks his grandmother’s stuff when she doesn’t give him money and even steals her brooch to get a pair of batteries for his toy in exchange.
However, when the movie nearly comes to an end, Sang Woo gradually becomes a nice kid and he begins to love his grandmother and takes care of her. He teaches his grandmother to write simple words so that she could write letters to him after he returns to the city. He spends the whole night running threads through the needles for her, which is the only thing that she needs his help. When sitting on the bus returning to the city, Sang Woo turns around to see his grandmother and tearfully waves at her to express his love, which is something he doesn’t know how to say in words.
Sang Woo becomes a nice and well-behaved kid thanks to the unconditional love from his grandmother.
Love is the language to connect generations
The most special thing about “The Way Home” is that it doesn’t focus a lot on lines. It is because each character already has unique descriptions: a mute grandmother who cannot speak so she can only take care for his grandson silently and a grandson who is still too young so he has some innocent characteristics of his age.
However, it is the simple lines that helps emphasize more on the grandmother’s silent love. The grandmother silently takes care of Sang Woo and Sang Woo also silently receives her love and repays her. In the last scene, Sang Woo uses body language to talk to his grandmother like how she always shows him. Although Sang Woo and his grandmother don’t speak in the same way, it is love that takes them closer to understand and treasure each other more.
