A few days ago, I watched a Korean movie called "Oasis," which provided me some sort of a mental stimulation. Prior to viewing the movie, I read some of the reviews, which called it a "brave movie to do." It deals with two social misfits, a mildly retarded man and a severely handicapped woman, falling in love with each other. It's not what you might think of it in common terms: the male is a habitual lawbreaker (hence, an ex-convict) who "ran over" the father of this female. After serving the prison sentence, he has the desire to visit the family, seeking forgiveness. The family gets angry at him and tries to make him go away. Somehow, he is capitivated by the disabled woman.

The guy comes back a few times later on, and he tries to rape the woman. Overcome with guilt, the man stops trying to rapethe woman and runs away. One day, the man receives a phone call from the woman, asking him for his companionship. Both of them spend quite a bit of time together, and start to really fall in love with each other. Once the families on both sides find out, they do everything possible to drive the couple apart. Will the couple succeed in making their families understand that the love they have for each other is genuine?

The central theme of this films seems to play around the fine line of a disabled person's independence, and how the abled family members seem to direct their own misconceptions on the disabled family member, thinking that they know what is best for the disabled individual. It opens our eyes to their perceptions on disabled family members, and shows us how they can be treated or exploited (in that case, for governmental housing and funds). They place no value whatsoever on their disabled members and try to hide them away in squalid apartments. As the disabled member tried to "speak up" for themselves, the family members feel so threatened and do everything in their power to stop them from being embarrassed "in the public eye."

I definitely recommend this movie, even though there may be situations which will strike you as alarming. You're being constantly pulled apart with different ideas, and at the end of the film, you're forced to examine your own thoughts and why you had this misconception about the two main characters in the first place.