Review by okpilak

This movie is nicely done. We are put into a backwater area, where the crops are dying due to lack of rain, the young people move away, and the children are left with grandparents, and the school has little. Into that arrives an idealistic teacher who wants to experience the real world, having been a monk for 10 years. There is one other teacher and the headmaster. One of his students, Ja, doesn't speak, and she is relentlessly teased. One day, while chased, she runs into the forest. The schoolgirls stop chasing her, since the forest is considered haunted, and no one comes back who goes in. There, she comes across a totally feral young boy, who tells her it is his forest, and she is not permitted there. But Ja is stubborn and also very smart, and she doesn't accept his story of owning the forest. Ja's teasing gets worse, so she goes more and more into the forest, and develops a bond with the boy. They teach each other. But that doesn't always go well, and tragic things happen. It is a slow moving movie, but takes time to develop the story arc and blends in well the main characters. Will the teacher be able to make a difference against all odds? The deck seems stacked against him.