Washed-out South Korean soccer player Kim Won-Kwang had a dream: to fulfill the dreams of 17 East Timor kids.
But that wasn’t always his dream. It didn’t start out as noble.
Won-Kwang played for Korea in the 1983 Junior Cup in Qatar. His only skills revolve around soccer. But he quit because greed got the best of him. After several failed business attempts, Won-Kwang’s lured to East Timor by a con man who calls himself James. There, he seeks new business opportunities, hoping to rebuild himself.
It wasn’t that easy.
Located off the coast of Indonesia, East Timor’s a very poor and tiny island nation. The country was colonized by Portugal for more than 450 years. When it finally won its independence in 1975, Indonesia invaded. Thousands died. People still live in poverty. Children beg for dollars on the streets. Sometimes there’s gunfights and explosions. And occasionally, the cities break into civil unrest.
Inspired by the true story of Kim Won-Kwang (played by Park Hee-soon), “A Barefoot Dream” (2010) is about Won-kwang’s eye-opening experience in East Timor in 2003.
Like the infamous apathetic coach of “Bad News Bears,” Won-Kwang’s not your typical hero. He didn’t come to East Timor for purely humanitarian reasons. He’d come for money. Seeing a group of kids playing soccer barefoot in the dust, Won-Kwang decides to invest in a untapped market: selling soccer and sports gear. The only problem is that the country’s poor.
“You need money to play sports,” says the neighborhood car salesman. “Here, everyone’s poor. They have to work. But the kids here, only just play. No work. No money, no soccer, and no future.”
“Who says you can’t play ball if you’re poor?” Won-Kwang responds.
Directed by Kim Tae-Gyun and written by Kim Gwang-Hun, “A Barefoot Dream” is the story of the underdog and the redeemed hero. Won-Kwong coaches a charming group of dreamers, who live in heart-breaking poverty. One boy (Fernando Pinto) tries to barter the chicken he raised just so he could continue playing soccer. Another boy (Francisco Varela) attempts to steal a stereo so he could get to Indonesia to play ball.
“A Barefoot Dream” reminds us that sports are a great equalizer, powerful enough to unite war-torn communities and big enough to believe in.
“A Barefoot Dream” was directed by Kim Tae-Gyun and written by Kim Gwang-Hun. The film was submitted as the South Korean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. For more film reviews including this year’s Academy Award nominations, visit Liu’s website: https://passthepopcornreviews.wordpress.com
