Broken Arrow

"Broken Arrow" (2012 영화 부러진 화살), a mega-hit court drama film, showed how a laid-off professor challenged unsuccessfully the unjust court proceedings.

Originally, "Broken Arrow" means an accidental event that involves nuclear weapons or nuclear components but which does not create the risk of nuclear war. But, in the movie, a broken arrow is a real thing that, the accused insisted, was missing on the crime scene. "Broken Arrow" is a US-made movie in 1996.

"Broken Arrow" was made with a low budget, but turned out to be a box office blockbuster during the Lunar New Year holidays in January 2012. It was exceeding the expectation prior to the release of the film. As the judiciary is concerned about the enthusiastic public response, the movie might be taken as yet another testimonial to the dwindling public trust in the court system, although some attribute its success to the popularity of the two top actors Ahn Sung-ki and Moon Sung-keun.

The movie was directed by Chung Ji-young, starring Ahn Sung-ki, Moon Sung-keun, Park Won-sang, Nah Young-hee, Kim Ji-ho, running time 100 minutes.

Key words
Broken Arrow, Dogani, court drama, court proceedings, Flash of Genius (U.S. film)

Court dramas
Korean readers need not be envious of John Grisham's novels in the United States. In the autumn 2011, another court film, "Dogani" (Melting Pot) based on the same name novel by Gong Ji-young, stirred controversy over the court’s judgment. The court's ruling was described as nearly condoning of staff and teachers at a school for the disabled who were accused of sexually abusing their young students. If "Dogani" touched off public anger in the court’s inability to establish justice, a new film "Broken Arrow", based on a true story, exposed attempts by the court to conceal its fallacy at the expense of the right of the accused.

In an unusual move, the Supreme Court prepared a two-page press release before the nationwide release of "Broken Arrow" to explain how some details in the film were different from the facts the court recognized in the criminal trial of Prof. Kim Myeong-ho. Kim was convicted of assault with arrows resulting in injury, and imprisoned for four years. The victim in the armed attack was the presiding judge in a civil suit, who dismissed Kim’s appeal for his reinstatement.

Synopsis
Kim Myeong-ho was a Professor of Mathematics at a private university in Seoul. But Kim was denied reappointment after he claimed a mistake in the university’s entrance examination. He filed a suit for a return to his position in 2005 but he lost both in the first instance and the appellate court. In the evening of January 15, 2007, he visited the apartment of the presiding judge of Seoul High Court panel and shot at him with a crossbow. The prosecution at first charged him with attempted murder and then indicted him for assault leading to injury while the defendant claimed he had only shot a "broken arrow" in an attempt to scare the judge.

Initial response from the Public and the Judiciary
Is there anything wrong with "Dogani" and "Broken Arrow"?

In the process of the dramatization of the true story, there could be some distortion or improper adaptation of the facts leading to people’s mistrust in the judiciary system. The popularity of "Dogani" and "Broken Arrow" may rather prove the depleted credibility of the court and respect for judges in today’s Korean society. The frequently reported indiscreet behaviors of some judges these days are helping blemish the court’s dignity.

The Judiciary was alarmed by the SNS and Internet messages that people were about to review the sensational cases with the fictitious portrayals of the characters in the movie - the assailant professor as the victim of an unfair trial and the assaulted judge as an example of the erroneous exercise of legal authority.

Public sentiment
In reality, there are an increasing number of judges who defied public trust in them with judgments unacceptable to common sense and by circulating nonsensical messages concerning current political affairs. Some even ridiculed President Lee Myung-bak using extremely vulgar expressions such as Gakasekki taken from Internet dialogues. Their comments, generally supporting leftist activism, have not only called their intellectual capacity into question but seriously harmed public trust in the legal community.

Judges used to say, "Judges speak through their judgments." But this legal maxim is more often than not forgotten by some judges. A judge tweeted that "Gakasekki (pointing the President in disgrace) is pro-American to the bone" and another claimed that the KorUS Free Trade Agreement harms the sovereignty to adjudicate. It is a pity that some inconsiderate judges might arouse the public disappointment or mistrust in the court system. They are supposed to help produce another round of the movies like "Dogani" and "Broken Arrow" in the near future.

Social burden out of avalanche of lawsuits
It is undeniably true that a large share of audience got vicarious satisfaction from the scene in which the judge was scolded by the accused. According to a newspaper article, however, the former Professor of Mathematics has become a self-educated lawyer. He used to file a series of lawsuits including 585 constitutional appeals. For an instance, ex-Prof. Kim argued that the current Civil Procedure Act is unconstitutional becasue the Act lacks provisions regulating the "adjudicative terrorism" or idle civil proceedings leaving the victim like him behind. He is said to be very swift to accuse the judges and prosecutors who dissappointed him.

In this sense, ex-Prof. Kim is associated with the U.S. movie hero, Robert Kearns of Flash of Genius 2008. Although Kearns invented the intermittent windshield wiper, he exhausted his idea, energy and even family ties in carrying out a series of consumptive lawsuits for 12 years against big motor companies, among which he could win only one legal battle against Ford Motor Company.