I saw this film last night — enjoyed it and recommend it. Okja is the story of a young rural South Korean girl and her love of a genetically modified “super pig,” Okja. Yeah, it’s a strange-sounding plot, but it works. Along the way, there’s a critique of corporate power and a young band of animal liberation activists bent on exposing it that made me want to join Earth First! or PETA.
The film, however, is genuinely funny and heartwarming and for whatever ideological points it scores, the narrative never loses sight of the connection between the girl and Okja. Another success for Netflix.
We can’t sell it unless it’s dead!
This the CEO yells while standing on the killing floor, Okja’s life hanging in the balance, and it stands as sort of a religious credo for modern civilization. “We can’t sell it unless it’s dead!” This axiom also gets to the heart of the perverted reality of our world: economic success means converting the living world into dead money as quickly as possible. Profitability is linked directly to death. It’s a truth that’s buried beneath slogans and slick marketing, but the truth finds its way to the surface in this well-crafted and compelling film.
Jonathan Erdman, writer 