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[HanCinema's Film Review] "The Drop Box"

Pastor Lee Jong-rak is the officiant at the Jesus Loving-Union Church in Seoul. Lee Jong-rak might not be considered that different from the many pastors in Seoul except that he happens to be the proprietor of the infamous Seoul baby box- where parents can drop off unwanted children. "The Drop Box" is an exploration of why Pastor Lee Jong-rak created the baby box, and mostly a justification. While fully acknowledging the inflammatory nature of the entire idea of a baby box, "The Drop Box" argues that faith and good works in the short term supplant notions of policy in the long term.

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It's an interesting approach, given that if you've ever heard of the baby box, it has most likely been in a critical context. The typical article about Lee Jong-rak goes on about conservative Korean culture has mandated such a horrible situation. Director Brian Ivie quickly obliterates any such claims by providing news stories and interviews indicating that in fact, Pastor Lee Jong-rak got the idea from centuries old European practices. Which also inspire controversy, to the limited extent they appear in modern Europe.

Yet all of this is also rather besides the point. There's an individual story behind every abandoned baby. We don't know what those stories are since the whole point of the baby box is that parents can drop off children with no questions asked. But it's clear that plenty of these babies were facing horrible situations. Several of the profiled children suffer from major disabilities, and it's easy to see how any parent could be completely overwhelmed by such a prospect.

...Yes, children, not babies. Lee Jong-rak and his wife have been administering to abandoned children since before starting the baby box project started, and it shows. "The Drop Box" is at its most human when demonstrating Lee Jong-rak's sense of faith and devotion. There are children in this documentary that I doubt I could properly raise. Call it a personal moral failing or mere squeamishness, but some disabilities it's just, does a kid like that even have a real shot at life?

Pastor Lee Jong-rak thinks the answer to that question is yes, and I can't fault him for that. "The Drop Box" was the opening film for this year's Christian themed Seoul International Agape Film Festival and it's a good selection for showing the face of the community. Korean Christian films in general tend to focus on biographies of pastors who perform good works, and it's always nice to see how this sense of fellowship appears to be a stronger motivator than any obvious political discipline.

I should note that "The Drop Box" was funded in part by Focus on the Family. This much information alone may make any viewers recoil in disgust at my recommendation of the film, but here's the thing. I really, really appreciate sincerity. Maybe director Brian Ivie is using the usual film manipulation to present a limited perspective of a complicated sociological issue. Yet even if Pastor Lee Jong-rak can't change the world with his baby box, he can make a difference to a large number of kids who wouldn't have a chance otherwise. And you know, that on its own warrants praise.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Drop Box" is directed by Brian Ivie

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