Por otro lado el elenco de la pelcula es extraordinario: Tilda Swinton,

Paul Dano, Giancarlo Esposito, Jake Gyllenhaal, Steven Yeun. Adems,

por supuesto, de Seo-Hyun Ahn, la protagonista de la historia, que da vida
a Mija. Todos nos dan actuaciones de primera clase y a ms de uno
llegaremos a odiar-amar (claro, hablamos de ti, Tilda), tambin genial como
inesperado es el papel de Giancarlo Esposito. En el caso de Gyllenhaal su
papel es divertido al principio aunque por momentos llega a ser
exagerado.

Por ltimo y no menos importante es la forma en la que Bong ha

contado su historia. Su propuesta raya en el humor negro, en la irona y,
al mismo tiempo, es cruda y reflexiva; conmovedora y llena de accin;
entraable y violenta. El abanico de situaciones, personajes y mensajes es
tan dispar como necesario. Nos conmueve y nos reta en muchos sentidos.
Sin duda Bong ha hecho un excelente trabajo.

La estrella es la voluntad
La historia va de como una chica, Mija, hace lo imposible para rescatar a su
mejor amiga y compaera de vida, Okja, de los planes de Mirando
Corporation. Esta empresa dirigida por Lucy Mirando, protagonizada por la
genial Swinton, urdi un plan para hacer ms rentable su produccin de
carne utilizando animales genticamente alterados y quiere a su sper
cerdo de regreso pues ha permanecido junto a Mija y su abuelo durante 10
aos. Esto sucedi debido a un programa mundial de promocin de la vil
compaa con la intencin de hacer creer que los animales se criaban en
granjas "normales". Entonces Mija entrar en accin para rescatar a su
compaera y se enfrentar a todo... literalmente a todo. Su voluntad
(inquebrantable voluntad) la llevar no slo a salvar a Okja sino a desvelar
un montn de eventos a su alrededor.

Lo cierto es que "Okja" pone atencin en muchos aspectos de la vida

moderna y sperindustrializada, aunque dice Joon-ho Bong que su
inters principal no es convertir a todos los que vean su pelcula en
veganos o luchadores de los derechos de los animales (aunque el impacto
en este sentido no es menor) sino hacer a las personas un poco ms
conscientes de lo que consumen y de los sistemas de produccin que
estn detrs de esto.

En este sentido de la voluntad tambin encontraremos al equipo de Jay

(Paul Dano), un grupo de activistas que luchan por los derechos de los
animales y que tratan de exponer las prcticas de las Mirando
Corporation al mundo. Este grupo est conformado por una especie de
nuevos "Reservoir Dogs" y cada uno es encantador. Agregan el humor
pero tambin las reflexiones ms concretas de la historia. El trabajo de
este grupo de activistas tienen una historia, segn nos dicen, de 40 aos,
sin embargo conocemos muy poco de esta y de Jay, su dirigente. Incluso
dan ganas de que se nos haya mostrado ms de este entraable equipo.

Realidad vs ficcin
Bong ha dicho en entrevista que para su pelcula tuvo que visitar un
matadero real y pudo entender al dolor de los animales de formar
parte de una cadena de produccin ajena a ellos. Una cadena realizada
por los humanos y por las compaas que se rehsan a perder hasta el
ltimo cntimo y siempre estn en la bsqueda de las mejores ganancias,
as se destruya al planeta y los animales en el camino.

La forma en como aborda este tema nos resultar fresco e implacablemente

crudo. Como se describa lneas arriba, los temas y la historia de "Okja" se
nos presenta en contrastes. Se trata de una historia que nos recordar, y
no por poco, a las heronas y criaturas de Miyasaki, tambin a la
profundidad de sus historias. En lo personal tambin me record al Dr.
Seuss por su humor y dursima crtica a las actividades humanas que tienen
como nico fin las ganancias monetarias y cmo plantea a una villana
compleja, odiosa pero tambin vctima de su propio medio que cree (y slo
cree) dominar.

El humor y la crudeza de Joon-ho Bong se repite en esta su nueva cinta. La

agilidad de la historia y sus momentos de accin y drama nos harn muy
amena la experiencia de ver "Okja". Sus casi dos horas nos sern poco y al
final nos daremos cuenta de que nos deja muchos sentimientos
encontrados. No se trata de una pelcula complaciente, ni rosa, ni una
historia vctima de la disneyficacin de la relacin compleja y profunda de
una nia con un animal; tampoco es moralizante pero s muy ilustrativa y
real.

En fin, es una muy buena opcin para disfrutar en la comodidad de nuestra

casa a travs de Netflix; cosa que, por motivos que no alcanzamos a
comprender, fue que la convirti en el "patito feo" en uno de los festivales
ms prestigiosos del cine. Eso s, los que abuchearon y los directores que la
criticaron por aspirar a los premios destacados de la industria se olvidaron
que lo importante del cine sucede entre la pelcula y el espectador, es
decir: entre lo que los creadores de las cintas hicieron y el pblico que lo
disfruta y que poco o nada importa el sustrato de dichas obras. En pocas
palabras: ms buen cine en cualquiera de sus formatos.

A choppy mix of anti-corporate farce and Spielbergian fantasy, Bong Joon-Hos

bilingual Okja veers wildly, but never stalls; if Bong, the South Korean writer-
director behind The Host, Memories Of Murder, and Snowpiercer, never squares
the films satirical means with its sentimental ends, he at least throws the weight of
his considerable filmmaking talent behind both. At the centersometimes literally,
as she tends to squeeze everyone else out of the wayis Okja, a hippopotamic
female super-pig raised from piglethood in the mountains of South Korea by little
Mija (Ahn Seo-Hyun) and her grandpa Hee-Bong (Bong regular Byun Hee-Bong).
They are among two dozen traditional farmers selected from around the world to
raise super-pigs as part of a decade-long publicity stunt put together by the agri-
business titan Mirando, culminating in a contest judged by campy TV animal expert
Dr. Johnny (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a public unveiling at a Manhattan parade. As we
learn, this is a cover, meant to make the genetically engineered super-pigs (which
dont resemble pigs in the least) seem less artificial to the public while Mirando
prepares to factory-farm them by the millions. Any similarity to Monsantoa
company that shares Mirandos history of genetically modified products, scandals,
and Vietnam War defoliantsis, as they say, purely coincidental.

Co-written by Bong and Welsh journalist Jon Ronson, whose books and articles
inspired The Men Who Stare At Goats and Frank, Okja never shies away from the
more grotesque side of satire, going so far as to spoof the sacred Last Supper of
hawkish neoliberalism: Pete Souzas famous photograph of the White House
Situation Room during the raid on Osama Bin Ladens compound, with chief
Mirando strategist Frank Dawson (Giancarlo Esposito) in the Obama spot,
complete with a windbreaker and polo shirt, and CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda
Swinton) covering her mouth la Hillary Clinton, though only to chew at her
cuticles. (Although she plays Lucy as a parody of cynically trendy, mock-
progressive new CEOs, Swinton does a Clinton impression as Lucys twin sister
and ousted predecessor, the smug and scheming Nancy Mirando.) But though this
Netflix production is head and shoulders above War Machine, the streaming giants
most recent attempt at mounting a satire on a sizable budget, Okja suffers in
comparison to Bongs previous swipes at class resentment and the globalized
American agri-military-industrial complex. Its neither as deliriously realized and in-
your-face as Snowpiercer nor as sensitive as The Host.

At one point Swinton's craven CEO cackles over how popular her superpig
meat is going to be among the masses: "If it's cheap, they'll eat it." We're
supposed to laugh because, conveniently, we're not those people.

But this is still Bong Joon-Ho were talking abouta director who can mount chase
set pieces with the best of them. One exhilarating sequence of scenes, which
comes after Okja is whisked away for her big gala presentation in the United
States, follows Mija through Mirandos South Korean corporate office; to a truck
chase through the streets and traffic tunnels of Seoul, interrupted by the arrival of
the Animal Liberation Front, a motley crew of ski-mask-wearing animal rights
radicals, led by the principled Jay (Paul Dano); and through the shattering
storefronts of an underground shopping center, where Animal Liberation Front
members square off against tranquilizer-gun-toting Mirando henchmen while trying
not to hurt anyone. (Theyre pacifists, as Jay explains.) Bongs camerawork, which
has been earning Spielberg comparisons since the breakthrough of The Host,
plays with scale and distance: water rippling in a glass as a partition wall wobbles
nearby; the huge super-pig leaving a smudge the size of a minivan as it slams
against a glass shopping center wall after slipping on the waxed floor; toys and
stationary flying everywhere as the animal comes to a crashing stop in a store.

One might call the movie a clash of different cartoon sensibilities. On the one hand,
there are the scenes between Mija and her loyal, genetically engineered best
friend, which in their finest moments bring to mind the work of Hayao Miyazakis
Studio Ghibli, rendered in loving action. On the other, there are the wacky and
outlandish caricatures of largely English-language Mirando sections, with over-the-
top press conferences, and Thanksgiving Parade-sized pig balloons, and
Gyllenhaals manic, deeply bitter, sweat-soaked Dr. Johnny jumping around like a
cross between Steve Irwin and Richard Simmons. Perhaps the fact that these two
sides of the film seem incompatible is intentional: The bucolic values of agrarian
life dont sit well with the crassness of the corporate blitz. It might be blunt, but at
least its a point.

A goofy prologue, delivered to us by front-of-house star Tilda Swinton as

agrochemical CEO Lucy Mirando, explains how her company is aiming to
combat global hunger: they have reared 26 superpigs and given them to
farmers around the world, eventually to spearhead a revolution in meat
production.

But anyone familiar with that tradition Ill mention Old Yeller and leave it at that knows
that stories of children and their pets are almost inevitably shadowed by tragedy and loss. The
adult human world regards animals through a callous, utilitarian lens, as sources of food, labor or
ornamental cuteness, a fact that Okja, Bong Joon-hos wonderful new film, takes to a dystopian
but also an unnervingly realistic extreme.

The bond between Okja and Mija, who is an orphan, is the result of a contract neither one of them
has read or signed. The pig is the physical and intellectual property of a multinational corporation,
and as such shes destined not only for the usual slaughter but also for crass and cynical
commercial exploitation. The girl, a serious and stubborn child (played with heroic dignity by An
Seo Hyun), is fated to lose her only friend.