The Servant

The movie The Servant was selected from Netflix’s Korean film list, and its description seemed innocuous enough: A girl is in love with her servant who is also in love with her… but she wishes to improve her position in life. This was a NR film which I thought would mean made for TV filming. Obviously, I have not watched a great deal of foreign films. The Servant was beautifully filmed with fabulous costumes. I am sure these would be good reference points to engage the students by piquing their interest in the era and some of the customs. This film would have to be strictly edited for clips if it were to be used in the classroom... There is a lot of nudity and sex in this film which would cause any principal, parent, school board member to run screaming from the room. The first part of the film is spent with the male servant getting advice from aged “Don Juan” type character on how to woo and win women. The woman the servant wants to win is the object of his master’s affection. Despite this conflict, the servant proceeds and wins his love, but it ultimately has dire consequences, which revealing would spoil the ending. This movie could be used to demonstrate the importance and impact of studying for the civil service exam – as the master is doing this throughout the beginning portion of the film .. and the power he gains from his position is demonstrated in the second half of the film. BUT, you could not show this film in its entirety to a class. Scenes would have to be cued and shown VERY selectively.