THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN (TIFF 2024) – Review by Jennifer Green
The Last of the Sea Women is a beautifully intimate portrayal of haenyeos, all-female South Korean deep-sea divers. It is also the first feature production from Malala Yousafzai’s Extracurricular Productions. Using only their own breath, the haenyeos dive to the ocean floor for hours at a time in the waters off the peninsula, especially around Jeju Island, to harvest seafood. They make a living at this, but they are also carrying on an ancient tradition.
And, according to this affecting documentary from Korean American filmmaker Sue Kim, they are a dying breed. Despite recognition from UNESCO and a school set up to train younger generations, there are only 4,000 haenyeos remaining today, mostly in their 60s to 80s, down from 30,000 in their 1960s heyday.
Calling themselves the “warriors of the sea” as well as the “guardians of the sea,” the haenyeos do a dangerous and difficult job few can do. Women die and their bodies are found underwater. A haenyeo historian describes the pressure on the head the women experience the deeper they dive.
Director Kim positions them as feminists, role models and members of a matriarchal society. They share a true sisterhood, a tradition passed from grandmothers to mothers to daughters. In some cases, their incomes have kept their families afloat. In others, their hard outdoor life separated them from their peers living more traditional lives. One describes being embarrassed by her tanned face, darkened from the sun, when she was younger. Now, she says, she’s proud.
They are models of aging well – staying busy, keeping healthy, having purpose, maintaining a sense of humor and staying surrounded by community. They seem to have mostly outlived their husbands, if they married. Two younger haenyeos from a neighboring island help to publicize and potentially rejuvenate the craft with their bubbly personalities and popular YouTube page. They spend time with the Jeju grandmas and form bonds. The film shows the women laughing, fighting, hugging, crying, and of course working. We see them at home, in their community and on the water.
Gorgeous underwater images of sea life and the women’s figures floating and diving transmit a sense of peace, despite the changes the sea and the haenyeo craft are undergoing. Their path toward extinction is exacerbated by climate change and pollution impacting the world’s oceans. Around midway into the film, we learn that the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan is planning to slowly let radioactive waste seep into the ocean. This could impact nearby Jeju significantly.
Although these holders of ancient tradition deserve at least this 90-minute documentary, the film does lag a bit in this middle section. One of the haenyeos is invited to the UN in Geneva to speak out about the Fukushima plans. While obviously important and representative of the haenyeos’ fighting spirit, the UN trip, meetings with Greenpeace representatives and ensuing protests could have been more tightly edited to keep the film’s pace moving and focused on the women.
The Fukushima plans went ahead in October 2024. The film makes clear that this discharge will affect all of us, not just the haenyeos. The insights into their close relationship with the ocean offer a reminder and serve as a symbol of the deep connection to the planet we all share. In a closing scene, one of the haenyeos refers to herself as “just an old woman and the sea.” She might not have intended the Hemingway reference, but director Kim may well have. These women are indeed icons.
