In October last year, a 16-month-old South Korean girl, Jeong In, was abused to death by her adoptive parents, with multiple fractures and ruptured internal organs, and her death was extremely tragic, causing public outrage.
Such incidents are not the first time in South Korea, and the "Kigu Child Abuse Case" 8 years ago was also a sensation, the stepmother abused the 8-year-old girl to death, and also married the girl's sister.
The film recommended to you today is the adaptation of this case - "Little Client"
10-year-old little girl Duo Bin and brother Junhao lost their mother at an early age, raised by their father alone, the father is often not at home, 10-year-old Duo Bin is not only responsible for washing and cooking, but also taking care of the living of his 7-year-old brother.
Finally, one day, his father brought back a beautiful woman to be their stepmother, and Duo Bin and Joon-ho were very excited and looked forward to the arrival of a childhood full of maternal love.
After the stepmother came, she would bathe her brother, brush her sister's hair, and prepare a bento for the brothers and sisters to eat at school, and the sisters and brothers felt the warmth of motherhood, but this warmth did not last long.
The younger brother accidentally spilled when eating, and his stepmother told him to be careful not to spill it when eating, but the younger brother who had not eaten delicious food for a long time swallowed it, and accidentally spilled the food on the table again.
The stepmother tied her hair and began to beat her brother, and she also believed that the mistakes made by her brother were caused by her sister Duobin's poor education, so she also began to pinch Duobin's neck and beat her.
After being beaten several times, Duo Bin sought help from the police, obviously, this kind of domestic affairs police are not very willing to take care of, the police even said: "After being beaten by my mother a few times, I called the police, and the recent child is really terrible." ”
The police pretended to contact the parents of the sisters and brothers, and then casually threw the mess to the community child welfare agency, which routinely conducted a home visit and did not succeed.
After learning that she had been reported, her stepmother beat Duo Bin even more viciously, and the younger brother could only cover his ears in the room in pain, unable to bear to listen to his sister's heart-rending pleas for forgiveness.
The next day, Duo Bin went to tell the class teacher that she had been abused by the family, and the teacher had already seen the wound on her neck, but in order to avoid trouble, she still walked away on the pretext of something.
After complaining to the teacher for no results, Duo Bin went to find his uncle Zheng Ye, an unemployed lawyer who was temporarily assigned by his sister to work as a clerk in a child welfare institution because he could not find a job.
When Duo Bin first went to the police for help, he was spat at by the police and was beaten a few times to report the case, crying and muttering: Am I wrong, but I didn't do anything? Zheng Ye on the side casually replied: Of course, you are not wrong, it is not right to hit people.
Since then, this uncle with strange three or seven points, wearing glasses, and a "dick" temperament has become the savior in Duobin's eyes, and every day after class, Duobin and his brother will run to play with him.
Zheng Ye took the sisters and brothers to eat hamburgers that they had never eaten, visited the zoo, and went to the bridge where the sisters and brothers loved to go to see the scenery, although it was an unintentional move, it was remembered by the sisters and brothers.
Jeong Ye had always wanted to go to a big law firm in Seoul, and when the call from Seoul came, he hurriedly said goodbye to the sisters and brothers, and gave them a business card and 5,000 won before leaving, and it was because of these two things that tragedy happened.
When Duobin returned home, her stepmother saw the business card with the words "Child Welfare Agency" written on it, and beat Duobin even harder, and Duobin was punched in the eardrum and fainted in class the next day.
Jeong Yee rushed back from Seoul, Dobin lay dying in a hospital bed, she begged Jeong Ye to take her and her brother away, find a place for them to live, they would obediently obey, Jeong Ye refused her, he found a job in Seoul and will not come back.
Before leaving, Zheng Ye was uneasy in conscience, went to find the Children's Welfare Society, ended up eating the closed door, and went to find his stepmother, who lied that Duo Bin's injury was caused by his own fall, and finally went to find Duo Bin's biological father, but his father said that he was nosy.
On the other hand, the 5,000 won that Jeong Ye left for her brother was discovered by her stepmother, who thought her brother had stolen her money and began to beat her brother fiercely.
Jeong Ye, who is in Seoul, receives a call from Teacher Dobin again, but what he gets is a shocking news: his brother is dead, and his sister Dobin has become the murderer of his brother.
It turned out that her brother was killed by her stepmother, but in order to avoid legal sanctions, she intimidated Duobin into admitting to the police that she had killed her brother, and Duobin lost confidence in the adult world and gave in to her stepmother.
When Jeong Yee learned that he had indirectly killed his brother, he was very remorseful and took the initiative to give up his job in Seoul and became a dialectician of Dobin, wanting to return her innocence and a justice to his dead brother.
And Duo Bin has been completely disappointed in this society, how can not tell the truth, in the unremitting efforts of Zheng Ye and the help of social caring people, finally let Duo Bin no longer believe in anyone to open the knot.
At the end of the movie, all the truth is revealed, the stepmother is sentenced to 16 years in prison, Duo Bin's biological father is sentenced to 5 years in prison for accomplice, Zheng Ye helps the sisters and brothers to get justice, and also lets the brother in heaven see the photo of his biological mother.
At the end of the film, a black text appears on the screen: Reports of child abuse in South Korea have increased by about 10 times from 2001 to 2017, but the vast majority of perpetrators have been sentenced to probation or fines, of which 4 out of 5 abusers are parents.
"Child abuse" has never been a family affair, but a matter for the whole society, and if the police, welfare agencies, and neighbors reach out to the child from the first reporting call, there may be a different ending.