Parasite, a heart-wrenching comedy-drama-thriller all in one, directed by the Korean director Bong Joon Ho. Nominated and winning 4 Oscars, this is the first non-English movie that has won Best Picture for the Academy Awards. The Oscars that Parasite won include awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature Film and Writing, and Best Original Screenplay. Parasite has not only won 4 Oscars but it has won at least 8 more international film awards.

Parasite was shown in Korean with English subtitles breaking one of the barriers that hold so many people back from exploring different cultures and their modern works. The director Bong Joon Ho said “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films,” which couldn’t be far from reality. Parasite received many positive reviews and has been rated by rotten tomato as 99% on the Tomatometer and has the audience score of 90% being called “An urgent, brilliantly layered look at timely social themes,” by them. That is just one of the many, Joe Morgenstern from the Wall Street Journal saying that Parasite was “A masterpiece of serial surprises from the Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho.”

Although it had many such great ratings it did get one criticism and not directly it was more towards the Oscar Academy, it stood out and that was from President Trump, who went on to say that “The winner is a movie from South Korea. What the hell was that all about? We’ve got enough problems with South Korea, with trade. And after all that they give them the best movie of the year?” The  Academy was blasted by Trump because in his eyes a movie that is a dark comedy about a conflict between two families of different economic statuses, was not worthy of the Oscars. This is disagreed with by many different sources such as the Washington Post.

Parasite is one that starts off with the Kim family, a family that is barely scraping by every day. That all changes with one good connection their son, Ki-woo, has— his friend Min who worked as a tutor for the eldest daughter, Da-Hye, of the Park family. Who is the Park family? The Park family is one with the wealth that many aspire to reach. Recommended by Min to the Park family Ki-woo, with the help of his sister, forges his attendance to a University, and soon enough Ki-woo starts working with the Parks as Da-hye tutor. While working there Ki-woo sees the opportunity to get his sister, Ki-Jeong to work there as an art therapist for the Parks youngest son, Da-song. This is just the beginning of the movie. the Kims find a way to all get hired by the parks without seeming like they were family. Trouble comes later on in the movie when the Parks leave for a camping trip and their old maid who they had fired comes back and reveals some secrets within the house. From there on it is a roller coaster of a ride full of twists and turns that will surely surprise you. The movie will leave you with a feeling of confusion seeing as it ends in some sort of cliffhanger.

The acting in Parasite was immaculate, the emotion felt raw. What made the acting better was that the Kims were acting as if they weren’t themselves. The production of the film added to the tension in the film. Since the production of the film switches scenes back and forth between the life that the Kims really live and the life that they portray with the Park family. The acting, in the end, makes you believe that the father has really cracked under the pressure of acting like he has a different life. You feel as if you really are in the scene because of how it is filmed with the scene cuts and angles which impacted the way you viewed the acting and the movie as a whole.

To me, there is no valid argument in which you convince me that you should shun yourself to other cultures just because it is in another language. There are many wonders and amazing things in the world that you would miss out on if you shut out different cultures. A language that can be translated into the language you speak shouldn’t be as big as an obstacle as it is portrayed.