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I Can Speak

I Can Speak

2017 · Film · South Korea · Drama

Directed by Kim Hyun-seok · 119 min

Although inspired by the 2007 U.S. Congress hearing on Japanese military comfort women and survivors’ testimony activities, it is a popular film with invented and composite characters and personal stories, including Na Ok-bun and Park Min-jae. Na Ok-bun is a character primarily modeled on Lee Yong-soo, a victim of Japanese military comfort women who testified before the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007, and was reconstructed by combining actual testimony with cinematic settings.

C

OVERALL TRUTH BASIS · Inspired reconstruction

Although inspired by the 2007 U.S. Congress hearing on Japanese military comfort women and victims' testimony activities, it is a mainstream film whose Na Ok-bun and Park Min-jae characters and personal narratives are fictional and composite.

2007 U.S. House Hearing on Japanese Military Comfort Women

The process in which Japanese military comfort women survivors testified at a U.S. House hearing in February 2007, and the U.S. House adopted a resolution in July of the same year calling for official acknowledgment and an apology from the Japanese government.

Event details →

FACT / FICTION

Verification 5

Fact / Fiction verification

5 records
FactConfidence High

I Can Speak is a 2017 film directed by Kim Hyun-seok.

On screen · Verified record
On screen
—
Verified record
Film information and related reports confirm that it is a 2017 film and identify its director.
View 2 sources
  • 영화 「아이 캔 스피크」와 '서발턴'의 말하기웹진 결 · Official record · Grade AOpen source →
  • 꼭 하고 싶은 말이 있어요, '아이 캔 스피크'코리아넷 · Government source · Grade AOpen source →
FactConfidence High

The work's true-story and historical background includes the '2007 U.S. House hearing on Japanese military comfort women.'

On screen · Verified record
On screen
Although inspired by the 2007 U.S. Congress hearing on Japanese military comfort women and victims' testimony activities, it is a mainstream film whose Na Ok-bun and Park Min-jae characters and personal narratives are fictional and composite.
Verified record
Although inspired by the 2007 U.S. Congress hearing on Japanese military comfort women and victims' testimony activities, it is a mainstream film whose Na Ok-bun and Park Min-jae characters and personal narratives are fictional and composite.
View 2 sources
  • 영화 「아이 캔 스피크」와 '서발턴'의 말하기웹진 결 · Official record · Grade AOpen source →
  • 꼭 하고 싶은 말이 있어요, '아이 캔 스피크'코리아넷 · Government source · Grade AOpen source →
DramatizedConfidence High

Not all dialogue, time compression, and detailed event developments in the film can be equated one-to-one with actual records.

On screen · Verified record
On screen
Events are compressed and arranged through feature-film or documentary editing.
Verified record
Verifiable actual events and people should be distinguished from the work's narrative construction.
View 2 sources
  • 영화 「아이 캔 스피크」와 '서발턴'의 말하기웹진 결 · Official record · Grade AOpen source →
  • 꼭 하고 싶은 말이 있어요, '아이 캔 스피크'코리아넷 · Government source · Grade AOpen source →
CompositeConfidence Medium

Na Ok-bun is a character reconstructed by taking Lee Yong-soo, a Japanese military comfort women survivor who testified before the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007, as a major motif and combining actual testimony with cinematic elements.

On screen · Verified record
On screen
A character in the film.
Verified record
It is appropriate to distinguish her as a fabricated, composite, or dramatized character.
View 2 sources
  • 영화 「아이 캔 스피크」와 '서발턴'의 말하기웹진 결 · Official record · Grade AOpen source →
  • 꼭 하고 싶은 말이 있어요, '아이 캔 스피크'코리아넷 · Government source · Grade AOpen source →
CompositeConfidence Medium

Park Min-jae is a civil servant character created for the film's narrative leading from Na Ok-bun's English studies to her testimony before the U.S. Congress.

On screen · Verified record
On screen
A character in the film.
Verified record
It is appropriate to distinguish him as a fabricated, composite, or dramatized character.
View 2 sources
  • 영화 「아이 캔 스피크」와 '서발턴'의 말하기웹진 결 · Official record · Grade AOpen source →
  • 꼭 하고 싶은 말이 있어요, '아이 캔 스피크'코리아넷 · Government source · Grade AOpen source →

CHARACTER ↔ PERSON

Characters and real people

2 characters

나옥분

Fictional composite character

박민재

Fictional composite character

Sources used

  1. 영화 「아이 캔 스피크」와 '서발턴'의 말하기웹진 결 · Official record · Grade AOpen source →
  2. 꼭 하고 싶은 말이 있어요, '아이 캔 스피크'코리아넷 · Government source · Grade AOpen source →