These ladies, many of them senior citizens, love their jobs, diving without oxygen to harvest seafood. But something nefarious may make their precious ocean poisonous.
In the Last of the Sea Women, divers in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s, plunge off the Korean tourist island of Jeju. It is punishing, hard work, and even dangerous, but they love the job and have a special relationship with the sea.
The first half of the documentary is a chance to get to know the divers and visit their humble homes and learn some history of the generations who came before them in this vocation.
But then, the narrative takes a sharp turn when the ladies are told that Japan will be releasing radioactive waste water from the Fukushima disaster into the ocean. It’s estimated that the water will flow directly to their country and likely remain for decades afterward.
The unassuming women become activists and raise their aging voices to protest and spread the word. It feels like an abrupt turn in the flow, but there’s no denying the importance of this information and the possible ramifications of the tradition they hoped to pass along to future generations. IN fact, there are some younger women already on the job with plans to stay there for life.
What will happen to this tradition? What power do these working women have? The film explores these questions while introducing us to the kinds of people we’d love to visit over noodles. That’s my takeaway and I must say I enjoyed it.
The last of the Sea Women airs October 11th on Apple+ TV
