On the surface, Long Live the Island Frogs is about a pair of dedicated, well-meaning teachers — married Mrs. Kim (Kim Seon-hui) and her blackbelt husband Mr. Gwon (Shin Il-ryong) — who come to a tiny fishing village on an isolated island in order to change the lives of poor, rural children through the power of education. But unlike the couple foregrounded in Shin Sang-ok's stirring Evergreen Tree, director Jung Jin-woo's married instructors are more committed to imparting basketball skills than grammar, history, and mathematics. As the movie progresses, we witness a real devotion to getting sports equipment, not books and school supplies. Even a recently acquired television set (the only one in town) is exclusively used for watching games and learning strategy.
I, like many others however, enjoy a good sports movie so watching these young boys and girls run drills in the mud, perfect their layups, and compete in hard-earned uniforms likely moved me more than any spelling bee could. (The basketball footage is incredibly exciting!) The film has plenty of subplots too, like the young boy who struggles to overcome the physical setbacks brought about by polio, and the reunion of the ferryman and his wife (who abandoned their son for a job in Seoul a few years ago). The up-and-coming team's national recognition leads to a shift in community priorities, from getting drunk to building a dock. If athletics can make that happen as effectively as scholarly pursuits can, I'm all for it.
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