School Excursion: Kid Power

Adults are such a drag. Not all of them. Most though. I suppose, sometimes, teachers can be cool. Like Kim Seong-seo (Ku Bong-seo), for instance. He's the elementary school teacher on remote Seonyudo Island in Yoo Hyun-mok's family movie School Excursion. The spirit hasn't died in Kim. He's a big-hearted lug not afraid to risk his arm to retrieve some careless kid's dirty shoe from under a bus. He knows more than most but he doesn't show off about it and doesn't look down on those who know less. He's not seduced by money. He doesn't see the good life as fancy clothes and electric washing machines. He lives from the heart and recognizes generosity and curiosity as admirable qualities.

You can see why he's so committed to his young charges. They share his sense of hope, his delight in simple pleasures. And he's nurtured by their innocent longing, their unbridled enthusiasm, their unfiltered wonder. Who wouldn't prefer a bunch of scrappy boys and girls over their jaded parents? Who wouldn't feel more useful in a town with scant resources than they would in a city of overabundance? He's not the only one to recognize their charms either: The kids at the city school quickly become enamored of their seaside peers, with each adopting one for the duration of their mainland stay. Good times had by all.