The Golden Holiday Review: A not-so-shiny look at the Philippines?
By: Arius Raposas
Tags: Movie Review, Philippines, Film Reviews, Korea, The Golden Holiday

Perception in the context of Korea-Philippines relations

To better understand this perspective, one should first know the plot. Detective Hong Byeong-su was scammed by his childhood friend Kim Yong-bae and was about to lose his home due to financial difficulties. Adding to his worries was his wife’s eagerness to make their 10th anniversary special, and what better way than to spend it on a vacation abroad? The couple chose the Philippines, primarily due to some bargain in the cost, but for Hong himself, he had another agenda. His colleagues in Daecheon police gave him financial support to help Hong track down his friend. And surprise, Kim was in the Philippines. How convenient. It then boiled down into a convoluted scheme involving Kim to retrieve Yamashita’s gold, the legendary treasure which the Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita supposedly left in the country. Kim even gave a rough estimate: 15 billion Korean won (13.6 million US dollars). Hong then becomes involved as well, mainly for their friendship, but secondarily for the prospective treasure, too.

So where does perception of the Philippines enter? It was not long ago that Korea was hot in the Filipino radar, which seemed to be rooted from lack of historical background. And perhaps naturally, Filipinos came out strongly in social media on what appeared to be a flare of nationalism. Then again, the persistence of films such as this may prove that it would probably take more to eventually change the image of the Philippines, particularly to the Koreans. For one, Kim running to the Philippines after wronging his friend Hong was reminiscent of a subplot visible in other Korean productions not even featuring the Philippines. Whisper (2017) and Mr. Zoo: The Missing VIP (2020) would be a few good examples where Koreans see the Philippines as a refuge of sorts. Of course, all of these were works of fiction. Where might the reality begin?

Aesthetically speaking, the Philippines as portrayed in the film may well be a candy to the tourist eye. Even an average Filipino might wonder if what was being shown was really the Philippines. Seeing Hong’s family thrilled to have a vacation in the country was even more fulfilling for the Filipino tourism campaign. It was no secret that in recent years, Korea was the single largest source of tourists in the Philippines, with some 2 million visitors in 2019. On another note, they even got to shoot decent car chases in Metro Manila as if there was no city traffic to deal with. However, the beautiful facade crumbled as the film progressed. Most of the time, the Korean characters were quite confident saying “This is the Philippines” when things developed quite unexpectedly, or even when they get away with living the comfortable life they never experienced in Korea. So much about the much touted Filipino hospitality, which did not really figure in the film. While this may well be a reflection of how Koreans continue to perceive the country, it must be taken into account how this could also have some traces of reality. Perhaps before criticizing others for having a not-so-good opinion, why not take a good internal look and ask first the rationale behind such a perception? What could be the existing realities causing them to see things in such ways? Meanwhile, there was hope, as the film tried to portray, with Hong’s child making efforts to know Filipino culture and even speaking the Tagalog language. Symbolic of how future generations of Koreans may have a different perspective?