20 Best Movies Moments Of 2017
6. Okja – The Chase
South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho’s epic adventure-fantasy
Okja was without a doubt one of 2017’s most charming, clever and weird movies.
Essentially a tale of the bond between a girl, Mija, and her pet – a huge,
adorable genetically modified pig named Okja – it’s also a dark critique of the
meat production industry powerful enough to make you think twice before eating
your next bacon sandwich even if the pigs are CGI.
After raising Okja since she was a wee super-piglet, Mija is forced to say goodbye to her beloved pet when reps from Mirando – the shady corporation that bred Okja and other pigs like her for their new line of GM super pork – come back to reclaim her.
Desperate to save Okja from becoming a sausage roll, Mija pursues her pet pig in a frenetic and breath-taking chase scene that takes them through the streets of downtown Seoul and culminates with Mija and Okja escaping into an underground shopping mall with the hilariously polite Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and a squad of Mirando stooges in hot pursuit.
The sight of a six-tonne pig smashing its way through stalls and shocked shoppers is certainly something you don’t see every day but for all its bizarreness, it’s a truly touching scene that puts the John Denver classic Annie’s Song to good use to tug at our heartstrings as we see the lengths Mija will go to save her beloved Okja. Weird but downright lovely too.