Usually, when you hear of any Korean Wave-related exports, it's very likely you'll deal with music, TV dramas and films, occupying what is pretty much 90 to 95% of the entire pie. Once relegated to insipid, artless filler to justify the TV license fee, documentaries are starting to make a serious mark not only on TV, but also on the big screen. By now you'll probably have heard of one of the biggest surprises in Korean cinema history, the impressive results of 워낭소리 (Old Partner), but even much more obscure cases like 소명 (Calling) have hit the 100,000 tickets sold, despite releasing with very little fanfare. Actually, the renaissance started on TV in 2007 with KBS' series of historical documentaries 한국사傳 (Hidden History) -- often much more dramatic, historically relevant and expertly shot than most sageuk. Sure enough, Korea's two major stations have been battling each other the last three years with one outstanding documentary after another. And the world is starting to notice, considering all the prizes KBS' fantastic 차마고도 (Chamagodo - Asian Corridor In Heaven) won last year.

But now one of those gems is ready to try its luck on the big screen, after becoming the first ever documentary to record ratings in the two digits (might not seem much, but we'd usually be dealing with 5-6% at the very best. This more than doubled the score). MBC's 2 billion won "blockbuster documentary" 북극의 눈물 (Tears in the Arctic) is not only one of the most impressive works of the genre I've seen in years, but also a pretty poignant one, narrated with the usual irresistible aplomb by veteran Ahn Sung-Gi. As you can imagine, we're dealing with the impact of global warming on the Arctic, and let's just say it's pretty harrowing stuff, no matter what any political slant vis-a-vis the environment might suggest. The soundtrack will be re-recorded with an orchestra, and the original 4 hour broadcast will be edited down to 81 minutes, for an October 15 release. I'll probably review the TV version around the release date, and later give my thoughts on the big screen cut, but in the meantime, here's the trailer.