▲ Provided by daliboni.or.kr

Students in their 20s, calling themselves Ingyos, which implies people who are lazy and have nothing to do, go out to have their reckless yet inspiring backpacking travel in Europe. Using hitchhiking as their main means of transportation, their travel at first worrisome gradually turns into an invaluable experience that people in their 20s awe.

800,000 won and one camera. Where would you go and what would you do with just 800,000 won and one camera? Feeling perplexed and having no idea, right? However, four students in the Ingyos’ Hitchhiking, all in their 20s, went on a backpacking trip to Europe for one year without hesitation. They had a goal. Since they all major in the department of film, they decided to make videos that promote accommodations for the sake of their free stays and meals. Their final goal was to a make music video for a music group that seems to have the potential to become the next Beatles.

They had a lot of thoughts but they did not put them into actions. Originally, what they planned during the vacation was to do something productive; to earn their school tuition. Hard to change their original personality, their dreams of earning their school fee ended up in failure. Since they could not enroll in another semester, they decided to just take a year off and travel. This ended up as a backpacking trip to Europe with a straight and definite goal that turned out to be a complete challenge to them.

Their first attempt was not that smooth. A lot of hotels rejected them and even when the students made the videos, not many accommodations offered them a free meal or free stay. They kept on trying, sometimes moving to new places through hitchhiking. They started to get recognized and gained popularity as few lodgings started to notice their talent and an increasing number of customers came to lodgings. Even though their situation seemed to get better, conflicts and problems occurred, making their goals blurred and hard to reach.

The movie, Ingyos’ Hitchhiking, is actually a documentary movie. It is narrated by the leader among the four students and the whole movie was shot by themselves using a single camera they brought along to Europe. The usual perception that people have about documentary movies is that they are academic and tedious. However, this movie completely turns the viewers’ expectation around.

The movie is called a documentary movie because it portrays the four students’ every single itinerary and obstacles they faced during their travel vividly. Even though the screen does not have high resolution and some scenes are omitted, the audience members do not have a hard time understanding the whole movie. It even makes the audience realize how their single camera during travel was enough of a tool for them to contain their whole story in the movie.

▲ A scene from the video promoting a lodging. Provided by hancinema.com

Each student’s characteristics also made the movie worth watching. All four students in the movie had different roles when it came to making videos. They worked systematically as if they were professionals. It made the audience feel like the students did not lack anything when they shot the video. The quality of the video was not that bad either. They included the accommodations’ important or must-know information in the video so that it would catch people’s attention. It also had humorous and fluorescent parts that emphasized them.

One of the characters in the movie named Hyun Hak, used jokes and humor that lightened the atmosphere. When students did not see any hope at first, he made fun of their situation which caused laughter in other students and created a happy atmosphere among them. Since there was someone who could cheer up the current situation and make others gather heart to achieve the goal, it made the audience empathize and focus on the movie.

Their travel or challenge in Europe was not an easy thing that an ordinary person in one’s 20s can do. Students in the movie worried a lot and they even thought of coming back to Korea in the middle of the trip. The trip, from the start to the end, required confidence and courage and they had the guts. To any individuals in their 20s, the movie motivates them to give a change to their routine life and try to do something challenging.

▲ Three students looking for cars to hitchhike in the middle of the road. Provided byarchive.artact.co.kr

In the movie, students called themselves Ingyos but after watching the movie, the word “Ingyo” does not seem to fit to them at all. Should they be called Ingyos? People who are lazy and like to stay in bed every day do not even think about taking such challenge. However, throughout the whole process and trip, what these students did definitely was not one of the aspects that Ingyos have. Instead, they became role models to a lot of university students and people in their 20s.

When the movie was released, the students started to live a completely different life compared to the one they lived before they went to Europe. They even became famous in Korea and started to appear on the news after having a lot of interviews. A slight change to their lives brought a big difference to them. This movie ultimately implies that people in their 20s might first be afraid to take a challenge, but once they overcome it and give a minute but significant change to their lives, they will not regret their 20s.

Anyone who needs a novel change and is skeptical about themselves using time in their 20s is recommended to watch Ingyos’ Hitchhiking. It is true that not everyone that watches the movie will do the exact same thing that the students did in the movie. However, the movie gives the opportunity for people in their 20s to reflect on themselves and spend their 20s more effectively.

▲ Hwi looking for cars to hitchhike in the highway. Provided by cifle21.uf.tistory.com