85-year-old Kim Hye-ja's 65-year acting career—the meaning of life contained in "Don't Die"

85-year-old actress Kim Hye-ja has looked back on her long 65-year acting career, the time she has lived, and the meaning of sharing with others. Having symbolized an era of South Korean popular culture by widely portraying characters ranging from mothers, wives, and ordinary neighbors to individuals with complex inner lives in numerous works, Kim Hye-ja's life is now expanding beyond professional achievements as an actress into a narrative showing how a human being relates to the suffering of others.

The SBS special documentary "Kim Hye-ja's Regards – Don't Die," broadcast on the 4th, highlighted the 65-year acting career of Kim Hye-ja, who turned 85 this year, alongside her long-standing relief activities. Rather than simply retracing the filmography of a famous actress, the focus was placed on delving into why Kim Hye-ja became interested in the pain of others and how, in that process, she actually discovered the strength to sustain her own life.

Kim Hye-ja's acting career is also intertwined with the changes in South Korean society. Having continued her activities from the era when TV and movies were the most important cultural windows for the public to the present, she has infused the changing meanings of family, women, and motherhood according to the times into her acting. In particular, her acting can be evaluated as an important example of Korean realistic acting, as she bestowed emotions and the weight of life onto ordinary and familiar characters that are difficult to explain through simple distinctions of good and evil.

Many figures from the film and broadcasting industries who have formed special bonds with Kim Hye-ja participated in this documentary. Actor Lee Byung-hun took on the role of narrator to calmly convey Kim Hye-ja's life, and participants included director Bong Joon Ho, who worked with her on the film "Mother," as well as Go Doo-shim, Lee Jung-eun, Han Ji-min, Lee Se-young, Choi Kang-hee, Son Ho-jun, and Ryu Deok-hwan. Based on their own experiences, they expressed the respect and affection accumulated over a long time while looking at actress Kim Hye-ja and human Kim Hye-ja.

In particular, a key viewing point of this documentary was that acting and sharing in Kim Hye-ja's life cannot be seen as separate domains. This is because if acting is the work of understanding the lives of others and imagining their emotions and wounds, long-term relief activities are also an act of not turning away from the pain of others and taking a step closer to that reality. Kim Hye-ja has continued to share with neighbors in need both domestically and internationally while serving as a goodwill ambassador for the international relief and development NGO World Vision for a long time.

In this broadcast, the stories of supporters who shared the same intentions as Kim Hye-ja were also covered in significant detail. It showed that one person's good deed can lead to the participation of another, and that such small interests gathered can become a reason for someone not to give up on life. This is a point that can be viewed from the perspective of solidarity between people and social responsibility, rather than seeing charity or donation merely as a one-sided act of giving.

The message Kim Hye-ja conveys in this documentary is condensed into the short but powerful sentence, "Don't Die." These words do not stop at simple consolation or optimistic encouragement. It is closer to the belief that even in moments when life is so painful that one wants to give up, if someone reaches out a hand, one can gain the strength to endure again. And it contains the paradoxical realization that the hand reached out to save others can ultimately become the strength that sustains one's own life.

Ultimately, the story Kim Hye-ja tells after passing through a 65-year acting career is closer to "how she has looked at people and lived" rather than a record of her career such as "how many works she appeared in." As the time spent understanding the lives of others as an actress overlaps with the time spent responding to the actual suffering of others through relief activities, Kim Hye-ja's life itself becomes a single message.

The regards offered by the great actress at age 85 are not stories of grand success or longevity. It was a story that not turning away from each other's pain, staying by someone's side when they are struggling, and holding onto each other so as not to give up until the end is ultimately the way we live together.