Navillera: Learn to soar freely in life
Netflix’s South Korean series Navillera is an adaptation of a webtoon named “Navillera: Like a butterfly” which has around 5 volumes. Originally written by Hun and illustrated by Ji-min for the Daum platform, Navillera is now a TV drama starring heartthrob Song Kang and produced by Han Dong-Hwa.
The drama is about a 70-year-old retired mailman Shim Deokchul who always dreamed of performing ballet and on the other side there’s Lee Charok a 23-year-old ballet dancer who is going through a slump and has zero motivation to dance. Circumstances make them work with each other, thus taking them on the path of friendship, motivation, affection, and all the while, inspiring others as well along this journey.
For 12 episodes, each episode will touch your heart. It'll make you rethink life decisions or help you to find a little bit of hope in your life, will make you laugh, cry, get upset about some characters and then forgive them as you'll get to know them better.
One of the main cast, Deok Chul (Park In Hwan) is a sweet, understanding, thoughtful person who influences everyone who comes in contact with him and that too in an understated manner. He plays the sweetest grandpa-type figure you could get. We see his journey tracing from the earliest days when he was a child who fell in love with ballet but couldn’t do anything about it, due to his father’s pressure and later due to him getting busy with life struggles, trying to make a living and keeping his family life on track. His desire to finally realise his dream of performing ballet is touching. He
has to overcome a lot of adversity from his aging body to non-cooperative members of his family. Deok Chul’s ballet hobby comes as a shock to his family, who have varying reactions. Some give him the cold shoulder, some try to get him to do old people things like hike in the mountains. It can feel very lonely to be ridiculed for your passion and have to find the strength to continue on.
Then there is Chae Rok (Song Kang), a bit of an icy character, but his vulnerability shows through and helps soften him up. Eventually, we see that he has had a not-so-affectionate relationship with his father and he is also suffering from a lack of motivation for the dance. Layer by layer, we see his sweet and caring side as he starts working as a teacher to Deok Chul. We witness him finding his passion again in the company of Deok Chul who is full of energy and excitement and love for learning ballet. He has a lot of his own issues concerning ballet as well as a rocky past involving his father and friend.
Song Kang took ballet lessons in real life to be able to play Chae Rok's role and dance for just six months. Still, when he was filming his ballet scenes, all of the staff on set were drawn into his performance.
Every scene of this drama is steeped with emotions and feeling. The cinematography is gorgeous. The series is thoughtful and contemplative. It takes its time to tell the story and makes sure to focus on the characters and what they are experiencing. It does really well at bringing out the many emotions they go through -- from triumph to despair. The main theme of pursuing your passion regardless of age, family, and social expectations as seen through the character of Deok Chul, is effectively portrayed.
It is a warm and touching portrait, showing us that it’s never too late to start pursuing or doing what you love, to follow your heart. You can start over from anywhere, anytime, at any age. This drama also proves to us that just because people get old it doesn’t mean that they have lived life to the fullest and now they must live for the next generations. Elders can have dreams too. Being old doesn’t give us fewer rights to have dreams and work for them. All of us will get a chance at least once in our lives to soar freely and feel true happiness. At the end of this road called Navillera, we are left with a message of always finding and keeping hope.
Navillera impressively soared with each of its characters’ beautifully written stories amplified by its visual storytelling. Its composition is carefully crafted and sometimes, tells a story on its own. They even prolifically used ballet as a matching analogy for Chae Rok and Deok Chul's story. These two main characters of the drama, learned how to ‘plié’, bending their knees and straightening back up when life seems too tough to handle. Chae Rok and Deok Chul learned how to ‘relevé’ and rise higher so they will be able to reach their dreams. And in the end, both of them ‘sautéd’ and shined on their own respective life’s “stages". Navillera has held onto its cinematic realism until the end but the series was still a* ble to give a hopeful message for its viewers: “When you want something with all your heart, you shine brighter than anyone.”
If you are still wondering, rather give it a try or not, do so! You won't regret it. It's absolutely a must-watch.
* Rumaiysa M Rahman is a 10th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka