We discuss the ending of the South Korean 2023 Netflix film Dream, which will contain significant spoilers.
Netflix Korean film Dream follows your usual feel-good sports movie storyline. Professional player Yoon Hong-dae (Park Seo-joon) needs to clean up his public image after an altercation with a journalist, so his team makes him the guest coach for Korea’s team for the Homeless Football World Cup.
Documentary maker Lee So-min (Lee Ji-eun) is filming everything to air on television and hopefully help her make a name as a director. But the real stars of the show are the men who make up the soccer team, who demonstrate that people of all ages and backgrounds can end up experiencing homelessness.
Dream Ending Explained
Does the Korean team win their games at the World Cup?
The Korean team shows up to the World Cup in Budapest, still woefully unprepared. Their first game is a spectacular loss. So-min insists that they take advantage of a rule that allows a small team to take on two members from another country in hopes that it will help her documentary.
They recruit two Brazilian players for their next game, and though they win, the Korean players don’t get to contribute much. Even though they won the game, it doesn’t feel like a success.
Do they go on with or without the Brazilian players?
With the help of their coach, Hong-dae, the Korean players decide that they would rather lose but get to play themselves and go forth into their next match against Germany without the Brazilian players. Renewed with the knowledge of what they actually came to do — most of them are hoping to prove to their families that they are better than they once were — they put their all into the game.
It’s actually thrilling to watch, even for those who don’t care about sports, and to see the way that the men work together and try their best, even risking personal injury. In the last seconds of the game, they finally scored a goal. It’s not enough to turn the tide of the game in their favor (they lose 5-1), but it is enough to gain the support of a cheering crowd.
How does the team do in the rest of their games?
Text onscreen tells us that they went on to play all their scheduled games, losing all the rest of them but gaining wild popularity for their determination and good sportsmanship. Most touchingly, we see how their time playing soccer has improved the lives of several of the team members, from reconnecting with their families to gaining confidence in themselves.
The team gets enough donors to run for the next year, so much so that their manager no longer has to worry about funding.
Is So-min’s documentary a success?
We see So-min and her team waiting anxiously to see what the ratings for the documentary are. A man comes into the door with the results — it’s a hit, and the ratings are high. Everyone celebrates, though So-min tries to pretend like she isn’t worried.
The film ends with the team, plus So-min and Hong-dae’s mother, showing up to the stadium to cheer him on as he has rejoined his professional team. He’s not the same player he was at the beginning, who was plagued by feeling like he wasn’t good enough as he’s learned about the true purpose of soccer and has the support of all his new friends.
I was relieved to see that the team didn’t magically become talented enough to win all their games. This ending is much more appropriate while still allowing everyone to achieve their goals. It’s beautiful to see them work together and try so hard despite knowing how unlikely they are to win. It’s a reminder for everyone watching that the power of sports isn’t in the winning or the losing but the camaraderie and the self-confidence that playing can provide.
What did you think of the ending of the 2023 South Korean Netflix film Dream? Comment below.
