It might seem like something out of an episode of Black Mirror, but a South Korean documentary called I Met You was able to capture the moments a grieving mother was able to reunite with her deceased daughter in virtual reality.
Jang Ji-sung lost her daughter Nayeon, 7, to an incurable illness in 2016. Appearing in a virtual reality park donning a headset and haptic gloves, she was able to see and talk – but not touch or hold - her daughter one last time.
Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), a South Korean channel, uploaded a 10-minute clip from the documentary onto YouTube on Thursday, February 6 and it has already been viewed more than 12 million times.
According to Korean outlet Aju Business Daily, the documentary production team spent eight months building Nayeon's avatar, including her actual voice. An elaborate park scene was the backdrop, where the two played and celebrated Nayeon's birthday.
The whole scene is heartbreaking to watch. In the beginning, Jang is seen a bit hesitant on what to do but starts to cry and can be seen stretching out her hands to try and hold the avatar of her daughter one more time. In Korean, the virtual version of her daughter strides right up to her and asks, according to an English translation, “Where have you been, Mum? Did you think about me?”
As the whole thing plays out, her husband and three other children watch with some also shedding tears over the experience. The scene switches back and forth with cuts between the virtual world to the real world – with one scene showing the mother hunched over by herself in a green room and another with her playing with her virtual daughter and celebrating her birthday in a park.
The scene ends with the daughter going to sleep and telling her mother, “Mum, goodbye. Mum, I love you” with Jang getting to tell her, “I love you too. Goodbye,” as the clip ends.
It was reported that she decided to appear in the documentary to help comfort other parents who have lost a child.
Watch the clip above. To turn subtitles on click the CC button and choose your preferred language.
