Okja: Meet the Animal Liberation Front

One of the highlights of Okja, the wonderfully bizarre new film on Netflix, is the wish fulfillment offered to vegans and animal lovers the world over by the Animal Liberation Front. This group, also known as the ALF, operate a bit like if PETA and similar animal activists had the skillset and cunning of James Bond’s version of MI6. We’re talking dapper, cool dudes or overly friendly tech guys who smile as they promise that they aren’t going to hurt you… so long as you turn over your truck with a genetically modified super-pig to them while they’re wearing ski masks. Otherwise, things might get a bit messy.

It’s one of the many eccentric touches in Bong Joon Ho’s beautifully bizarre fantasy about the food industry, capitalism, and the connection between a child and an animal who is more than a pet… it’s a dear loved one.

Our Matt Schuchman recently had the opportunity to sit down with the three actors who make up the main faces of Okja’s ALF: Paul Dano, Steve Yeun, and Lily Collins. While talking with all three of them, we discuss what is the appeal of the ALF and why such a formal and politically motivated group could so quickly and enthusiastically get behind young Ahn Seo-hyun’s main character of Mija in the film. Personally, we’re ready to join their fight.

Okja is streaming now on Netflix.