This silent short film was produced by the motion picture department of the Japanese Government-General of Korea for the purpose of encouraging tax payment. At the start, an idealistic young man (played by Sim Yeong) preaches to a group of industrious villagers on the benefits of paying taxes. Doing so, he tells them, means a bridge can be built over the river. Local bigwig Mr. Kwon (wearing the traditional Tanggeon headgear) doesn’t want to part with his money and is especially put out when the idealist donates his land for the common good. Kwon’s workers leave him to cultivate fields that will put money directly into their pockets, and even the miser’s son, Hak-ryul, is ashamed of his father’s avoidance of paying taxes. When the boy breaks open his own ceramic bank to bring coins to pay his family’s obligations, Kwon chases after him, and his son falls to his death. In recompense, his grieving father pays for the construction of the bridge.
Sim Yeong had a successful theatre career prior to appearing in the film Soo-il and Soon-ae (1931). Kim Yeon-sil, who had debuted in 1927 and played various lead characters, including Gye-soon in Crossroads of Youth (1934), later defected to North Korea and continued acting there. The Power of Sincerity was acquired twice from Gosfilmofond of Russia, first in 1998 and then in 2006. – Sungji Oh, Jay Weissberg