RE: Sympathy For Lady Vengeance
What is the price of revenge? Park Chan Wook examined this question in the two previous films in the Vengeance trilogy. In the first, SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, he showed the price good people pay for falling into the uncontrolled frenzy of vengeance. In OLDBOY, he showed the devastating effects of controlled vengeance combined with time and how it can render you inhuman. And now, we have the final installment, SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE. In the previous two films, we see the physical and mental damage of revenge. In this one, we see the spiritual damage. Is there such a thing as atonement once you cross the line? Does it matter if God, or anyone else for that matter, forgives you? Or is it a choice that only you can make to step back from that edge? Can you step back? And ultimately, is there such a thing as redemption and who wll deliver that?
First off, I want to emphasize what a HORRIBLE English title this is. The name of the film is CHINJEOLHAN GEUMJASSI, which literally means, The Kind-Hearted Miss Geum. I think that this is an important distinction because at first, it is a sarcastic wink to the audience. We know she is not the angel she portrays herself to be. Much like OLDBOY, she has had 13 years in prison to create her plan and carry it out. Also, just like in OLDBOY, she has plotted out every detail...establishing relationships, using the pain of her fellow female inmates as opportunities to "save" them and to make them beholden to her. It is emotional opportunism and she is ruthless in her "kindness." She is not above murder, religious chicanery, even pimping, to collect the people she needs to carry out her plan...with the most innocent look on her face, of course. And like OLDBOY, she is blind to anything but her single minded focus on punishing the man who she loved and was betrayed by when he commited a savage crime, convinced her to take the fall for it, and kidnapped and threatened her baby daughter so that he could ensure his own escape.
***PLEASE STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE. PLEASE!***
But, in doing so, she inadvertently caused immeasurable heartbreak to many people. And about 2/3's of the way through the movie, what first began as a "typical Park Chan Wook-style revenge fantasy" which the audience is enjoying and looking forward to becomes something much much more personal and unsettling. You see, because Geum Ja took the fall for the murder of a little boy, the actual murderer who she was in love with, was free to continue his killing spree of children. What she originally thought was a kidnapping for ransom money gone wrong (shades of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), was actually intentional. Mr. Baek actually was killing the children for his own pleasure. The money the parents paid to have their children back was only the icing on the cake (for those who saw the movie, get it? Get it? ).
And so Geum Ja now changes. From a woman hellbent on revenge, she is the one who is tortured with the agony of guilt. That it was her poor judgement that caused all of this. And so she has to pay the price of not only letting go of her own anger, but to let the parents have their rightful vengeance.
But vengeance in any form is destructive, no matter how justified it may be. And we know that the parents will pay a heavy price for the sin of their revenge.
The birthday cake they eat after the deed is done is a rebirth, not of peace and freedom, but of a new and fresh burden. The killing will not bring their children back. And now, they will have to carry along with it the guilt that Geum Ja herself carries.
But there is hope. There is redemption...to forgive and let go. Most importantly, to forgive yourself and atone. And love is the only way to make this happen. Jenny's love is evidence of that. It is a love that began as anger and revenge but as she grew to understand the circumstances of why her mother left her, she realizes how much she really loved her, and so she learns to love her too. And it is that love that redeems GeumJa at the end. A surprisingly hopeful ending to a trilogy that seemed hopeless and relentless.
I would be remiss if I did not highlight Lee Young Ae's performance in this movie. While everyone in the film does an adequate job in portraying their characters, with the exception of Lee Young Ae, no one really stood out. Even Choi Min Shik is playing just a "type." But the central figure of Geum Ja, from seeing her as a scared young girl to a woman torn by anger and then guilt and then being lef to her ultimate spiritual redemption is played to perfection by Lee Young Ae. I was VERY surprised because I thought she was the worst thing about JSA and felt that her character in that film as well as her wooden acting, dragged that film down. So when I heard she was cast as the main character to this film, I was dreading it. But my God, what a performance. She is not only a tragic character, but a very human one. And I have to give her praise for this performance. And credit to Park Chan Wook for coaxing such a great performance.
Stylistically, this is not OLDBOY. There are some great shots and compositions, but it is not as fresh as it was in OLDBOY. But I think that may have been intentional...that Park Chan Wook gave us the visuals we have come to expect, but did not want those visuals to overwhelm the heart of the story.
I still rank SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE** as the most powerful film, but I felt this was the warmest film and a fitting and hopeful ending to the cycle.
**On the subject of titles, I wanted to add that the original title of SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE is really BOKSUNEUN NAUI GEOT, which correctly translated, means VENGEANCE IS MINE, which makes a helluva lot more sense. There is already a Japanese film by Shoei Imamura named that, so it was decided to rename it the ridiculous sounding SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE.
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