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Review: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (복수는 나의 것) (2002)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was the first movie of the "Vengeance Trilogy," directed by Park Chan-wook. The three movies in chronological order are Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. I took a look at my records, which told me that I watched Oldboy in December 2014 and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance in January 2015, and as such, it's going to be hard for me to do direct comparisons among the films considering I watched the other two 6 years ago. However, I do vaguely remember the feelings and impressions that I got from Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. I would say that Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance did have similar vibes, but it didn't feel as intense compared to the other two movies. Perhaps it was because I watched those movies when I was younger, but when I watched Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, I found myself thinking about the characters more than the plot.
Anyway, this was still a good movie, a solid drama film with good acting. I'd recommend it for those looking for a drama film, as well as those who enjoy Korean films. I would put a warning for the violence though, as it the case with the other films in the Vengeance Trilogy.
Spoilers.
Story
Taking into account the title of the movie, this movie could be summarized as a story about two men seeking revenge.
Ryu was a deaf-mute man who was desperate to get an organ transplant for his sister. When things didn't seem to be going his way, he went the illegal route, got scammed out of his money, and when the hospital did find an organ donor for the sister, he was out of all of his money. Ryu kidnapped a rich man's daughter to get money, which was successful, but his sister, upon finding out that he'd kidnapped the child, committed suicide. Ryu then sought revenge on the scamming illegal organ sellers.
Park Dong-jin was the father of the girl who was kidnapped and subsequently found dead. He sought revenge on Ryu and his accomplices.
Of course, there was more to this movie than just what the story was on the surface. This movie was a lot more about the characters and the reasons behind their actions than just the thriller aspect of "will they catch the perpetrator or not." I'll talk about them more in the characters and themes part.
Production
Cinematography
I'm not sure if I've expressed this before, but I am already a big fan of Park Chan-wook's visual storytelling. He always manages to find the most beautiful ways of showing us a setting, and this film was no different.
I think the theme here was that as a deaf-mute man, Ryu always only had one part of the story. You could say the same for Park Dong-jin, who only had part of the story as to why his daughter was kidnapped and killed, but that may be a bit of a reach.
There were a lot of scenes in which things were hidden.
When Yeong-mi and Ryu were talking for the first time on screen, there was a large mirror covering the middle of the screen. We couldn't even see Ryu's face, and Yeong-mi was only visible because she leaned the side a bit. I mirrored (ha) how as a person who didn't know sign language, I could hear and understand Yeong-mi, but I couldn't understand Ryu.
When Park Dong-jin was being interviewed by the police officer after his daughter was found dead, he was completely out of sight, hidden behind a car door. We only saw the police detective and other police officers walking around. But seeing how routinely the police officers were acting highlighted how overwhelming the situation was for Dong-jin. He just found his daughter dead, but the officers were asking the tough questions, going about their days because this was their job. It was a bit jarring.
There was some violence that was left off screen, such as when Dong-jin was at the morgue, but a lot could be shown in the different instances. When Yu-sun was being cut open, Dong-jin was full of grief, but when Ryu's sister was being cut open, he was completely cold.
I really liked that not only did the Park Chan-wook use covering up the screen to mirror the narrative, but he took it and ran with it, telling much of the story through this sort of roundabout story telling.
Editing
There was also a lot of variety when it came to the story telling methods used. As I mentioned, Park Chan-wook was very good at expressing the story through the visuals, both what was on and off screen.
However, the story was also told through narration and dialogue. The letter that Ryu wrote to the radio station at the very beginning was very interesting. As a deaf-mute person, he had a very difficult time communicating with the world, and this was the first and perhaps only time that we truly heard the words from his heart, even if they were being spoken from someone else's mouth.
Occasionally, the screen would go black, and we would see what Ryu was thinking. Those instances were few and far in between, and it would be a cop out to show them all the time, so I liked the decision to only use them at moments when Ryu was surprised, to enhance the panicked atmosphere.
Violence
As was the case in the other movies in the trilogy, there was bloody violence, but for some reason this movie felt a bit tamer. Maybe it was because I was expecting some really gruesome stuff. That being said, it was still kind of violent and I had to cover up the screen and avert my eyes at certain points.
Characters
This movie really focused around the two Mr. Vengeances, Ryu and Park Dong-jin, so I don't really have as much to say about the others.
Ryu
Ryu was the deaf-mute man. From his letter, I felt sincere concern for his sister. He really did want to help her, but he was limited in his abilities. He was deaf-mute, and his job was not great. He said that his sister had given up college to support his dream to go to art school, and he had subsequently given up art school to support his ailing sister. So we also see that Ryu and his family were very unlucky with the lot they were dealt in life.
A desperate and impatient man (considering his sister was dying), he sought illegal organ sellers. The original deal was that he'd give them money, and trade in his organ for one that would match his sister's blood type. But he was scammed. The sellers took his money, his kidney, and didn't give him one in return.
Soon after, the hospital told him that a matching donor was found for his sister, but at that point, his money was taken by the scammers. That was why he resorted to kidnapping and blackmail.
His original intention was to kidnap his boss's daughter, but it would be too obvious, and so he kidnapped a friend instead. Things were going swimmingly, and he even got the money, until his sister found that he was fired and that he was actually kidnapping Yu-sun and not babysitting her like she believed. His sister committed suicide, to rid her brother of the burden, and also as a sign of disappointment to her brother.
As his sister was already dead, Ryu intended to return Yu-sun after burying his sister, but Yu-sun drowned in the river.
At this point, Ryu began his revenge on the illegal organ sellers, with the help of his girlfriend Yeong-mi. He was successful, but soon after, he was caught by Park Dong-jin who was exacting his own revenge.
While Ryu's ire was understandable, injustice was not something new to him. It was just something that happened to him, as an unwealthy and deaf-mute man. So his actions felt a lot more calm and calculated to me. He had to seek revenge for his sister, because that was just how things were, that was the only thing he could do now.
When he was captured by Dong-jin, Dong-jin said to him that he understood that Ryu was a good man, but that Dong-jin still had to kill him. I think Ryu definitely understood, and he sort of just accepted his death. It was hard to tell how he was actually feeling though, other than the instinctive panic and fear he felt at being captured. But I choose to believe that he expected his death.
Back to the point about Ryu being a good man. Dong-jin thought he was a good man, and I think Ryu tried to be one too. But there were things out of his control that forced him to sometimes not be a good man. Early on in the movie, his sister was writhing in pain, and meanwhile, he was enjoying his noodles, completely unaware because he couldn't hear. He tried to take care of Yu-sun, but because he couldn't hear, he couldn't save her in time and she drowned in the river.
In addition to him being deaf, he was used to mistreatment as a man in a low paying job. He was fired from his job, he was scammed because he had no leverage against the organ dealers, etc.
I think a lot of why Ryu was so chill about a lot of things compared to Dong-jin was because of the circumstances he was used to, as a person from the lower-class. Like I said, this sort of cutthroat life was just something he expected. I'll talk about this in the themes section.
Park Dong-jin
Park Dong-jin was the father of Yu-sun. Of course, he was very much in grief when he found his daughter dead, even after completing his part of the deal. Like Ryu, Dong-jin sought revenge for two reasons, one for the death of a loved one, and two for the injustice against him.
Dong-jin even hired a personal investigator to find out more about Ryu, since it didn't seem like the police were getting anywhere. He was on a personal mission to hunt down those who were responsible for his daughter's death, but he was reckless about it. Where Ryu was more calm in his quest for revenge, Dong-jin was effective but left a lot of loose ends that would come back to haunt him.
And I think this was because Dong-jin was driven by rage and determination, whereas Ryu just saw revenge as the way that things were. Not sure if that makes sense.
Anyway, Yeong-mi threatened Dong-jin that if anything happened to her, her terrorist organization would seek revenge on him. He didn't believe her, nor did the police officers, who thought that she was the only member of her organization. But in the end, four members of the organization found and killed Dong-jin.
While Dong-jin had more resources at his disposal, he wasn't really used to this way of life, acting outside of the law, and so he wasn't really street smart enough to protect himself, though whether or not he wanted to live after exacting revenge is another story.
Themes
Revenge
The biggest, most obvious theme of this movie. I'll talk about this below, but I think a lot of the differences between Dong-jin and Ryu were driven by their class differences and the circumstances in which they were used to.
Both Park Dong-jin and Ryu were wronged by injustices committed against them, and by specific people. From Dong-jin's point of view, he'd held up his end of the bargain by giving up 26 million won, and yet his daughter was still not safely returned to him. And as a result, he sought revenge on the specific people who were directly responsible for his daughter's kidnapping, Ryu and Yeong-mi.
For Ryu, he'd also held up his end of the bargain by giving 10 million won to the organ dealers and also his own kidney, but he was not given a kidney back, as per the deal. The people directly responsible for this were the three organ scammers.
For Dong-jin, the proper way of seeking justice would've been to go through the police, but that was going nowhere and he'd hired a private investigator to help him track down Ryu.
As for Ryu, he was used to acting around the limits of "official" justice, so this was probably his way of seeking proper justice. I mean, the illegal organ dealers were operating outside of the law, so to seek justice outside of the law kind of fits, right?
What they exactly did to exact revenge was very different too.
Ryu killed the three organ dealers and no one else. They were all complicit in scamming Ryu, which killed his sister. If they had given him the kidney like they agreed upon, Ryu would not have had this problem. Or, if they hadn't done that deal, Ryu would still have the money for his sister's transplant.
Dong-jin's situation was a bit different. He killed Ryu, Yeong-mi, and the delivery guy. The delivery guy, we can all agree, was totally innocent, but he had seen Dong-jin at Yeong-mi's home, and thus he was a witness. But he was not complicit in Yu-sun's death at all. Yeong-mi was responsible for Yu-sun's kidnapping, but not her death. So she wasn't quite directly responsible, but half responsible. Ryu was complicit in Yu-sun's kidnapping, and her death, even if it was accidental. So Dong-jin's situation was more complex, but he still approached everything the same way.
Can we say that Dong-jin's revenge was appropriate for the crime? I'd say that Ryu's revenge on the scammers was appropriate, but Dong-jin killing Yeong-mi and especially the delivery guy didn't seem right.
One theory I have for this is that while Ryu was acting outside of the law, there was still a code to it. He was acting on a sort of honour code. He was seeking revenge specifically on the scammers and no one else. Dong-jin was acting outside of the law, but not by an honour code either. He electrocuted Yeong-mi again and again to get information out of her, and after he did, he killed her. He also killed the delivery guy even though he had done nothing other than his job. So Dong-jin was not acting according to any honour code. He was acting on rage.
The private investigator told Dong-jin not to pursue Ryu because he was a crazy man who'd killed three people. But...by the end of the movie, Dong-jin had killed three people too. What does that say about him? That he's just as crazy, driven to that point through revenge? But I never saw Ryu as a person crazy through revenge.
Both Ryu and Dong-jin were also killed through revenge. Ryu was killed by Dong-jin as revenge for his daughter, and Dong-jin was killed by the terrorists as revenge for Yeong-mi. Ryu probably knew that this was coming, considering he saw that Yeong-mi had died.
But did Dong-jin see his death coming? Probably not, as nobody really thought that Yeong-mi's terrorist organization was actually an organization.
Ryu and Dong-jin's approaches to revenge are still something I'm wrapping my head around. I don't think that I've totally made sense of it, but I appreciate what the movie has done, giving us material to compare and contrast.
Class differences
I think that the class differences between Ryu and Dong-jin are one of the main reasons for the differences in their behaviours.
Ryu and his sister were not in a good situation. His sister gave up college to fund his art school, and then Ryu had to give up art school to fund his sister's medical treatment and to take care of her. On the other hand, Dong-jin was a pretty wealthy man. However, according to what he told the police detective, he'd graduated high school and started as an electrical engineer.
Assuming that both Ryu and his sister had a high school education, what drove the differences? Did Dong-jin come from a good family, affording him connections? Or was it just that Dong-jin was lucky enough not to be sick? Ryu was deaf-mute, and his sister was very ill. If Ryu was not deaf-mute and his sister was not so ill, and if they'd completed art school and college respectively, would they be able to work their way up the corporate ladder like Dong-jin did?
Class differences are a theme that I've seen in A LOT of Korean films in the past two decades, and it's interesting to see it already be such a prominent theme in this movie that is from 2002.
Ryu was far more savvy when it came to hunting down the scammers and getting the job done. He had help from Yeong-mi, but ultimately, they just used strategy to hunt them down and exact revenge.
On the other hand, Dong-jin used a lot of...brute force? Like, he didn't have as much tact, and maybe it was because he didn't have the benefit of knowing everything he needed to know. Ryu knew who the scammers were, whereas Dong-jin needed to do some digging before understanding who he needed to seek out. But other than how he set up the trap for Ryu, he seemed a bit clumsy otherwise, especially when it came to handling Yeong-mi. He was a lot more reckless. Part of it is his emotions, and part of it is probably just him being new to handling things outside of the law.
Second chance
I'm not sure if redemption is the right thing to call this, but I just wanted to talk about Dong-jin and the Peng boy that he found. I think the Peng family had died from some sort of poisoning, either carbon monoxide poisoning, or something was in the food they were having. The father of the Peng family was the engineer that had been laid off and was going to kill himself in front of his former boss. That was a failed attempt, as Dong-jin disarmed the man, suffering a hand wound in the process.
Anyway, the son of the Peng family was found to still have signs of life, and Dong-jin brought him to the hospital, posing as his father. For a moment, we thought that perhaps Dong-jin was going to treat the boy as his own, as a new beginning. He'd lost his daughter, but perhaps he could save this boy.
Unfortunately, the boy did not live, and when the hospital called him, posing as the father, to pick up the body, Dong-jin very coldly stated that they had the wrong number. This phone call happened after he killed Ryu, but before the terrorist organization got to him. I think that now that he had gotten revenge for his daughter, he was done with the whole having a child thing. If he hadn't gotten revenge on Ryu, then maybe he might continue caring for the boy, in place of the daughter he didn't have, but now that he had revenge, he no longer cared to replace his daughter. That's just my interpretation of how that scene went.
Cuts
Dong-jin got a cut on his hand when he was fighting off the laid off engineer, and his other hand was cut when fighting off the terrorist organization. What does that signify? Did he put himself at risk when he defended the boss from the engineer? (Because that act put him on Ryu's radar?) In that case, when he cut his second hand, that would sort of represent the final nail in his coffin, when he was killed by the terrorist organization.
That's all I can think of for now, but it was so deliberate that I think it has to mean something.
Overall
This was a good movie. The cinematography was really good, and the story made me think
I think I'm trying too hard to make sense of the themes when it doesn't really have to be that deep. This movie can still be enjoyed as the story of two men seeking revenge in different ways, and how they fall to it as well.
Anyway, this was still a good movie, a solid drama film with good acting. I'd recommend it for those looking for a drama film, as well as those who enjoy Korean films. I would put a warning for the violence though, as it the case with the other films in the Vengeance Trilogy.
Spoilers.
Story
Taking into account the title of the movie, this movie could be summarized as a story about two men seeking revenge.
Ryu was a deaf-mute man who was desperate to get an organ transplant for his sister. When things didn't seem to be going his way, he went the illegal route, got scammed out of his money, and when the hospital did find an organ donor for the sister, he was out of all of his money. Ryu kidnapped a rich man's daughter to get money, which was successful, but his sister, upon finding out that he'd kidnapped the child, committed suicide. Ryu then sought revenge on the scamming illegal organ sellers.
Park Dong-jin was the father of the girl who was kidnapped and subsequently found dead. He sought revenge on Ryu and his accomplices.
Of course, there was more to this movie than just what the story was on the surface. This movie was a lot more about the characters and the reasons behind their actions than just the thriller aspect of "will they catch the perpetrator or not." I'll talk about them more in the characters and themes part.
Production
Cinematography
I'm not sure if I've expressed this before, but I am already a big fan of Park Chan-wook's visual storytelling. He always manages to find the most beautiful ways of showing us a setting, and this film was no different.
I think the theme here was that as a deaf-mute man, Ryu always only had one part of the story. You could say the same for Park Dong-jin, who only had part of the story as to why his daughter was kidnapped and killed, but that may be a bit of a reach.
There were a lot of scenes in which things were hidden.
When Yeong-mi and Ryu were talking for the first time on screen, there was a large mirror covering the middle of the screen. We couldn't even see Ryu's face, and Yeong-mi was only visible because she leaned the side a bit. I mirrored (ha) how as a person who didn't know sign language, I could hear and understand Yeong-mi, but I couldn't understand Ryu.
When Park Dong-jin was being interviewed by the police officer after his daughter was found dead, he was completely out of sight, hidden behind a car door. We only saw the police detective and other police officers walking around. But seeing how routinely the police officers were acting highlighted how overwhelming the situation was for Dong-jin. He just found his daughter dead, but the officers were asking the tough questions, going about their days because this was their job. It was a bit jarring.
There was some violence that was left off screen, such as when Dong-jin was at the morgue, but a lot could be shown in the different instances. When Yu-sun was being cut open, Dong-jin was full of grief, but when Ryu's sister was being cut open, he was completely cold.
I really liked that not only did the Park Chan-wook use covering up the screen to mirror the narrative, but he took it and ran with it, telling much of the story through this sort of roundabout story telling.
Editing
There was also a lot of variety when it came to the story telling methods used. As I mentioned, Park Chan-wook was very good at expressing the story through the visuals, both what was on and off screen.
However, the story was also told through narration and dialogue. The letter that Ryu wrote to the radio station at the very beginning was very interesting. As a deaf-mute person, he had a very difficult time communicating with the world, and this was the first and perhaps only time that we truly heard the words from his heart, even if they were being spoken from someone else's mouth.
Occasionally, the screen would go black, and we would see what Ryu was thinking. Those instances were few and far in between, and it would be a cop out to show them all the time, so I liked the decision to only use them at moments when Ryu was surprised, to enhance the panicked atmosphere.
Violence
As was the case in the other movies in the trilogy, there was bloody violence, but for some reason this movie felt a bit tamer. Maybe it was because I was expecting some really gruesome stuff. That being said, it was still kind of violent and I had to cover up the screen and avert my eyes at certain points.
Characters
This movie really focused around the two Mr. Vengeances, Ryu and Park Dong-jin, so I don't really have as much to say about the others.
Ryu
Ryu was the deaf-mute man. From his letter, I felt sincere concern for his sister. He really did want to help her, but he was limited in his abilities. He was deaf-mute, and his job was not great. He said that his sister had given up college to support his dream to go to art school, and he had subsequently given up art school to support his ailing sister. So we also see that Ryu and his family were very unlucky with the lot they were dealt in life.
A desperate and impatient man (considering his sister was dying), he sought illegal organ sellers. The original deal was that he'd give them money, and trade in his organ for one that would match his sister's blood type. But he was scammed. The sellers took his money, his kidney, and didn't give him one in return.
Soon after, the hospital told him that a matching donor was found for his sister, but at that point, his money was taken by the scammers. That was why he resorted to kidnapping and blackmail.
His original intention was to kidnap his boss's daughter, but it would be too obvious, and so he kidnapped a friend instead. Things were going swimmingly, and he even got the money, until his sister found that he was fired and that he was actually kidnapping Yu-sun and not babysitting her like she believed. His sister committed suicide, to rid her brother of the burden, and also as a sign of disappointment to her brother.
As his sister was already dead, Ryu intended to return Yu-sun after burying his sister, but Yu-sun drowned in the river.
At this point, Ryu began his revenge on the illegal organ sellers, with the help of his girlfriend Yeong-mi. He was successful, but soon after, he was caught by Park Dong-jin who was exacting his own revenge.
While Ryu's ire was understandable, injustice was not something new to him. It was just something that happened to him, as an unwealthy and deaf-mute man. So his actions felt a lot more calm and calculated to me. He had to seek revenge for his sister, because that was just how things were, that was the only thing he could do now.
When he was captured by Dong-jin, Dong-jin said to him that he understood that Ryu was a good man, but that Dong-jin still had to kill him. I think Ryu definitely understood, and he sort of just accepted his death. It was hard to tell how he was actually feeling though, other than the instinctive panic and fear he felt at being captured. But I choose to believe that he expected his death.
Back to the point about Ryu being a good man. Dong-jin thought he was a good man, and I think Ryu tried to be one too. But there were things out of his control that forced him to sometimes not be a good man. Early on in the movie, his sister was writhing in pain, and meanwhile, he was enjoying his noodles, completely unaware because he couldn't hear. He tried to take care of Yu-sun, but because he couldn't hear, he couldn't save her in time and she drowned in the river.
In addition to him being deaf, he was used to mistreatment as a man in a low paying job. He was fired from his job, he was scammed because he had no leverage against the organ dealers, etc.
I think a lot of why Ryu was so chill about a lot of things compared to Dong-jin was because of the circumstances he was used to, as a person from the lower-class. Like I said, this sort of cutthroat life was just something he expected. I'll talk about this in the themes section.
Park Dong-jin
Park Dong-jin was the father of Yu-sun. Of course, he was very much in grief when he found his daughter dead, even after completing his part of the deal. Like Ryu, Dong-jin sought revenge for two reasons, one for the death of a loved one, and two for the injustice against him.
Dong-jin even hired a personal investigator to find out more about Ryu, since it didn't seem like the police were getting anywhere. He was on a personal mission to hunt down those who were responsible for his daughter's death, but he was reckless about it. Where Ryu was more calm in his quest for revenge, Dong-jin was effective but left a lot of loose ends that would come back to haunt him.
And I think this was because Dong-jin was driven by rage and determination, whereas Ryu just saw revenge as the way that things were. Not sure if that makes sense.
Anyway, Yeong-mi threatened Dong-jin that if anything happened to her, her terrorist organization would seek revenge on him. He didn't believe her, nor did the police officers, who thought that she was the only member of her organization. But in the end, four members of the organization found and killed Dong-jin.
While Dong-jin had more resources at his disposal, he wasn't really used to this way of life, acting outside of the law, and so he wasn't really street smart enough to protect himself, though whether or not he wanted to live after exacting revenge is another story.
Themes
Revenge
The biggest, most obvious theme of this movie. I'll talk about this below, but I think a lot of the differences between Dong-jin and Ryu were driven by their class differences and the circumstances in which they were used to.
Both Park Dong-jin and Ryu were wronged by injustices committed against them, and by specific people. From Dong-jin's point of view, he'd held up his end of the bargain by giving up 26 million won, and yet his daughter was still not safely returned to him. And as a result, he sought revenge on the specific people who were directly responsible for his daughter's kidnapping, Ryu and Yeong-mi.
For Ryu, he'd also held up his end of the bargain by giving 10 million won to the organ dealers and also his own kidney, but he was not given a kidney back, as per the deal. The people directly responsible for this were the three organ scammers.
For Dong-jin, the proper way of seeking justice would've been to go through the police, but that was going nowhere and he'd hired a private investigator to help him track down Ryu.
As for Ryu, he was used to acting around the limits of "official" justice, so this was probably his way of seeking proper justice. I mean, the illegal organ dealers were operating outside of the law, so to seek justice outside of the law kind of fits, right?
What they exactly did to exact revenge was very different too.
Ryu killed the three organ dealers and no one else. They were all complicit in scamming Ryu, which killed his sister. If they had given him the kidney like they agreed upon, Ryu would not have had this problem. Or, if they hadn't done that deal, Ryu would still have the money for his sister's transplant.
Dong-jin's situation was a bit different. He killed Ryu, Yeong-mi, and the delivery guy. The delivery guy, we can all agree, was totally innocent, but he had seen Dong-jin at Yeong-mi's home, and thus he was a witness. But he was not complicit in Yu-sun's death at all. Yeong-mi was responsible for Yu-sun's kidnapping, but not her death. So she wasn't quite directly responsible, but half responsible. Ryu was complicit in Yu-sun's kidnapping, and her death, even if it was accidental. So Dong-jin's situation was more complex, but he still approached everything the same way.
Can we say that Dong-jin's revenge was appropriate for the crime? I'd say that Ryu's revenge on the scammers was appropriate, but Dong-jin killing Yeong-mi and especially the delivery guy didn't seem right.
One theory I have for this is that while Ryu was acting outside of the law, there was still a code to it. He was acting on a sort of honour code. He was seeking revenge specifically on the scammers and no one else. Dong-jin was acting outside of the law, but not by an honour code either. He electrocuted Yeong-mi again and again to get information out of her, and after he did, he killed her. He also killed the delivery guy even though he had done nothing other than his job. So Dong-jin was not acting according to any honour code. He was acting on rage.
The private investigator told Dong-jin not to pursue Ryu because he was a crazy man who'd killed three people. But...by the end of the movie, Dong-jin had killed three people too. What does that say about him? That he's just as crazy, driven to that point through revenge? But I never saw Ryu as a person crazy through revenge.
Both Ryu and Dong-jin were also killed through revenge. Ryu was killed by Dong-jin as revenge for his daughter, and Dong-jin was killed by the terrorists as revenge for Yeong-mi. Ryu probably knew that this was coming, considering he saw that Yeong-mi had died.
But did Dong-jin see his death coming? Probably not, as nobody really thought that Yeong-mi's terrorist organization was actually an organization.
Ryu and Dong-jin's approaches to revenge are still something I'm wrapping my head around. I don't think that I've totally made sense of it, but I appreciate what the movie has done, giving us material to compare and contrast.
Class differences
I think that the class differences between Ryu and Dong-jin are one of the main reasons for the differences in their behaviours.
Ryu and his sister were not in a good situation. His sister gave up college to fund his art school, and then Ryu had to give up art school to fund his sister's medical treatment and to take care of her. On the other hand, Dong-jin was a pretty wealthy man. However, according to what he told the police detective, he'd graduated high school and started as an electrical engineer.
Assuming that both Ryu and his sister had a high school education, what drove the differences? Did Dong-jin come from a good family, affording him connections? Or was it just that Dong-jin was lucky enough not to be sick? Ryu was deaf-mute, and his sister was very ill. If Ryu was not deaf-mute and his sister was not so ill, and if they'd completed art school and college respectively, would they be able to work their way up the corporate ladder like Dong-jin did?
Class differences are a theme that I've seen in A LOT of Korean films in the past two decades, and it's interesting to see it already be such a prominent theme in this movie that is from 2002.
Ryu was far more savvy when it came to hunting down the scammers and getting the job done. He had help from Yeong-mi, but ultimately, they just used strategy to hunt them down and exact revenge.
On the other hand, Dong-jin used a lot of...brute force? Like, he didn't have as much tact, and maybe it was because he didn't have the benefit of knowing everything he needed to know. Ryu knew who the scammers were, whereas Dong-jin needed to do some digging before understanding who he needed to seek out. But other than how he set up the trap for Ryu, he seemed a bit clumsy otherwise, especially when it came to handling Yeong-mi. He was a lot more reckless. Part of it is his emotions, and part of it is probably just him being new to handling things outside of the law.
Second chance
I'm not sure if redemption is the right thing to call this, but I just wanted to talk about Dong-jin and the Peng boy that he found. I think the Peng family had died from some sort of poisoning, either carbon monoxide poisoning, or something was in the food they were having. The father of the Peng family was the engineer that had been laid off and was going to kill himself in front of his former boss. That was a failed attempt, as Dong-jin disarmed the man, suffering a hand wound in the process.
Anyway, the son of the Peng family was found to still have signs of life, and Dong-jin brought him to the hospital, posing as his father. For a moment, we thought that perhaps Dong-jin was going to treat the boy as his own, as a new beginning. He'd lost his daughter, but perhaps he could save this boy.
Unfortunately, the boy did not live, and when the hospital called him, posing as the father, to pick up the body, Dong-jin very coldly stated that they had the wrong number. This phone call happened after he killed Ryu, but before the terrorist organization got to him. I think that now that he had gotten revenge for his daughter, he was done with the whole having a child thing. If he hadn't gotten revenge on Ryu, then maybe he might continue caring for the boy, in place of the daughter he didn't have, but now that he had revenge, he no longer cared to replace his daughter. That's just my interpretation of how that scene went.
Cuts
Dong-jin got a cut on his hand when he was fighting off the laid off engineer, and his other hand was cut when fighting off the terrorist organization. What does that signify? Did he put himself at risk when he defended the boss from the engineer? (Because that act put him on Ryu's radar?) In that case, when he cut his second hand, that would sort of represent the final nail in his coffin, when he was killed by the terrorist organization.
That's all I can think of for now, but it was so deliberate that I think it has to mean something.
Overall
This was a good movie. The cinematography was really good, and the story made me think
I think I'm trying too hard to make sense of the themes when it doesn't really have to be that deep. This movie can still be enjoyed as the story of two men seeking revenge in different ways, and how they fall to it as well.