Title: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
Genre: Drama, Action
Duration: 1 hr 58mins
Directed by: Chan Wook Park
Cast:
Lee Young-ae as Lee Geum Ja
Choi Min-sik as Mr Baek
Kwon Yea-young as Jenny
Kim Shi-hu as Geun-shik
Synopsis:
The nation was shook with the news of a young boy of 5 who was kidnapped and killed senselessly. It was disturbing though that the alleged kidnapper is a young, beautiful woman, who looked like an angel but showed no signs of remorse for the crime she committed. When she confessed to the crime, even the detective investigating the crime did not believe her but felt that she had a strong reason to confess to the crime she did not commit. 13 years later, she is released from prison and she immediately goes into action for the culmination of the revenge she planned for 13 years. While inside prison, she was consumed by her plan for revenge and did everything necessary to achieve her goal even donating kidney to her inmate and killing the bull-dyke which has made a sex slave of her inmate. She was later on dubbed as the witch which was kind hearted and everyone was more than happy to oblige to her requests including one woman who marries Mr Baek as part of Geum Ja's plan.
It would later on be revealed that her daughter was kidnapped by Mr Baek, a private school teacher, to force her to confess to the crime. She later on discovers that her daughter, Jenny, was adopted by foreigners and was brought to Australia. She visits her daughter in Australia and although wanting to be with her, Geum ja knows that she has to leave her behind since she still has some unfinished business to do in Seoul. Unfortunately, Jenny wanted to go to Korea with her and convinces her adoptive parents to allow her to go with Geum Ja.
While the mother-daughter bond becomes deeper, her plan for revenge is set to full gear. It became evident though that Mr Baek was aware of her plans and sent two thugs to kidnap Geum Ja and attack his wife, who was a former inmate of Geum Ja. Thereafter, Geum Ja kills both thugs and binds Mr Baek who was knocked unconscious by the drug given to him by his wife.
The next scene shows Geum Ja eager to take her revenge yet hesitant to kill Mr Baek but then discovers the his cell phone is decorated by several children's toys including the favourite marble of the boy Geum Ja supposedly kidnapped and killed. She was devastated by the discovery so she calls on the previous detective who handled her case$, feeling more burdened by the fact that she inadvertently aided Mr Baek because she confessed to the crime and allowed him to be free to kidnap those other kids and kill them. The police was then led to discover the bodies of the kidnapped children who were all killed by Mr Baek. Rummaging through his things, Geum Ja discovers that Mr Baek filmed the killing of each child he kidnaps and kept them for his record. She then decides to involve the family of each kidnapped child and shows them the painful film of how their children pleaded and were killed.
It brought me to tears when she showed how each child pleaded and was killed without remorse. It showed the pain of each family as they watched their child killed before their eyes making them filled with renewed hatred. Geum Ja then gives them the option of either turning him over to the authorities or to take the matter with their own hands. As they were discussing each course of action, the film showed that Geum Ja has setup a speaker in the room so that Mr Baek could hear everything they were discussing in the other room. The film also showed that although each family were filled with deep hatred initially, they also hesitated a bit when they were really confronted with the issue of exacting their vengeance but they each were able to overcome the hesitation and goes for the kill. After which a picture of everyone was taken and they buried his body together with the weapons they used to kill him.
Even after she has exacted her revenge, the movie showed that she was still filled with remorse and confusion until she meets with her daughter on the road. She tells Jenny to live white and Jenny in turn tells her to live whiter.
This film was unbelievably, showed genuine human emotions and forced me to meditate on the issues at hand including the morality of revenge, of forgiveness, atonement and remorse. As each of us would like to lead a life that is white and pure, how would you be able to forgive a man who killed children without remorse and let him live another day?
I give this 9 out of 10 stars.
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