| I'm still thinking about Samaria. Ki-duk-Kim, the director, did a wonderful job. While sleeping at the neighbor's house--I was dog-sitting--I stumbled upon the Sundance channel at 3 in the morning.
The film is divided into 3 parts: Vasumitra, Samaria, and Sonata. In the first part, we see Yeo-jin and Jae-yeong, two high school girls, talking to a man online, scheduling a hook-up. The girls want to get to Europe (they live in South Korea), and to raise money, Jae-Yeong prostitutes herself and Yeo-jin sets up her appointments and handles the money. While Yeo-jin helps Jae-yeong get ready for her first appointment, Jae-yeong says she wants to be called "Vasumitra," the name of an Indian prostitute who, by sleeping with men, converted them to Buddhism. Jae-yeong wants to be called Vasumitra and seems excited about their new adventure. Yeo-jin, however, seems slightly leery and contrasts her best friend's optimistic attitude. She even asks later if they should stop, fearing that the operation will scar her for life.
Yeo-jin always waits for her friend outside of the motels, keeping watch for police. Jae-yeong comes back with stories about the jobs the men have and seems happy. Her friend hates hearing these personal stories and begs Jae-yeong to stop asking about occupation s or what they like. Jae-yeong says ok, out of loyalty to her friend, but also says that she and these men share something, even though it's only a short time, and she likes to know who she's sharing herself with. Yeo-jin becomes jealous of her friend's happiness and the intimacy she shares with people other than her.
Despite Jae-yeong's happiness, prostitution is not portrayed as a safe, fulfilling after school job. Even though Yeo-jin is on the look-out, the police catch Jae-yeong in an upper story bedroom of a motel. She stands on the edge of the window, in her underwear, a fragile human making a decision. The police are at the door, asking her to please go with them, they only want to protect her, and Yeo-jin screams "don't do it" from the street. She jumps and cracks her head on the jagged pavement. She is alive, barely, and asks Yeo-jin to carry her. Yeo-jin lifts her precious friend onto her back, and carries her to the hospital. This scene is so heart-breaking, so full of humanity and unanswered questions that I was weeping for both people, for their friendship, for Yeo-jin's initial uneasiness about this prostitution, for her guilt, for Jae-yeong's innocence and youth. With blood spilling from Jae-yeong onto Yeo-jin they are connected and it feels as though they are alone.
While Jae-yeong is in the hospital, Yeo-jin decides to sleep with all the men Jae-yeong was paid to sleep with and return their money, as a way to make amends for the whole situation. She begs the first man to hurry, so they may go to the hospital to see Jae-yeong. They get there and Jae-yeong is dead, wearing the smile she always wore. Yeo-jin asks her friend why she is happy, there is nothing to be happy about.
The second part of the film, "Samaria," follows Yeo-jin as she sleeps with men, returns their money, and crosses their name and number off. These scenes are never obscenely sexual--none of the film is graphic in this way; the movie doesn't need it--in fact, the act is never shown. The conversations and interaction between Yeo-jin and the men are most important. The men seem to be deeply affected when Yeo-jin returns their money. One man says he will pray for her everyday.
Yeo-jin's father is a policeman, and although I haven't mentioned him until now, he is a good father, caring and concerned about this daughter. His wife is dead. While working, the father investigates a girl who has been murdered, presumably while working as a prostitute. He looks out of the window and into the room across the street to see his daughter and another man. That night, he goes into his daughter's bedroom and looks at her, overcome with grief and pain that other men have used her body, her perfectly smooth legs, and taken her innocence.
Instead of confronting Yeo-jin, the father internalizes his pain and follows his daughter (without her knowing) as she goes here and there for other men. He becomes increasingly violent toward the men, stopping them before they go in or when they come out of various locations. Perhaps the most disturbing scene is when he goes into a man's home and slaps the man in front of his family; they are eating dinner. He asks the man's daughter what grade she is in and she responds with "I'm a sophomore in high school." Yeo-jin's father slaps the man repeatedly and asks how he can live with himself, how he can sleep with a girl younger than his own daughter. The man only looks down. Yeo-jin's father leaves and the man, without saying a word, walks to the window and kills himself, his family left at the table.
...And I have to stop for now, I didn't mean to give a detailed description of the movie, for it is impossible to say it all, and I have left many things out. But because I have started, maybe I will finish (the ending is just as heart-breaking as the beginning and middle).
What I liked about this movie was its realness. The characters are completely believable; I was wrapped up in each one. It is complicated, raising many questions of morality, innocence, prostitution, death, life, and never really answering them. As I said, it is never sexually graphic, although the suicides and Yeo-jin's father's violent acts toward the end of section two are hard to watch.
More on this film later, although you must see it to really experience it. |
