"I Want Vengeance": There is no joy of greed and enmity, only inner contradictions and pains

Joaquin 2022-04-23 07:02:45

Probably because "Shin Ha Kyun" is deaf, it's a fairly quiet movie. There is very little soundtrack and very little dialogue. Silence and violence seem to be everything in this film.

But in fact, silence and violence are only the extension of the core elements. Because of the tragic fate of everyone in the film, this is the real core factor. The green-haired "Shen Hejun" is the only worker in the noisy factory who doesn't need to wear sound-isolating earmuffs because he is deaf and mute. Although he has a congenital physical defect, "Shin Ha Kyun" is a big boy with an angel's heart. His sister, who has been with each other since childhood, is his only one. The factory owner-"Song Kanghao" is a self-made entrepreneur. Although he has experienced an incomplete marriage, as a single father "Song Kanghao", his daughter is also his only one. "Shin Ha Kyun"'s girlfriend, "Bae Doona", is a member of a mysterious organization. She proposed a kidnapping plan that did not seem to have much malicious intent, but ultimately made everyone go to meet Lord Yama.

However, due to self-defeating reasons, this "good faith" crime turned into a criminal kidnapping incident. The fate of a group of good people such as "Song Kang-ho", "Shin Ha-kyun", "Bae Doo-na", and the daughter of "Song Kang-ho" and the sister of "Shin Ha-kyun" has undergone a fundamental change.

There are not many revenge-themed films, but in the vast majority of films of this type, the avengers and the victims of revenge have a very clear distinction between good and evil. Either the good man takes revenge on the wicked, or the wicked takes revenge on the good. But "I Want Vengeance" is not "Water Margin". There is no such joy and joy as Wu Song killed Ximen Panjin and Lu Zhishen after punching the town of Guanxi. You don't know whether "Song Kanghao"'s revenge is right or not. Wrong, in the face of Song Kanghao's mad brutal killing, you can't bear to continue watching, there will be an urge to stop it, and you will hate the "Song Kanghao" with quotation marks or even the Song Kanghao without quotation marks. However, you must also admit that although you have the heart of an angel, the so-called "goodwill" kidnapping is also kidnapping, and unintentional tearing of votes is also a tearing of votes. From this perspective, you will have some pity and recognition for Song Kanghao's revenge. In the face of our father's revenge feat, which should be gratuitous, our hearts are full of contradictions and pain.

If you can understand the ending song of "I Want My Vengeance", you will be surprised to find that the song only has three lines of lyrics. They are "I'm really sorry for you", "But I can't help it", "I have to take revenge". Just like "Song Kangho" tearfully said the last sentence "I know you are a good person, so you can understand why I killed you?" to "Shin Ha Kyun", they both have a sense of guilt towards each other. Before they went to meet the King of Hell, they also sincerely said "I'm sorry" to each other.



Text / Jin Guifeng






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Extended Reading

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance quotes

  • Park Dong-jin: I know you're a good guy... but you know why I have to kill you...

  • Cha Yeong-mi: The bad image kidnappers get is because of kids getting killed. But we're different. Give us the money and we'll return the kid pronto.