Personal opinion This script is like several different versions of the same movie. If you say either side is good but the director lays the groundwork for either side to be bad. If you say either side is bad, you can find the details of the shots where he is good. Even if you affirm either side, these details will always exist and contradict each other.
Assuming that the Japanese are bad, but the close-up eyes of the Japanese when the male protagonist went up the mountain to kill the dog for the second time are more gentle, more like a monk or a Taoist priest, which is the first half of the original from that moment. They all point to the evil of the Japanese, but they seem to be reversed, and the audience begins to deny the foreshadowing of the first half; they think that he is actually a wizard who is here to save the village. When the wizard changed his clothes at home, he showed the same underwear as the Japanese, as if to imply that the two of them were walking together and not opposing each other. Afterwards, everyone chased the Japanese, and the Japanese cried aggrieved under the cliff, and were pushed down the hill by the female ghost. The director also wants the audience to start sympathizing with the Japanese to shake the idea that he is a bad guy even more. When doing things, wearing similar robes and beading and putting pictures of dead people on it seems to be overkill; at the same time, watching the movie in the cave behind, there are stigmata again (I don’t know much about the holy scriptures) and they say something inexplicable. But at the same time, he has the appearance of a devil, and his eyes don't seem to be good no matter what, these are contradictory.
Assuming that the female ghost is good, although her description in the early stage is relatively small. However, from the strange figure behind the Japanese on the cliff and the close-up after being pushed down the hill, to the time when the wizard was intimidated and spat out a lot of blood when he returned, the audience felt that the Japanese were good, so it was this female ghost who was making trouble. But from the last conversation with the male protagonist, the painful and reluctant expression and persuasion of the male protagonist are held back, and the scene of sitting on the ground in a state of despair and sadness with the male protagonist's family after being killed is confusing. And the bunch of green plants that the camera took to turn into skeleton flowers seemed to echo the sadness that she failed to save their family.
As for the wizard, he always thought he was not bad, but in the end the director gave him another shot that took out the camera and knocked over the box containing the photos and walked away, making the audience think that he might have been with Japan group of people. Then the audience's heart is completely confused whether it is good or bad.
Perhaps there is another possibility that the real murderer did not show up at all.
So I think it is not enough to insist on which side is better. Personally, I feel that the director's goal has been achieved. This is a self-contradictory film. Originally, the general suspense is getting clearer and clearer from the middle and back, or there is a reversal at the end. , at most there will be a few more reversals, and there will always be a final murderer, but this movie has nothing to do with reversals at all, and all kinds of shots are confusing. Perhaps what he really wants to express is that human beings can't tell whether they are good or bad in the face of various forces, or they themselves do not have such a standard of good or bad.
The film is very enjoyable to watch, especially in the first half, the oriental elements in the scenes of jumping the big rope and fighting the altar are particularly interesting. But later, I felt that there were too many elements and all kinds of oppositions. After watching it, I felt exhausted and I didn't know who felt a little tired in the end. If there is a clearer ending at the end, the viewing experience will be better.
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