Sad Cross - "Recipient Unknown"

"Unknown Recipient" is a work by Kim Ki-duk in 2001. The background of the film shows a cross-section of Korean society in the 1970s. For an era that has been forgotten, a corner that has been neglected, to review it solemnly, what is needed is not only to awaken the memory buried deep in the heart, but more importantly, to face it with a brave attitude. Duan Ru's life is suffering, and the film is destined to bear the tragic cross that should belong to the entire nation. The background of the story is South Korea in the 1970s, in the recovery period after the Korean War, and the huge trauma caused by the war cannot be completely healed in about 20 years. On the one hand, the film shows the living conditions of the first generation of local young people in South Korea after the war. At the beginning of the film, the brother made a gunpowder gun, and then shot the target on the head of the sister, and the sister became a one-eyed. Guns are made from wood planks marked "USA" Sawed down from the armory box, this detail is a meaningful indication that the first generation of the post-war still cannot escape the pain of the war that has ended. Against this background, the film has always been shrouded in an extremely depressing atmosphere, and the more it stretches, the more hopeless it becomes. The characters involved in the film are complex, but they don't get out of control as the story progresses, and everyone has a distinct personality. The heroine Enluo (sister) covered the defects of her eyes with her drooping hairline, but she could not heal the scars in her heart. During her high school days of self-isolation, she was willful and surly. Changgu, on the other hand, was discriminated against because he was half-American and Korean. He tried to integrate into the Korean community, but he always felt a strong sense of rejection. His step-by-step despair was manifested in the process of killing dogs. It is from sympathy to gnashing of teeth. Changgu's mother, for the family reunion, has been persistently contacting retired veterans far away in the United States. Letters from home have been sent and returned again and again. Looking at everyone through this external performance, they are actually struggling desperately in their own world, but hope is always out of reach. The film is interspersed with scenes of US military bases from time to time, as well as American fighter jets flying in the sky. Their role is to tighten the relationship between the plot and the background of the times, but in "Unknown Recipient", people can appreciate the clear statement of Koreans who have always been ambiguous about the relationship between the United States and South Korea. The film also borrowed the words of the US military and said: What are we doing in other people's backyards? It is not so much what the Americans said, but rather the thoughts of the sober Koreans themselves. As a symbol of war and sin, the U.S. military was nailed to the pillar of shame for historical reflection by its creator. The tragedy of Changgu is the best proof. The embarrassment of being American, Korean, and nothing, his hopes of integration have been repeatedly devastated. Before embarking on a dead end, he cut off his mother's breast with a knife. This ritualized treatment showed the anger of the despair and the bloodline. Although Enluo cured her eye disease at the expense of dedicating her chastity to the US military, when she looked at the world with her eyes, she saw a face of greed and tyranny, so she decisively blinded her eyes again. The metaphorical taste of country and country is also self-evident. I know that it is not easy to speculate on the national character of Koreans through a movie, but it is obvious that this movie is no longer reflected in the tender side. The weak Enluo decided to self-mutilate, and Jihua, who had a crush on Enluo, changed from cowardly to brave. Although it was an individual behavior in a special environment, the connection showed a bloody surging among the nation. This kind of blood makes people immediately remember dozens of tail fingers slashed by a group of young people in front of the Taiping Gate in Seoul. One has to sigh that this nation is so strong. The creator of the film may have no intention of expressing passion for the national character, but the imagery it relies on is powerful enough to penetrate any self-righteous national prejudice. Director Kim Ki-deok's works mostly show the characteristics of the drastic changes in the fate of the characters and the distortion of human nature in desperate situations. The focus of this film is to expand from the distortion of individuals to the alienation of the crowd. When Changgu fell from the speeding motorcycle into the quagmire of the wilderness, when Enluo slashed his sharp knife into his eyes, when Jihua shot an arrow of hatred at the gangster, when Changgu's mother held her son's head and set herself on fire , all of them, are full of compassion and tell an unbearable history. All these blood-stained collages come together to outline the tragic group portraits of an era that has been forgotten. Because it is extremely tragic, it is extremely humane. This sincerity of humanity is the driving force behind the creator's storytelling, and it is also an emotional shackle that cannot be rejected. The entire film is not publicized, and it did not fall into an emotional overflow because the tragedy meant that it was too full. It should be said that the director tries his best to condense his desire to express his emotions, and has been suppressing the injustice caused by artistic colors. But there are still two scenes that show the director's artistic ambitions due to careful design. The first scene is when Chang Gu peeps at Enluo and gets stabbed in the eye. Coupled with the one-eyed Enluo, the three walked on the road one after another, with a sense of light-hearted black humor. The second paragraph is the end of the film. It is already the end of fate, and the time has come for the dead , the camera opened, and in the foggy world, an American soldier was lying on the ground in South Korea and reciting a letter of reply sent from the United States. The picture ended in such a dark and dark place, and there was a desolate taste of loneliness.

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