The film uses a classic genre film structure: starting from the murder case, investigating the past of five people, and decomposing their goodness from sin; but after introducing the fuse of the previous crime, tragedy happened, and the good became evil. The transaction at the end seems to be a compromise behind the scenes.
But in fact, the film has a very high intention. It was mentioned at the beginning that "God saw the light as good, so he separated the light from the darkness", but did he abandon the darkness?
First of all, it affirms the "goodness" and "belief" of the five people although they are guilty. Investigator's interview: Pastor Dog Training is a homosexual. Although he restrained his desire and did not have sex, when he confessed to the church, he was mistaken for a pedophile; Pastor Whitebeard once joined the army and put soldiers in prayer. The crimes he confessed to at the time were all hidden, but they were considered to be harbouring crimes; the mentally ill priest was actually telling the truth all the time, but he couldn’t express it in words; the grumpy priest sold unwanted children to parents who didn’t have children, which was considered to be trafficking Population (I think "sell" and "send" are more of a legal difference here, and there is not much difference in moral concepts, at least his starting point is good).
The light and shadow of the film are very directional. The dawn on the seashore, the bright background of the windows in the room, can be seen as proof that they have God in their hearts. Of course, the dappled lights, street lamps, and campfires at dinner all gave off a certain eerie vibe. Here, light and darkness coexist.
In fact, the director has been stating that "they are believers living in the dark". They chanted sutras, sang songs together, and enjoyed the joy of greyhound racing together, but their hearts were also traumatized, so they would be on guard against the arrival of an outsider. So they didn't tell the truth about the suicide case.
The priest's suicide was of course out of guilt, but for the bearded man, the key figure in the case, sex was a gift from God, a kind of sanctity, just like God brought sperm to Mary to give birth to Jesus. Therefore, the sexual assault incident is a combination of darkness and light, and the light side is more in that it was his first man, and they were in love with each other.
Precisely because love is a gift from God to everyone, when the five plan to kill the dog and put the blame on the bearded man, they also blaspheme love and God. Yet we see that God is still saving them. I'd rather see the beating of the bearded man as a form of salvation. He is accused of killing a pastor outright and continuing to persecute other pastors. At the same time, the dog-training priest was rejected, beaten, and punished, and at home, the nun was not forgiven (punished) by the dog-training priest. These punishments also brought the final salvation.
In the end, everyone sat down at the table and reached a "reconciliation". This kind of reconciliation is not a sin transaction, but more of a common understanding and understanding of beliefs. Everyone has been punished and saved, and the darkness and light are still there, but they are still devout believers and happy people.
The film's understanding doesn't work on a legal level: they are indeed criminals. But this understanding also loses a lot of fun and appears flat. The film is not as hopeful and understanding as many say. And the claim that it is equivalent to "focusing" is even more nonsense.
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