Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Boksuneun naui geot), directed by Chan-Wook Park, portrays revenge. Deaf-mute Ryu (played by Ha-Kyun Shin) seeks a kidney for his sister (played by Ji-Eun Lim), but his own kidney is not a match. She is weakening daily. From his life savings of 10,000 won, he decides to buy a kidney on the black market, but the gangsters require him to donate his own kidney as part of the bargain. After he allows his kidney to be harvested, the gang reneges on the agreement, thus setting up the premise for Ryu to massacre everyone involved in the black market kidney harvesting scam. Unexpectedly, a kidney comes available at the hospital. Since he can no longer pay the price, he must find the money another way. Along with his girlfriend Young-Mi Cha (played by Bae Doo-Na), Ryu decides to take a hostage--the five-year-old daughter of Park Dong-Jin (played by Son Kang-Ho), the CEO who recently fired him. Although the kidnapping is successful, two unfortunate events occur. One is his sister's death, since she does not receive the transplant in time; the other event is the accidental drowning of Park's daughter (played by Han Bo-bae) while Ryu is burying his sister along a stream. Next, Park seeks revenge. He seizes Young-Mi, torturing her to death in order to find out the whereabouts of his daughter, but not before she warns him that her death will be avenged by a group known as the Revolutionary Anarchists, which passes out leaflets against globalization and the purchase of American products. With information from Young-Mi, Park tracks down and kills Ryu. Although police are skeptical that Young-Mi's Revolutionary Anarchists group exists, filmviewers will learn whether their skepticism is well or ill founded and whether they will exact more vengeance. Who, then, is Mr. Vengeance? Should filmviewers be sympathetic with the acts of revenge? With cinematography contrasting the needy poor and the arrogant rich in Seoul, Korean filmviewers are perhaps instead subliminally invited to exact revenge on those who are exploiting them. MH
I
want to comment on this film
