Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy: The Politics Behind The Blood - Part 2

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

 Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (2002) - the first film in the Vengeance trilogy - follows Ryu (Shin Ha-kyun), a deaf-dumb man caring for his sick sister (Im Ji-eun), who is in desperate need for a new kidney. After Ryu is laid off from his job, he tries to obtain a kidney from the organ black market, exchanging one of his own kidneys and 10 million won for a kidney for his sister. However, Ryu is tricked by the organ dealers and doesn’t get the kidney for his sister. Later, he finds out that a kidney is available from the hospital but he cannot afford to pay for the operation. His anarchist girlfriend Yeong-mi (Bae Doona) devises a plan to kidnap the daughter of the executive who fired him, to raise the money needed for the operation. However, after an incident between Ryu’s old boss and a former worker Peng (Fujimoto Masashi), they decide to kidnap another executive’s daughter Yu-sun (Han Bo-bae) to avoid raising suspicions. However, their plan goes terribly wrong, with Ryu’s sister committing suicide and Yu-sun accidently drowning. Yu-sun’s father Park Dong-jin (Song Kang-ho) seeks out his revenge against his daughter’s kidnappers/killers and Ryu takes revenge against the organ dealers. As with many revenge films, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance ends with the death of numerous characters, including but not limited to, Yeong-mi, Ryu and Dong-jin.

Director Park Chan-wook in an interview mentioned one of the themes present in Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, ‘But Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance had very political aspects…I wanted to deal with the class problem within South Korea’ (Smith, Bright Lights Film Journal, 01.08.06). Many of South Korea’s values come from Confucian ideals, particularly the idea of respect and reciprocity in all relationships, between friends, siblings, parents, the ruler and subject and so forth (Insook and Lee-Jay 1995). As such, ‘Confucianism is hierarchical and mandates subordinates to respect the wishes of superiors, but it also dictates that those in authority be responsible and look after their subordinates’ (Shultz 2002: 8). However, the introduction of capitalist ideals in South Korea changed these values, at least for the younger generation. Any form of individualism was seen as a bad mind-set, it went against the centuries-old Confucian values, until the economic boom in the 1980s where young people could succeed using capitalist ideologies (Buzo 2002: 167). This change in ideals appears to be reflected in Sympathy for Mr Vengeance in the character of Dong-jin. Executive Dong-jin appears to be unconcerned with the fate of his fired workers at first; he does nothing when Peng is begging for his job back to support his family. Dong-jin only becomes concerned when Yu-sun dies and he realises that one of his ex-workers might be responsible. Then Dong-jin visits Peng at his home, to discover that Peng has committed suicide and took his family with him.

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance can be read as a critique of capitalist ideals. Ryu decides to use the free market approach when trying to find his sister a kidney. He phones a group of black market organ dealers to make an exchange, Ryu is told to bring a red rose so they know who to pick up to discuss he exchange. In an abandoned building, the organ dealer and doctor states that Ryu will give her the 10 million won and one of his kidneys, Ryu makes no attempt to bargain and he is unable to, due to his inability to speak. Thus, it only appears to be a free market, the organ dealer controls the negotiations and economics of the deal, whilst Ryu the consumer can do nothing to influence it. When Ryu wakes up after being anesthetized, he is missing a kidney, with the rose next to him and has been left in the building. The rose could be seen as a metaphor for capitalism, it seems promising at first appearance, but it belies the painful thorns beneath the surface. 

Later, Ryu is contacted by the doctor, happily stating that a kidney has ‘miraculously’ become available for his sister. Ryu has only to pay a set amount for the operation, which he now cannot afford as he gave all of his money to the organ dealers. Ryu is punished for trusting the free market to help his sister. 

It is also notable that during Peng’s confrontation with Dong-jin, there are several TGI Friday’s balloons which feature prominently in several shots. Ryu’s weapon of choice is the baseball bat, perhaps suggesting that American culture is in a small way responsible for the undermining of tradition Korean values?

A large emphasis throughout the film is placed on the spatial distance between Seoul and the outer regions, reinforcing the class differences between Ryu, Peng and Dong-jin. Often the camera will zoom out from the action and pan across to focus on Seoul far away in the distance. It occurs when Ryu and Yeong-mi are playing in the nearby park with Yu-sun, who is oblivious to her kidnapping, displaying the distance between Yu-sun’s home and Ryu’s home.

Also, the vast scale of poverty is emphasised, particularly when Dong-jin visits Peng’s family home. Again the camera tilts upwards and zooms out to show hundreds of slum homes in the outskirts of Seoul, showing hundreds of families who are struggling to find work.

Dilapidated buildings, lonely roads and deserted scrublands served to reinforce this idea of isolation, representing the economic downfall South Korea experienced in 1997 or the loss of collectivist ideals in favour of individualism. 

Revenge films often contains a series of ironic symmetries and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance is no different, particularly in the injuries and deaths of our main characters. Yeong-mi was the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Yu-sun; she was the brains of the operation. Yeong-mi is killed by Dong-jin by attaching electric cables to her ear lobes and electrocuting her to death. 

Ryu set the tragic course when he approached the organ dealers and surgeon to obtain a kidney. Ryu is severely injured by being stabbed in the stomach with a scalpel, reflecting why Ryu approached the organ dealers in the first place. Ryu is later drowned in the river, where Yu-sun died due to his negligence, by Dong-jin. Lastly Dong-jin receives his first injury when he is trying to restrain Peng, his left palm is sliced, a punishment for treating his workers poorly. At the end of the film, Dong-jin is found by members of Yeong-mi’s group, who are out to avenge her. He receives another cut on his right hand, which mirrors the one on his left hand, retribution for showing no mercy towards Yeong-mi. 

 

He is stabbed repeatedly until finally, Dong-jin is stabbed in the chest, with a note from the group attached to the embedded knife. He is left to die opposite the dismembered remains of Ryu’s body, thus completing the cycle of revenge.

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance utilises the revenge tragedy genre in order to also explore class issues in South Korea, making a subtle criticism about the deterioration of traditional Korean ideals. These issues are manifested in the spatial relations within the film, how the characters react to one another and in the consequences of their decision-making. This short analysis should hopefully shine a bit of light onto the political subtext of Park Chan-wook’s films, although Sympathy for Mr Vengeance is perhaps one of his more overtly political films. Upcoming is an analysis of the cult favourite and Park’s most infamous film Oldboy (2003).

(All photos: Studio Box/Tartan Films)

(Note: This is a continuation from a presentation on Revenge Tragedy and Oldboy, created by myself and Miss A. Izatt) 

Bibliography

Buzo, A. (2002) The Making of Modern Korea. London: Routledge

Insook, H. P. and Lee-Jay, C. (1995) ‘Confucianism and the Korean Family’ Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol. 26 (1), p. 117-134. 

Schultz, E. J. (2002) ‘Top Ten Things To Know About Korea In The 21^st Century’ Education about Asia, Vol. 7 (4), p. 7-10. Available from: https://www.asian-studies.org/eaa/Korea-Ten-Things.pdf [accessed 16/01/15]

Smith, D. (2006) ‘Acts of Revenge: Director Park Chan-wook Discusses Lady Vengeance and More’ Bright Lights Film Journal [online] Tuesday 1^st August. Available from: http://brightlightsfilm.com/acts-revenge-director-park-chan-wook-discusses-lady-vengeance/#.VJXw8f8M0A [accessed 16/01/15]