I’ve decided to review this particular installment of Chan-Wook Park’s The Vengeance Trilogy because after recently re-watching all three this one stood out the most.
From brutal South Korean director Chan-Wook Park comes, Chinjeolhan geumjassi (Lady Vengeance), the final installment of his vengeance trilogy. Released in 2005, the film came after Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy (arguably the best of the three and certainly the most well-regarded).
While containing the relentless violence and bloodletting of his previous films, Lady Vengeance primarily separates itself from the previous installments in two significant ways. First we find ourselves seeing a female revenge seeker which is apparent from the title, but still needs to be mentioned and emphasized. Secondly and perhaps most importantly, the film takes a look at vengeance from a larger group standpoint.
The protagonist, Geum ja-lee, is a young woman who falsely admits to kidnapping and murdering a young boy to keep her own daughter alive, even if it means sending her to an orphanage. In prison, she becomes the face of good penal behavior, assuring herself an expedited sentence. Upon her release though, it becomes clear that the cartoonish Christian re-birth she underwent while incarcerated is but a mere ploy, which is evidenced by her flippant attitude towards the priest who framed her as the face of repentance and perhaps more subtly by her striking red eye shadow.
Once she is out of jail, the film’s terrific editing takes hold. At first the structure of the narrative is overwhelming, but once a rhythm is established one cannot help but admire Park’s ability to introduce all of the key players in the revenge plot. Each woman that Geum ja-lee aids in prison gets her own vignette which is slowly, but assuredly woven into the bigger plot of Geum ja’s revenge. Without fail, each fellow inmate is indebted to Geum ja and promise to help her once they each serve out their sentences. Already the movie is establishing a myriad of thematic questions about the nature of kindness and generosity, specifically whether generosity arises from self interest or genuine compassion for others. Does it even matter? Do those receiving the favors care? Probably not.
While the careful plot work is is something to admire, the film packs its strongest moral and philosophical punch when the act of vengeance is finally revealed. After catching the man who forced her into prison we learn that he is a teacher who has been captruing and murdering countless children. Geum ja methodically tracks down the victim’s parents who up to this point did not know the sad fate that awaited their children since their bodies were never found. She then shows each of them video of their children being killed and offers them a simple choice. Do they wish to take the evidence to the authorities and afford the man his due legal process or do they want to take justice into their own hands?
The scene that follows is a terrific homage to Fritz Lang’s M whereby we see the victims argue how best to pursue justice and in a darkly comedic wink to the audience, Park has the entire scene take place in an abandoned class room--you can make your own remark about a hands on ethics class discussion.
In the end Park is careful to neither condemn nor praise their final decision, and in light of recent events involving the shooting in the face of a certain terrorist I can’t help but think that it is the right directorial choice.
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