The bystander effect: choosing to do nothing when someone you can help is clearly suffering - a thing that, sadly, most will do out of fear for their own safety. Selfishness is a mental condition.
Hae-won is an apathetic bank teller who feels nothing for anyone around her, especially if they are lower down on the social hierarchy. After witnessing a brutal beating in the street she takes off to the quiet island of Mudo where she once spent time with her grandparents as a kid. There she meets with old 'friend' Bok-nam and tries to relax. Any decent person wouldn't be able to relax around the island who brutally beat, degrade, and humiliate Bok-nam on a minute-by-minute basic. Hae-won just turns a blind eye to it, but her old friend is about to be pushed past her limits and seek very bloody retribution.
Happy endings are not in the future for anyone in this movie, but strangely, there is no real sense of hopelessness. Bok-nam is a character who eventually takes charge of her misery and despair, while Hae-won merely lets bad things happen. There is a fine line between fighting for your life and choosing apathy. The future depends on how much you care about it, for yourself and for others.
Despite the gloom, it is a very well shot movie with lots of gorgeous shots of the island and blue sky (and the red blood soaking into the mud). However, I would not watch this movie if you are in the mood for something light and fun. It will depress you, a lot.
Hae-won is an apathetic bank teller who feels nothing for anyone around her, especially if they are lower down on the social hierarchy. After witnessing a brutal beating in the street she takes off to the quiet island of Mudo where she once spent time with her grandparents as a kid. There she meets with old 'friend' Bok-nam and tries to relax. Any decent person wouldn't be able to relax around the island who brutally beat, degrade, and humiliate Bok-nam on a minute-by-minute basic. Hae-won just turns a blind eye to it, but her old friend is about to be pushed past her limits and seek very bloody retribution.
Happy endings are not in the future for anyone in this movie, but strangely, there is no real sense of hopelessness. Bok-nam is a character who eventually takes charge of her misery and despair, while Hae-won merely lets bad things happen. There is a fine line between fighting for your life and choosing apathy. The future depends on how much you care about it, for yourself and for others.
Despite the gloom, it is a very well shot movie with lots of gorgeous shots of the island and blue sky (and the red blood soaking into the mud). However, I would not watch this movie if you are in the mood for something light and fun. It will depress you, a lot.