This award-winning Korean film takes a deeply disturbing, yet insightful, look at the consequences of the income gap and the lack of mobility between socio-economic classes. We watched it with English sub-titles. I've not had the chance to see much of Korean life, but it shows us a side of S. Korea that I didn't know about, having almost exclusively dealt with upper-middle and higher classes of Koreans in my life (in Indonesia).
Two families are juxtaposed through opportunity and chicanery into a parasitic relationship.
The Parks are an obscenely rich family with nothing to want for. There is some dysfunction in the family because the daughter is somewhat ignored due to the behavior of her little brother. They are nice, pay well, naive and the perfect target for...
The Kims, who are obscenely poor. They're not lazy - they just seem to have a lot of bad luck (or so it's portrayed, although my experience tells me that it's a combination of what opportunities are available and your mindset, but I agree that many things are outside the control of the masses). They live in a terrible basement apartment and are struggling mightily, until the son's friend gives him a break by introducing him to a rich family whose daughter he tutors. The purported reason for this is a "scholar's stone" that the same friend gives them, which is supposed to bring wealth. I don't want to spoil the movie but it aptly portrays how a family that is held down long enough will become very selfish when it comes to fulfilling its own needs, at the expense of their victims. Yet, we can see that this family is actually more unified than the Parks are, and they're good to each other in a somewhat dysfunctional way. We also learn the fatalistic attitude of some people in this condition, that it is pointless to plan because things won't turn out your way no matter how hard you try.
This film is not appropriate for pre-teens, and I would not suggest it for anything other than older teens as it deals with multiple themes that may not be appropriate, such as a sex scene (I covered my daughter's eyes for it), multiple scenes of violence and death, inappropriate relations between a tutor and an under-age student, fraud, counterfeiting and more.
Despite the darkness that runs through most of the film, and the depths to which the situation sinks, this is a beautifully executed film that simultaneously excuses both the rich in their lofty towers and the poor in their pits while also condemning them. It is very moving and provides a final commentary on how hard it is for a family to recover from disaster. It will shock you, it will bring tears to your eyes, it will cause you to despise and it will cause you to understand. Given the tendency of most movies to portray every rich family as evil, I think this is probably the fairest portrayal you can find. I highly recommend it for adults!👍
If you're curious as to the final death in the film, there's a spoiler at the bottom of this review.
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SPOILER!
First, Mr. Kim kills Mr. Park because of the repeated comments about the "dirty rag" smell of Mr. Kim, which culminates in the looks of disgust he sees on Mrs. Park's face in the car, and Mr. Park's face when he grabs the car key from under the dying man. This small affront, after all he's suffered through all of his life, is more than he can bear and he goes temporarily insane, which you can see by his reaction afterwards.
In addition, and probably more importantly, Mr. Park insisted on taking his son who had fainted to the hospital in his car and completely ignored Mr. Kim's dying daughter - not even thinking to bring her or call an ambulance for her. I guess it boils down to: "You care so little for your son's tutor, my daughter, that you offer no consolation, no help, no consideration? I shall wipe you from the face of the Earth!"