Upstairs, Downstairs (Part II)

If the family in Kim Ki-young's The Housemaid represents one end of the economic scale in 1960's Seoul, the family in Yu Hyonmok's Aimless Bullet is at the far other end. Unlike the nuclear makeup of Tong-sik's household, the tiny lodging in the shanty town where much of Aimless Bullet takes place (named, ironically enough, Liberty Village) houses seven family members (with one more on the way). The father, Chul-ho, a junior accountant, lives with his pregnant wife, their two young children, his brother Yong-ho, his sister, and his senile mother, whose near-continual cry of "let's get out of here" sets a tone of despair that will carry through the entire film. Yong-ho is a former soldier who has been unable to find work since the war ended. His sister, rejected by one of Yong-ho's war buddies, begins to prostitute herself to American soldiers in order to bring some money into the household. Needless to say, the film doesn't offer much in the way of hope. A post-war landscape amidst an utterly corrupt government -- it's no wonder the outlook is so bleak. Chul-ho's toothache that tortures him throughout the film is clearly a metaphor for the larger suffering of his family, and seemingly everybody else around him. Trudging home in pain and exhaustion every day from work (he can't even afford bus fare), he finds little in the way of relief -- only a reminder of how helpless he is in providing a better life for his family. While the despondency of many of the characters is such that they've all but given up, Yong-ho is determined to make a better life for himself and the family. He's a good, honest man that is pushed to his limits by the extreme inhumanity. When he learns that his sister has been selling her body, he wonders, "Why do we have to live in a cage of conscience?", and regrets not having cheated somehow to avoid this from happening. His character is continually being put to the test -- a woman he has a brief relationship with is killed by a jealous neighbor -- a poet who then goes on to kill himself as well. Yong-ho is not without his pride, however. When offered a role in a film to appear as a wounded soldier (he has the right scars on his body) he refuses, telling the director "they're not for sale". The differences between brothers Chul-ho and his Yong-ho is striking. While Chul-ho quietly accepts his life of desperation, Yong-ho reaches a point that drives him to commit a foolish act -- robbing a bank in order to provide for his family, and to win the heart of his actress girlfriend. The pace in which the tragic events occur in the film continually increases. By the final third of the film, tragedy begins to appear out of nowhere, leaving little time for the characters (or the audience) to react. Still, we've witnessed them, and the lack of explanation makes them even that more disturbing. While running through a construction site after the bank robbery, Yong-ho passes the body of a woman who has hung herself, her crying baby still attached to her back. He pauses for maybe a split second, but then must continue running from the police. Lacking any context, the image is haunting beyond description. Needless to say, this isn't a film with a happy ending. Though Chul-ho finally does get relief for his aching tooth, his losses in the course of a single day are enough to drive the stablest person to madness. Unlike the family in The Housemaid, who are the architects of their own downfall, the characters in Aimless Bullet are never given even the slightest opportunity to change their situation. Early in the film, Yong-ho visits the home of the young woman who will shortly be murdered by the poet. Her top floor apartment can only be reached via a large exterior staircase. As they race up the stairs, she says to Yong-ho -- "Isn't it great to be up high and look down on everyone?" Though the characters in Aimless Bullet will only ever know the literal meaning of the sentence, the figurative sentiment is close to the thoughts of Tong-sik and his wife at the start of The Housemaid. Though their approaches are entirely different, both The Housemaid and Aimless Bullet can be seen as harsh social and political critiques. (In fact, Aimless Bullet was banned for several years in South Korea.) Yu's direction, along with the tremendous depth of each of the characters, prevents the existentialist nightmare of despair that is Aimless Bullet from slipping into a simple exercise of manipulative pity. Filmbrain understands why it was voted greatest Korean film of all time. Aimless Bullet is available on DVD (region-free) from various Asian DVD E-tailers. (DVDAsian, HKFlix)

Comments

[phyrephox]

Gosh, I wish I had gotten to see this, it sounds great.