인생 철학이 담긴 영화

If I am able to recall correctly, my first three Korean movies are Il Mare (2000), My Sassy Girl (2001) and The Way Home (2002). I was once told that people tend to experience difficulty when they have to remember more than three things. Maybe there is some truth to it because I can't remember what is my fourth Korean movie until two Sunday ago.

Now that I recall, my fourth Korean movie is Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter ... And Spring (2003). A very long movie title that has a touch of Zen Buddhism. I don't quite understand the movie when I first watch it in the cinema. Perhaps I have gone through a lot in the last four years and have since grown wiser, I am able to appreciate the movie much better when I watch it again recently on the TV.

In the movie, the four seasons indicate four phases of life. Spring is a season of ignorance. The child sins because he is unaware that his action, which he thinks is fun, actually causes harm to others. Summer is a season of greed and lust. The adult sins because he develops greed and lust and these flame his desire to possess. He will go to the extent of harming others to keep his possession. Autumn is a season of repentance. When enough harm is done, suffering also reaches its peak. The desire to release himself from suffering leads him to go into repentance. Winter is a season of enlightenment. A man tends to grow wiser after coming out from his suffering. When the next Spring arrives the same cycle will repeat itself on other people. So can I begrudge against those people who cause hurt to me? Maybe not, because this is just a natural progression of their lives towards "enlightenment".

My first four Korean movies are really good movies. I cannot remember the subsequent Korean movies which I have watched. Perhaps they are just meant to be forgotten. In the early days of the Korean film industry, I only get to watch one good Korean movie a year. Today, more Korean movies are shown every year but hardly comparable to my first four Korean movies.