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Religion and sex a disturbing combination in `Samaria'
By Joon Soh
April 7, 2004
Religion seems to be on director Kim Ki-duk’s mind as of late. After last
year’s 
contemplative "Pom Yorum Kaul Kyoul Kurigo Pom (Spring, Summer, Fall,
Winter…and Spring)," which looked at the cycle of suffering from a perspective
of a Buddhist monk, Kim layers "Samaria," his new film about teenage
prostitution, with variations on Catholic concepts of sin and guilt.
Unlike "Spring," however, the film doesn’t extensively rely on religious
iconography to generate meaning. Rather, it’s a springboard for what seems a
rather personal take on the psychological and moral battles that has plagued
Kim throughout his career, always with provocative results.
The moral battleground in this film is a particularly sensitive one _ that of
"wonjo kyoje,’’ the phenomenon of older men who pay young high school girls for
sex and companionship. Kim begins the story with two students, Chae-yong (Seo
Min-jeong) and Yo-jin (Kwak Ji-min), who attempt to use prostitution to pay for
a trip to Europe, but who have differing perspectives on what their actions
mean.
For Chae-yong, who at first is the only one who meets directly with clients,
the transactions with the older men are more than about money. Speaking
frequently of Vasumitra, a mythical Indian prostitute who used sex to help men
gain enlightenment, Chae-yong sees her actions in a spiritual light that
appears to her friend So-jin, and to the audience, as misguided.
However, after a tragedy befalls Chae-yong, So-jin also begins to use sexual
relationships with older men as a way to alleviate her guilt. The troubled
girl’s actions are overlaid with the notion of penance as well as, strangely,
the idea of a Samaritan.
To see the young girls in religious terms, especially as figures sacrificing
themselves for the spiritual good of others, is disturbing to say the least.
And Kim’s presentation of the older men, whose neediness and deceitfulness
often contradict the two girls’ actions, adds fuel to the moral puzzle rather
than explain it.
But those who have seen Kim’s other films have come not to expect
straightforward answers from the controversial filmmaker, who received the
Silver Bear for best director at this year’s Berlin for the film. Made in 11
days with a minimal budget, "Samaria’’ creates a tense mood that lets the
different trains of thought interact while avoiding making a specific stand.
The mood is especially successful in the powerful and painful latter half of
the film, when So-jin’s father (Lee Ueol) becomes aware of his daughter’s
actions and responds with an odd combination of forgiveness and revenge. Like
"Spring," the overall effect is less volatile and more lyrical than Kim’s
earlier works, but it’s no less effective.
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