![]() ![]() As he carves the characters of the Heart Sutra and is able to finally attain some peace, the viewer, too, feels a weight being lifted.īuddhism is also represented through the idea of samsara, or the cycle of rebirth. The apprentice experiences the truth behind one of Buddhism’s central teachings: his desire and attachment ended up causing him to suffer. In this scene, the audience most deeply feels the suffering that is attached with living. The Heart Sutra contains the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, which warn that desire causes suffering. To calm the anger in his soul, the master instructs his apprentice to carve the Heart Sutra onto the deck of the floating monastery. Desperate for salvation, he returns to his master. The scene is powerful because the apprentice clearly evokes the agony he feels from being betrayed by the one closest to him as well as the extreme guilt he feels from killing her. The apprentice’s passion had led to murder, just as his master had predicted. What follows is that the apprentice leaves the monastery for a girl ( Ha Yeo-jin) he fell in love with, and many years later murders his wife when she commits adultery. In Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, the apprentice is warned by the master that lust leads to the desire to possess, which leads to the desire to murder. He only properly punishes him so that he learns his lesson.Ī recurring theme in Kim Ki-duk’s films is the danger of passion. Kim suggests that mistakes are just a part of life in the fact that the master never becomes angry with his apprentice. As he grows, the apprentice learns by the active experience of his mistakes, not by studying or by personal reflection. In this meaningful lesson, the master teaches the boy not to harm others by putting him in the shoes of the victim. As the boy struggles to walk with the burden of the rock, he finds that two of the animals he tormented died as a result. The next day, the master ties a rock to the boy and tells him to find and free the animals he hurt. In the first arc, the apprentice torments animals by tying rocks to them. The apprentice makes a mistake in every arc, culminating in his atonement by dragging a Buddha statue up a mountain. Through the teachings of the Buddhist monk, Kim tells viewers of the nature of life and how one will continually make mistakes, but learn from them. In Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring Kim Ki-duk looks at life holistically. ![]() The film follows both the master and apprentice’s paths toward enlightenment. As the apprentice grows, he makes mistakes and learns from them, guided by the teachings of his master. He starts as a young boy ( Kim Jong-ho) in Spring, a young man ( Seo Jae-kyeong) in Summer, an adult ( Kim Young-min) in Fall, and middle aged (Kim Ki-duk) in Winter and Spring again. The film follows the lives of a Buddhist monk ( Oh Yeong-su) and his apprentice and is divided into 5 parts, named after the titular seasons. ![]() Using expressive body language and symbols that pique curiosity, the viewer is able to derive deeper meaning without being explicitly told what’s happening. Instead, the audience’s focus is captured by the appearance of symbols, leading us to analyze the significance of every scene without realizing it. Kim Ki-duk, however, in his magnum opus Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (2003), masterfully keeps the viewers’ attention on every detail while using almost no dialogue. Many would find a film with little to no dialogue boring or hard to watch. ![]()
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