The Unforgiven

To forget, not to forget, or to live and let live.









The Unforgiven is a gripping cinematic experience brought to screen by an exceptional first time talent, Yoon Jong-bin, who managed with a small budget and a whole lot of ingenuity to craft out a sensibly edited, sensitively acted and strikingly directed feature film debut. Tackling disparate subjects ranging from latent impulses to institutionalised violence, from rationalised repression to the blurring lines of masculinity, The Unforgiven will challenge your sense and sensibilities, it will force you to re-examine evoked memories of your own past experiences, and it will shake the very foundation of your respective moral barometers. In short, this is not a film you will easily forget.

On a warm night out on leave, Seung-young, still dressed in army fatigues, asks to meet up with his high school classmate, Tae-jung. Tae-jung, who has since completed serving his National service, used to look out for Seung-young when they re-united in army. Tae-joung was a sergeant near the end of his service, while Seung-young, who deferred due to college, entered army as a fresh and junior private. The reasons for this present-day meeting are not made clear but Seung-young mentions he has important things to tell Tae-jung. This meeting seems like an awkward affair. Despite Tae-jung's accommodating ways, there is a latent air of tension compounded by Seung-young's reserved but mysteriously grave demeanor. The Unforgiven hence chronicles this eventful night juxtaposed with the flashback days when Tae-jung first re-unites with Seung-young through Seung-young's eventual army days after Tae-jung's departure from service. The details as to what happened in the past and what will happen on this night, I shall leave to your discovery.

I am impressed that the forceful ensemble performances of The Unforgiven are able to realistically flesh out its protagonists' idiosyncrasies with courage, openness and stunning consistency. The pacing near its end could have done with a little fine-tuning but this is a mere quibble when considering director Yoon (who also has a role in this movie, but as whom I shall not divulge) has managed to tell a compelling story with concisely plotted situations and incisively drawn characters. These in turn culminate seamlessly and help to generate an ending which is intellectually thought-provoking and yet dramatically resonant. Yoon's handling of the actors (most of them newcomers themselves), and his decision to deftly alternate the story between flashbacks and the present is most intuitive, for besides not losing sight of the narrative flow, he has conjured up a situational, behavioural and emotional synergy much needed for the audience to connect with the film's intended themes.

For a first time effort, The Unforgiven is an assuredly made film. It has valuable things to say and it says them well. Some critical opinions I have read so far point to the film being an attack on the system of mandatory National Service in Korea, which breeds a vicious cycle of institutionalised aggression and victimisations. To a certain degree, I agree with this interpretation, but I also believe this film attempts to shed an illuminating light and non-judgemental presentation on national service being a representation of any hierarchical social system. To me, the "army" experience is the same wherever you go and will only get more complex as one progresses in career and in life. By showing how different men behave or react within these systems, I thought the film's most revealing focus is more psychological; as it offers telling insights into the differing emotional landscapes of men, in exploring who will possess the willingness and ability to survive under the compounding regiment of life, and who won't.

We may not be able to resist the temptation of judging some of the characters in this film, but I strongly urge all to look at their strengths and weaknesses, to consider the ways they interact with one another and the actions they take within the system, due to their respective natures. That said, we should not overly sympathise with them either, because their relative abilities to function with the situations dealt to them or the questionable moral/ideological compromises they might have taken in order to survive, only serve to mirror our own reflections on how we choose to live our lives.

In this film's universe, there are people who think they are clever and those who think they are stupid. There are those who are strong, there are those who are weak, those who are loyal and those considered too fanatic. However, there is no denying that whatever feelings these people have unleashed on screen, they are viscerally palpable. The intensity of its emotional undercurrents sweeping throughout is in fact one of The Unforgiven's most captivating qualities. The repression of guilt, hurt, rage, and other unshapely dark emotions seep into the protagonists' tainted psyche, and into their conscience, it cuts deep. I am hence deeply intrigued. How we choose to absolve ourselves or deny it shows up the measure of our life views. Lighten up, some would say, but it's easier said than done for others. Ultimately, this film does not preach the best ways to untangle the knots we may have accumulated in our time, it just observes that to let go or to hold on, is dependant on our ultimate willingness to live and let live.

The Unforgiven opens in Singapore on 6 July 2006.