Chilsu and Mansu

Based on a Tawainese story, Park Kwang-su directed Chilsu and Mansu in 1988. Once again, the director touches upon social issues (this time, the gap between different classes in society).

As the title suggests, Chilsu and Mansu are the two main characters, who paint billboards or skyscrapers/ buildings (they are on and off work). As one can guess form their occupation, both of the protagonists are in the lower class of the society. Moreover, they are each suffering from family problems, where Chilsu's mother is dead, his father alcoholic and unemployed, and Mansu's father has been imprisoned for many years.

     Their situations are contrasted to the lives of others, which is shown by the depiction of city (wide streets, tall buildings, department stores, fast-food restaurants, consuming of western commodities etc.).

     Different techniques that were used throughout the film grabbed my attention.

First of all, as the director did in A Single Spark, there were few scenes where there was lack of sound, and I found that it was a good way to make the audience focus in what the director was trying to get across. (Since there's no sound, the audience will rely on what is being shown).

Plus, at the end, there was a slight pause in the movement when Mansu jumped off the ladder. It felt as if the time had stopped at that moment. One technique that was constantly used throughout the film was that related to camera angle. There are many scenes in which the director captures the angle from a lower height. This is shown when Chilsu is shouting out to Mansu that he will be seeing Jina, as well as when the people and police officers are looking up to Chilsu and Mansu who are on top of the billboard.

     When people mistakenly thought that Chilsu and Mansu were going to commit suicide, there were many who were looking up to the two of them. Without even asking the two why they have gone up there, they automatically assumed that the two were going to take their lives away - why is that so? Did people just assume in such way since Chilsu and Mansu were the lower class of the society? (That, if one was part of the lower class, that person would have too much dissatisfaction with life?) Although the police officers constantly say that they are there to help them out, to solve this problem in a 'peaceful' way, they do not try to listen to what Chilsu and Mansu have to say, but break into Mansu's house to find clues as to why they are up there. Could that be seen as peaceful? This scene portrayed the society in which the sayings of  people in the lower class are being ignored, and where the society decide what their thoughts are.

     Another question raised up in my mind while watching the film; If Chilsu and Mansu both really wanted the others to leave them alone, why couldn't they have just come down before it got into a "big situation"? Perhaps, they were enjoying all the attention that they were receiving?