Looking up, looking down

There were few things that really caught my attention as I watched the movie. First is the use of sound, or rather the lack of use of sound in certain scenes. I was also reminded of Standish reading and his argument on "non-communication" and consequent misinterpretation among people at the time. As people gather around on the streets, we hear the traffic but we don't hear their murmuring at all. Also, a lot of the communication that in the movie is done through phone calls, rather than direct conversation. TV broadcast sounds are often louder and clearer than other sounds in the scene (and also deliberately translated instead of other conversations). Voices of the individuals are often muffled behind the TV broadcast, traffic sound, and obnoxious phone bells. Perhaps Park wanted to express how individual opinions and rights to be heard were infringed upon by the state of society and the pressure that modernization/Americanization put on the people. Also, when Mansu jumps off the building, not only is the shot frozen, it is also completely silent. For what effect? Why eliminate all sound tracks for that freeze-shot?

Another thing that caught my attention was how unsettled people were to 'look up' at the two men on the billboard. People are uneasy and unhappy about the idea of Chilsu and Mansu being up on the billboard, and without much consideration of what might actually be happening, they are eager to bring the two men down. Trying to get them to come down from the billboard, one of the soldiers call with a megaphone. "Hello! Hello! you two gentlemen up there. Can you hear me? ... You have greatly inconvenienced the citizens. Before the situation snowballs, come down. It's dangerous up there." Paradox at its best? Is Park trying to convey what he thinks of the people in high positions at the time (namely the presidents)? Are the people unsettled by the fact some common labourer is high above them, causing them to look up? Or are they simply uneasy of having someone at the top screaming down at them (albeit incomprehensibly)? Or are they unsettled at the fact they are unable to communicate with the pair?

This highly comic yet thought-provoking situation is reinforced visually through the use of various camera angles and framing. High angle shots of people craning their heads to look up, low angle shots of the same people, low angle shots looking up at Chilsu and Mansu on top of the billboard, high angle shots from a helicopter, looking down at the whole scene. Most of the shots in this last scenes are at an angle and rarely at an eye-level. Is this to emphasize the class-struggle ($$$) the social hierarchy evident in society?