The illusion that Science is never wrong

          One memorable quote that detective Seo Tae-yoon keeps bringing up in the film, “documents never lie, sir” later changing into “this document is wrong” gives the audience a different perspective on how ambiguous the answers science can give us.  This film gave me an impression that it was trying to stay within a certain realism without the whole dramatic component seen in most CSI-like shows in North America.  With the lack of the forensic technology the west has and how evidence don’t just come to them, I was really able to relate to detective Seo Tae-yoon’s frustration over the unresolved crime.  Even when the detectives discovered sound evidences to lead them to a suspect, there was always this sense of ambiguity that the characters were actually forcing a logical explanation to evidences that provided some correlation to the crime.  But correlation does not always mean relation.  There is some criticism, I felt, over our assumption that through empirical methods and logical deduction, one could reach to the truth of things.  But these empirical methods could be subject to bias as seen multiple times in the film when detective Park Doo-man keeps beating suspects for a confession when they were actually innocent.  Even detective Seo Tae-yoon falls victim under a bias, albeit in a different and controversial way.  He is led to believe that a handsome factory worker is the one responsible for the crimes but the DNA test states the opposite.  Detective Seo Tae-yoon regarded the test as invalid and wrong but the audience is left to decide whether the DNA test was in fact telling the truth or not.  It is even possible that the DNA sample that was provided could have been from a different person.
          This ambiguity and mysterious element puts an emphasis on this realistic atmosphere of a crime scene investigation that’s somewhat put to the side due to its historical background.  The setting and lighting also contributes to this sense of realism since the dim atmosphere and bland work place give a resemblance to the dimness of everyday life.  The man who was caught for masturbating at a crime scene gives a similar explanation on how such a horrid event gave him a sort of excitement amidst his bland life.  Watching this film, I felt a strong disillusionment over modernization in its portrayal of science.

Lenin Amaya