This movie is by design perplexing and obfuscated, the best description I can give is it is a supernatural mystery in which victims are being manipulated in some inscrutable agenda. As this is a Korean film, doubtless some of the cultural/regional specific elements were lost on me. However, thematically there are clear, and rather resonant messages in this movie: do not embrace prejudice at the expense of due process, blind faith without evidence, or abandon doubt and hesitation in the face of blind certainty. These are examinations of religious faith and religion, but considered without condemnation or conclusion. If anything, this movie seems to propose no one has any particular or definitive interpretation, and we all exist in the same state of doubt and confusion. None of the main characters of the movie are clear about what is going on, with this confusion extending to the audience. As confusing as this film is, it is also excellently made, wonderfully directed, acted, and executed. It also goes off-the-rails bugshit crazy on more than one occasion, as this movie throws in exorcisms, ghosts, demons, zombies, plagues, etc. Its rather fascinating to observe the different cultural attitudes and ceremonies evidenced by the characters in this film, while all seem to demonstrate everyone exists in the same human condition. The confusion is intentional, the ambiguity intended, and this is a film that will get deeper the more you ponder it.
The Wailing