BACK TO THE MYTHICAL ORIENT : "HWAL / THE BOW"

Now, I want to kick off this week with something a little less traditional. And I do mean by anyone’s standard. Admittedly, Kim Ki Duk is NOT everyone’s cup of tea. The Bow, you might find is even less so. I was in two minds about this one to be honest with you, it is fascinating, it draws you right to the core of it and you basically watch it without so much as drawing a breath or pausing for the loo right till the end. But I have to warn you, there’s some tricky material therein. And Ki Duk’s style as a director? Heck, it’s trickier still. But first, the story.
Our characters have no names. They have no voices to speak of either. I know you know half expect me to say they are inanimate, but no, they are human. One is an old man, and one is a young girl. The way they have come together is somewhat unusual though. The old man found the little girl when she was six and brought her out to his boat. They have lived together for ten years, on a boat in the middle of the sea. They make their living by brining tourists who want to fish out to fish on their boat, ferrying their customers back and forth in a smaller motor-boat. The odd couple has an almost completely silent but happy and comfortable relationship. And every evening, the old man crosses a day of the calendar. When the young girl reaches 17 – and she will in a few months time – he will marry her. The girl seemingly sees nothing wrong with this until that is, a particular group of tourists comes on board their little boat. In this group there is a young boy of her own age. Cupid is hard at work and for the first time, the young girl begins to question her quiet existence. The old man is curious and the young man is intrigued by the whole thing… The couple can never be the same again, the question is, what then is the way forward for them?
Now, I do realize that the idea of an old man (think 70’s) marrying a girl of 17 is not an easy thought to digest. I also find it easy to understand why you would find the fact that she has lived on the blessed boat without a thought to her previous life (6 after all isn’t exactly infancy, she should logically remember something) unsettling. Add to that, the fact that the film contains maybe 100 lines in total during its full 90 minutes. In short, I have to admit, you may want to give this one a miss. And I wouldn’t blame you. I didn’t give it a miss however, and am glad I did.
The relationship constructed between the old man and the young girl is fascinating. For instance, he is like a father to her, all the way up to their wedding day. If any of the tourists on the boat try any funny business with her, he defends her with a bow and arrow – and he is one heck of a shot! He approaches her almost with chivalry. And the girl evidently loves and trusts him. The affection between them is genuine and odd as it is, you can see why; if this is the only life you have known and you have been protected from everything except your limited small world, you may well now question your life. Heck, with no outside influence you have nothing to compare your life to, and the girl doesn’t even start thinking about it until something to compare her feelings to comes into her life – the boy she falls in love with. The old man is seriously upset by this turn of events (a typical Ki Duk theme this by the way – love as a kind of ownership), he feels genuine affection towards the girl, has been counting the days (literally) towards their wedding day and has simply assumed she felt the same way…
The ending of the film, well… I will not be able to give much away if only because it’s one of those endings that means something different to everyone who watches it. I only wish I knew a bit more about Budhism, because although one can see the references there as clear as day, if one doesn’t know what they mean, one is pretty much stumped, if you see what I mean. It is weird, beautiful and thought provoking this one. I would get over my prejudices and watch it if I were you. I didn’t regret it.