Cheonggyecheon, spooky area on the edge of Seoul, which sees the birth of today's Korean capitalism, with labor-slave humanity in physical and mental degradation.

First scene, a wheelchair, a hook, a chain: a murder.

Kang Do lives in complete solitude in an apartment facing a wall where is written, " forever Hallelujah." His occupation is to collect credits from moneylenders. Debtors sign a policy that provides for a collection of money when, unable to repay the debt, they will be crippled to guarantee repayment of the loan tenfold in a few months.

Kang do does not hesitate to proceed with the ritual as he rages against the lack of responsibility of those who ask for money without being able to repay it.

One day a middle-aged woman who also sneaks into the house starts following him. She claims to be his mother, who repentant and prostrate wants to be accepted and forgiven for abandoning him thirty years earlier.

She makes his lunch, cares for him and works on stocking a sweater, until she leads him to trust her, let go and begin to realize the life he leads. For the problem will be continuing to live in the face of an army of vengeful men and women reduced to marginality by crippling debt. Kung Do will begin to gain awareness in the face of money, life, death, revenge, and love that he has begun to discover.

The outcome of the story cannot be revealed except by attending the viewing of this cinematic gem.

What is money: the beginning and the end of everything, the symbolic bearer of all values, the redemption for irresponsible abandonment, the pursuit of a life of slavery where everything becomes degradation and death. Redress through the demand for accountability is not fulfilled; revenge will prevail. Having experienced maternal love without growing into it creates destructive addiction.

Money, life, love, death, revenge, responsibility: once again Kim Ki-duk amazes us with his presentation of extreme capitalism and its consequences, of human degradation, through the wounds and fractures that materialism brings about by emptying existence of any residual meaning.

"A film dedicated to all humanity," the director claims, " my films are the eyes through which I see reality." A depiction of pity for the victims and executioners of capitalism.

It definitely seduces and convinces with its unsettling portrayal.

Hard to return to the theater after this experience, except to see something equally brilliant and artistic.

The only terrible fear is that it will not win the 69th Venice International Film Festival. A fear that should confront a great responsibility and perhaps fuel a spirit of revenge against a market that decides regardless of quality.

An extraordinary unmissable work of art.

It wins the Golden Lion at the Venice film art exhibition.

27-Jun-2023 by Beatrice