The Isle (2000)
Seom
The Isle DVD Movie Review
South Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk's The Isle is a chilling, metaphoric drama about Hee-Jin, a mute woman who owns and operates a fishing resort. She shuttles the fishermen and their supplies back and forth from the shore to their floating shacks on the lake. While the men are on the lake, Hee-Jin regularly brings them bait and when they request, prostitutes to see that their physical and sexual needs are met. On occasion Hee-Jin has been known to sell her body to the men as well.
When Hyun-Shik, an ex police officer with a troubled past, rents a float on the lake, Hee-Jin develops feelings for him. At first, Hee-Jin's feelings are reciprocated and the possibility of a tender, delicate romance emerges. The feelings that these two share quickly disintegrate when Hyun-Shik misinterprets some of Hee-Jin's signals and comes on too strong. This miscalculation and the confrontation that it causes sends both parties on an emotional roller coaster with drastic results.
Like many of Ki-Duk's other movies, The Isle is rich with symbolism. He uses fishing as a metaphor for human courtship rituals. When Hyun-Shik starts to like Hee-Jin, he baits her by making a wire-frame swing set for her. Hee-Jin is flattered by this gesture and begins to reciprocate his feelings. This can be seen as Hyun-Shik setting the hook. Hyun-Shik's gesture reels her in and Hee-Jin comes to visit him. While Hee-Jin is on Hyun-Shik's float, they get into a fight and Hee-Jin leaves, making her "the one that got away." This same scenario plays out later in the film with the roles reversed. After some time, Hee-Jin starts baiting Hyun-Shik. The hook is set when Hee-Jin protects a suicidal Hyun-Shik from police investigators who are searching for him. Hee-Jin literally reels Hyun-Shik in by the fish hooks he swallowed in an attempt to kill himself. After being nursed back to health by Hee-Jin, Hyun-Shik adamantly refuses her advances, making him "the one that got away." This metaphorical struggle between fisherman and fish continues to play out between Hee-Jin and Hyun-Shik until a finality is reached.
This film also features a great deal of scenes involving cruelty to animals. Unfortunately this element, although thematically effective, will render this movie unwatchable in the eyes of many viewers. With these scenes, Ki-Duk makes a statement about survival and suffering. This is made evident when a shallow, careless, rich couple catches a fish, immediately carves a fillet out of its side, and eats it, only to then release it back into the water where it swims away as if nothing has happened. In one of the movie's most important scenes, this same fish is caught again when Hyun-Shik is fishing and chopping up all that he catches in a fit of rage. When he sees the horribly injured fish, he throws it back in a gesture of pity and disgust. Also the animal cruelty is used to show that the film's central characters are incapable of expressing their emotions in a rational manner. This is realized in a scene where a remorseful Hee-Jin tries to reinvigorate a dying fish out of water by electrocuting it with jumper cables. There is also a scene where a frustrated Hee-Jin throws Hyun-Shik's still-caged pet bird into the lake as the camera pans down to watch the bird drown.
Kim Ki-Duk's use of symbolism and hyperbole is second to none. This movie sheds new light on the classic courtship as fishing metaphor with its examination of some of the darker sides of human nature. This is not a movie to be taken lightly. The uncomfortable feelings invoked by The Isle linger long after the end credits have rolled. This film's many graphic elements are likely to turn off all but the most adventurous of viewers but in spite of these disturbing and unnerving scenes, The Isle is most definitely a rewarding experience.
Previous Asian Film Review : Shikoku
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