Burning Analysis

Burning (2018)

Directed by: Lee Chang-dong

Competed for Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2018.

Spoilers ahead. It's a brilliant film, try not to read anything about the film before you watch it.

I had no clue what this film is about before I watched it, at the beginning it seemed like a drama and there was a slight mystery about how things were going on - if she really was his childhood friend or not and just the way things were going forward. Till she disappears, there's some capitalistic drama that plays out and only till a few scenes after she disappears didn't I realise that there's a possibility of Ben killing the girl. I didn't even think in that direction, that's how deceivingly the character is written and performed.

The scenes were Jong-su follows Ben and when Ben knocks at the window, and when Jong-su discovers the watch at Ben's bathroom - they felt so riveting inspite of the subtlety in the treatment. In the first viewing, it feels like there's a lot more in the film and it definitely deserves a re-watch to understand the film better. Lee Chang-dong says that he wants people to discover the mysteries of the world through this film, and he presents a simple plot which leads upto the larger mysteries of the world.

I loved the fact that this film doesn't close every mystery logically, and the way it's open to various interpretations. I wonder if the writers/filmmakers have their favourite interpretation of the film or if they choose to leave things open ended because they like different possible interpretations. Of course, a mystery in the true sense of the word doesn't have to give us answers - films like Memories of Murder and Zodiac have already made us used to that sort of narratives.

At the ending, I felt uncomfortable because I generally give the benefit of doubt to a criminal - because a wrongful conviction or a wrongful punishment is horrifying. But then, I realised that this film throws a political statement about how a common man has to dig deep into the larger mysteries of life and take action which he feels is right, because of the incompetence of the system.