“Mother” Bong Joon-ho unleashes the madness of universal love *Spoiler alert

mother's absolute protection

In the world of ``Mother'', the absence of a mother is directly connected to death and misfortune.

Ah-jung, a motherless girl, sells her body to support her grandmother, who is on the verge of dementia, and ends up being accidentally killed by Do-joon. Jeongpal, a boy without a mother, is framed as the real culprit because he has Ah-jung's nosebleed on his shirt. Mother, who is convinced that Jeong Pal did not commit the crime, meets with the arrested Jeong Pal. This is what Jeong Pal, who like her son has an intellectual disability, asks as she sheds tears of compassion. "Isn't your mother here?"

If Jong Pal had a mother, she would protect her son Jong Pal even by doing illegal things, but does she not exist? That's what I heard. ``Mother'' is a firm belief that all mothers would ``do anything for their child'' in the truest sense of the word. Just like I am.

For example, a person who owns a rescue cat might say to a stray cat, ``I will give my unstinted love to my cat, but I cannot treat all cats in the same way.'' I can't love them. I feel sorry for them, but I just wish that these stray cats had a protector like I am for my pet cats," I thought, trying to maintain my composure. It has the same structure as that sentiment.

The ``love'' that a mother shows to protect her child is never fair. Furthermore, the feeling of "loving" someone other than oneself, such as a partner or pet, is also not fair and square. The ``love'' of others for something we do not love ourselves may seem like ``madness'' from the outside, but it is something that everyone feels universally. In other words, the general emotion of ``love'' is not socially fair in the first place, and is a strange kind of ``madness.'' That's why "love" is so precious and beautiful.

In the play, after the meeting between ``Mother'' and Jeong Pal ends, Do Jun is released in the next scene. However, the ``mother'' who fought so hard for Do-joon is not there. According to the director, there is a meaning of ``mother'' atoning for sacrificing Jeong Pal for Do Joon.

The existence of this unworthy, unreasonable, and unbalanced atonement reveals the precious beauty of universal ``love,'' which is inherently pregnant with ``madness.''

Text: Samurai Isao

Designer by profession, film writer by profession. He is working hard to promote Indian films in Japan.

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"Mother"

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