Address Unknown

Address Unknown

Address Unknown is a brilliant piece of work by the director Kim Ki Duk. It depicts the horrors of war despite having no actual war scenes. The effects are largely psychological. The director has treated the subject of the film very honestly. He makes no effort to underplay how the war and violence have made the lives of some of the people unbearable. Some of the scenes, however, require a person to be mentally strong in order to view them.

The director wants to convey the idea that even though the war has ended, the sufferings still remained in the Cold War era. American soldiers have been sent to fight in an unknown country against the enemy that they personally are not bothered about. Deprived of entertainment and other forms of recreation, these soldiers find solace in the Korean women. However, this creates further problems for the Korean women as mixed breed babies are born; for example, Chang-guk. Almost all the characters in the film have been shown to be suffering from some kind of mental and physical torture.

Every character in the film has been revealed to be suffering for one reason or the other. All the reasons are directly or indirectly linked to the war. Chang-guk vents out his anger on his mother because he is born as a mixed breed. Another character Dog-Eyes kills dogs brutally on a daily basis in order to make a living.

Somewhere, the audience may feel that the director has gone a bit overboard in depicting the horrors and miseries associated with the lives of the people. After all, no good thing is happening in the life of even one character. As such, the director Kim Ki Duk may have twisted the truth a bit in order to make the film more appealing and gruesome.

However, the actors give splendid performances in their respective roles. Their performances are convincing and they successfully take the viewers in their sad world. The viewers are able to feel their pain and wish something can be done about it. At the end, the message is loud and clear. The war should be despised in all circumstances.