thirst bakjwi review

Dear Sumire,

Good Morning! Another review today perhaps?

What about a horror movie this time? Romance maybe? Something of a vampire material? Something that revolves around faith, science, sex, human nature, life, death and superstition?

Alright you probably heard about this movie before if you surf online a lot. It was never released in Malaysia, since it had some a lots of nudity scene in it. If they ever release it in Malaysian cinemas with all the scenes censored, the movie would make no sense no more. The name of this 2009 released film is ‘Bakjwi’ or better known as ‘Thirst’ worldwide.

If you’re expecting someone very handsome for the lead role, than I’m pretty sorry. Not happening in this film. Lol. At least the lead actress is gorgeous. But I must warn you that she looks extremely freaky though.

Tae-Ju the freaky devious woman who seduces and drives Sang-Hyun to sinned even more.

But this film is really pretty cool I tell you. The film starts off with a priest named Sang-Hyun (played by Kang-ho Song) volunteering for help in a hospital. Despite his best effort, the patient fell into a coma. He felt helpless. He went complaining to his diocese bishop whom is also a father figure to him. After his complains, he did a confession and asked for absolution from the blind bishop.

He knew volunteering in a hospital wouldn’t mean much anyhow if it doesn’t save the patients. He wanted to do something bigger than just making patients happy. He wants to save lots of life. So against the bishop’s advice, he went to Africa where there’s a research team who’s doing a vaccine clinical test for a virus called Emmanuel Virus (EV) which only affect the men.

So while he was there he is injected with the vaccine, and then the virus, and after all that he made a prayer. It sounds really cool when I read the subtitles, but the Korean version with Sang-Hyun’s manly voice is even cooler. I thought no one pray like that at like that in this era. This is a translated version.

“Like a leper rotting in flesh,

let all avoid me.

Like a cripple without limbs,

let me not move freely.

Remove my cheeks,

that tears may not move down them.

Crush my lips and tongue,

that I may not sin with them.

Pull out my nails,

that I may grasp at nothing.

Let my shoulders and back be bent,

that I may carry nothing.

Like a man with a tumour in the head,

let me lack judgment.

Ravage my body sworn to chastity,

leave me with no pride,

and have me live in shame.

Let no one pray for me,

but only the grace of the Lord have mercy on me.”

So basically everything in his prayer starts happening. His nails fell off, his skin rot, and body ravaged. Eventually, he starts vomiting blood, and his body surrendered to the EV. He lost a lot of blood, so the doctors transfused blood to his body. But it was all in vain. Sang-Hyun passed away. And then, he came back after the doctors announced the time of death.

I need to tell you guys that I love the idea of how the writers in named the fictional virus in this film. Being a Christian, I’d been told that Emmanuel is a very special name you see. It means God’s with us. We Christians believe that Emmanuel is Christ. But when the acronym come into place, EV sounds more like Eve, which is always associated with temptations. Alright there, that’s enough of my musing.

The priest went back to Korea where he’s celebrated as the ‘Bandaged Saint’. People began to believe that the priest is a God’s miracle. People start to worship him. He rejected the false worship stating that he is still what he was; just a man.

But he is wrong. No longer just a man, he now discovered his new thirst for blood. Along with it, he began to fall for temptation and lust as he fell in love with his best friend’s wife Tae-Ju (played by Ok-bin Kim), whom he also coveted.

Sang-Hyun and Tae-Ju in promotional poster.

Kang Ho-Sang who played the vampire priest must be credited for his high quality acting. His guilt was so genuine. There’s a scene where he tried to rationalize his sin, in which he said “I did not ask for this blood to be transfused into my body. I did not ask for this thirst. This is not what I seek!” His eye is always filled with guilt and resentment, while his actions contradict his preaching and his needs. Temptations after temptation he fails.

Ok-bin Kim as Tae-Ju really deserves a special mention as the fiery-devious-freaky-girl whom seduces and captures Sang-Hyun heart. Her performance was so awesome that the air around me freezes when she had the freaky expression on her face.

Tae-Ju convince Sang-Hyun to drown her husband at the lake while she waits.

The score for this film is undeniably good. The music set the mood into place and at times scares the crap out of you. But most of the time, it touches the soul and emotions of the characters. The scores were gallantly and epically good.

Sang-Hyun killed but attempt to revive Tae-Ju after experiencing loneliness.

To conclude this review, the movie is extremely complex, intense, tragic, and original. The blend of guilt, love, lust, faith, blood and gore in this film is well merged. As I watch the movie, I can feel as if I’m sharing his pain, guilt, and torment. Director Park Chan-Wook had created an irreplaceable beautiful masterpiece.

4.5/5

jin