Secret Sunshine

The film last night was quite a surprise. I expected something much more uplifting than Poetry, yet instead I was shown a film that seemed to almost constantly trick you about what it was about! I'm not complaining, because it was still a very brilliant form of storytelling. I suppose it was simply the cultural difference that I'm not used to; this filmmaker got all the logistics out of the way so that he could tell a different kind of story. We're so accustomed to stories that may focus on only one type of thing, but Secret Sunshine ran them all together to show a larger picture.

Theological ideas brought up in this story truly provide something to wrestle with. We discussed the symbolism of Mr. Kim representing God in the story, and there are plenty of great instances in the story where that is an amazing symbolistic idea that even makes sense, but struggle with it. I'm sure that I'm just imagining it in the wrong way, but for some reason I can't accept the idea that Mr. Kim's character especially is supposed to represent God in a human form for her to more closely relate to Him. Isn't that supposed to be Jesus?

I understand that we, as Christians, can represent Jesus by being loving and compassionate especially to those who are hurting, but Mr. Kim never acted in that way. He only began pursuing her for romantic reasons, and at the end simply becomes the really good friend who can hold a mirror for those who have a problem getting their hair cut in salons.

Overall, I appreciated the idea of sunshine, which I can more closely relate to the way God seems to operate. The sunshine provides light (which leads to a whole other symbolistic road I won't travel now) and power for plants to grow. It is persistent in the way that it comes everyday to awaken the world, and we generally believe that it still exists, even when we can't see it through rainy days.