Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring

Released in 2003, this film was set in an isolated lake in the province of South Korea. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring follows the story of a novice Buddhist monk from his childhood until he becomes a master himself. With breath-taking panoramic view of the lake and its lush green trees and mountains the child monk (Jong-ho Kim) grows with the Old Monk (Yeoung-su Oh) and learns the principles of detachment, often in a very difficult and violent way.

The story aptly begins in Spring. The child monk is taught the path to Enlightenment involves attentiveness or awareness with what is good for the soul and what can destroy it. One day, out of childish prank, the boy ties a fish, a snake and a frog around pieces of rock. When the Old Monk learns of this, he decides to teach the boy a lesson. He counsels him that should any of the creatures die he should carry its death in his heart forever.

Summer comes and we find the child monk turned into a young adult monk ( Jae Kyeong-Seo). The floating monastery is visited by a mother-daughter pair with the mother (Jung Yung Kim) begging the Old Monk to find a cure for the young lady's malady. The young monk falls passionately in love with the young woman (Yeo jin Ha) that he decides to follow her to the city.

The heat of Summer begins when the young monk who is now a thirty-year old adult (Young-Min Kim) returns to the monastery. He is full of hate and violent and murderous temper. We learn that the woman he falls in love with leaves him for another man. A bloodied knife and two policemen suggest that a murder has been committed with the adult monk as prime suspect. He now is paying the karma of having killed two of the creatures he played with. The Old Monk asks him to practice a callygraphic sutra to empty himself of anger and violence before is he allowed to go with the policemen.

Winter sets in and the Adult monk (Ki duk Kim) returns and resolves to take his place in the monastery as its new Master. With the Old Monk dead, the Adult Monk prepares for his ultimate lessons in letting go and makes his body and spirit attune to higher awareness. A mysteriously-veiled lady arrives with a baby boy in her arms. She leaves the baby with the Adult Monk to be the new novice monk and the season repeats itself all over again.

This is a fascinating commentary on what life is all about: its rhythms, its ebb and tide, the passions and violences of being human and the price we have to pay when we become too attached to the material world. Created purposedly in a meditative pace with matching hypmotic music and steady shots to approximate a Buddhist way of life, this film has earned critical and popular success in France, Germany, the U.S., Australia and other countries.


Directed by: Ki duk Kim
Country: Korea