So is his wife alive? - Hwanghae (2011) Discussion

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Little_Korean 13 years ago

I got the impression that the murdered woman was some random victim that had nothing to do with the story, she was just there as a red herring. Beyond that, I can't really explain, I'm as lost as anyone...

When darkness overcomes the heart, Lil' Slugger appears...

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[–] zwot 13 years ago

The murder victim was indeed Gu-Nam's wife. That scene at the end where she appears to return to China was symbolic:

Gu-Nam's dying thought was his memory of his wife getting on the train to leave China. She "returned" by way of Gu-Nam bringing back her ashes, which the trawler captain dumped into China's Yellow Sea along with Gu-Nam's body.

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[–] Christoophar 13 years ago

I agree - that was a sequence of Gu-Nam remembering his wife leaving China for Korea, the last time he'd have seen her. I hadn't noticed the symbolism of her return though, as I hadn't realised that was supposed to be Gu-Nam's wife's ashes in the white box - thanks for clearing that up for me :)

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[–] Elliot_Ghost 13 years ago

The cool twist in this is also that he thinks he is taking her ashes home, but the ashes belonged to a woman who might be, or not might be his wife, as we saw in the morge (cause the man wasnt sure, but he said he was to him). She is still dead though. Did i get that right? :)

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[–] Berdu 13 years ago

The ashes are not his wifes, though he thinks they are. The wife does not die.

First "train sequence" is viewed from his eyes, sending his wife on her way before the events in the movie. The second train sequence, (after about 30 seconds of ending credits) is his wife returning back home, not knowing his husband died trying to pay off the debt he had to take to be able to finance her journey.

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[–] MrBelette 13 years ago

"The ashes are not his wifes, though he thinks they are. The wife does not die."

You're the one who got it right.

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[–] zbyszanna 10 years ago

Well, we really don't know that. On one hand there is a scene with the guy not sure if it's taxi driver's wife (which in movie world means - it's not her) but then there is all the commotion with his wife's apartment, photographs and the same guy who killed that woman recognizing the wife. And the last scene really doesn't make it obvious either way. I personally think it's not worth thinking about at this moment. The screen writer or the director messed up and made a movie really hard to understand and maybe even self contradicting.

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[–] HoppingBunny 12 years ago

Nice way to spoil this movie for some movie nazis.

The cab driver had it all wrong. The most telling sequence was where the hired dude commented that he can't tell if the murdered woman matches the photo. He then told the cab driver that she is the same person in the photo. Koreans don't embalm dead. The murdered victim's head would have been distorted and the picture would have not been enough for the hired guy to identify the woman. The ending sequence was clearly his wife coming back home.

My life isn't any better than yours.

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[–] dalfak96 12 years ago

You forget the photo of the child the taxi driver found in the apartment he thought belonged to his wife. It looked to me like it was the taxi drivers daughter, and it also seemed to me that the taxi driver recogniced her in the picture.

This means it really was his wifes apartment. Since the fisherman recognized her on taxi drivers picture and sent him there, it should also mean that the woman the fisherman killed was indeed the taxi drivers wife. This also follows by the fishermans confession: he helped the woman, found her a place to live, gave her money and he wanted her for himself but she wanted go back to her husband. So the fisherman killed her as an "act of passion" as they say.

Sure, taxi drivers friend doesn't recognize her in the morgue, but I still believe it's his wife.

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[–] Ramuna 12 years ago

For anyone who believed the final scene after the credit was about his wife coming back home...you might want to think it over again.

Because for me, it's a little odd to see how gloomy and strangely quiet the station was, with nobody around but his wife alone debarking the train, even the train itself showed an unusual idle activity. The whole scene seemed a little out of place, and I would like to think that the scene was a metaphor of his wife reaching her final destination.

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[–] Yellowman88 12 years ago

Her WIFE is alive. Jeez... That morge scene explains it all. The ending was just done like that to make it look tasteful and shocking.

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[–] max213 12 years ago

if his wife was alive then who the hell did the bald old guy kill and why on earth did the apartment the attack obviously happened in have a picture of the taxi drivers child?

They cant both be right.

It seems to me the end train sequence is put in purely to give you a 'what if' thought.

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[–] stonekeeper_ever 9 years ago

Someone please answer his question. I am so split up between the two options. Personally I think his wife is still alive. But the fact that the men who recognize her on the picture confessed murdering the woman wanted to go back to her husband confuse me too much. Who did he kill then!!??

Excuse my English, I am French-Canadian

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