Trigger warnings (suicide) for this review.

Those are only my thoughts and the way I see the movie. Comments are open if you want to discuss this subject and bring new points of view ⋆˚꩜｡

Keep in mind that this review might contain spoilers, read at your own risks.

˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌼🧺˚˖𓍢ִ🌿˚.˚꩜°❀⋆.˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌼🧺˚˖𓍢ִ🌿˚.˚꩜°❀⋆.˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌼🧺˚˖𓍢ִ🌿˚.˚꩜°❀⋆.˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌼

Poetry (2010) is a movie directed by Lee Chang Dong.

Synopsis

Mi-Ja is a very elegant woman living in a small Korean city with her grandson. Despite his ungratefulness, she lives quite peacefully and decides to take poetry classes. Little by little, she begins to forget words but her life truly takes a turn when when she discovers one of her grandson's classmates took her own life and that he has something to do with it.

This movie deals with very difficult themes but somehow remains pretty serene. Difficult themes such as guilt and suicide are handled very well and greatly combined with lighter ones such as beauty, hope and nature.

There is a contrast between the quite peaceful life of Mi-Ja and the very intense and tumultuous emotions and events. Poetry is not only about poetry, it is Poetry itself. Mi-Ja bears the guilt her grandson does not express and is very compassionate towards Agnes and begins to notice poetry in the contemplation of the nature all around her, aknowledging that Agnes will never be able to witness such beauty anymore.

❀ Money

Money is an important issue in this movie. After learning about what their sons did, the fathers invite Mi-Ja in a gathering to find a way to bribe the parents of the lately deceased girl so they would keep what happened secret. They settle this among themselves without asking the opinion of Mi-Ja who does not have the amount of money required. This absurd "solution" sheds lights on the way money is viewed is our society. I found it to be a very interesting criticism on the inequality that one can face towards justice, namely in the Korean society. Besides, this type of injustice can be found all over the world where the status of money has grown to be way too important. It goes to such an extent that there is a huge gap between poor and wealthy people, those who have nothing and those who have everything, putting lifes at stake.

❀ Hope

Mi-Ja is a very sweet character and prefers talking about happy things than discussing money with the mourning mother. Despite life's difficulties she keeps on looking for hope. This movie highlights the beauty we overlook in our everyday life, allowing the viewer to re-discover the world along with nature's poetry and healing ability.