You don’t have to be a vampire movie
buff to enjoy, Thirst. The story had a great set up.
A priest volunteers to develop a vaccine for a community affected by
a deadly virus. He repeats throughout the movie that he just wanted
to help people, to do good things. But he contracts the virus and is
given a transfusion, apparently infected by vampire blood. Now he is
able to continue living with the virus rather than die like the 500
others. The change brings about typical vampiric desires that even
his priestly guilt cannot keep at bay. For the first time in his
life, the priest makes love and falls in love with a woman named
Tae-ju. Together they commit a heinous act. While he thinks he’s
helping Tae-ju, he is also satisfying his new found thirst. Haunted
by their guilt, they begin to see and feel things that cannot be
real. Will their guilt absolve them?
There have been many vampire stories
that tackle the guilt issue. Vampire characters, especially in
recent history, do not let go of their humanity completely. Good men
become more human-like vampires and bad characters make more
monstrous ones. This film wrestled with questions of the very
existence of evil.
In life, people commit evil acts, but,
unless their psychotic, they will feel remorseful or be disgusted by
these acts; or, at the least, they feel sorry for the consequences
they face. In this world, vampires, like humans, are complicated
creatures. They are animals who act on instinct, but they are not
missing that which makes them laugh, cry and love the same as any
human. This to me is not evil. It is life reacting to its
environment, the same as it might have a hundred thousand years ago.
In Thirst, the priest later
receives absolution, but I asked myself why. His faith demanded it.
But I do not believe he thought God would forgive him for everything.
He was too smart to think it would be that simple. Why then,
wouldn’t you give in to your monster? Why did his human part
wrestle with it, trying to keep it at bay, if he could not go to
heaven? I think perhaps we as humans deserve some credit. Maybe we
try not to hurt people for the simple reason that we do not want them
to hurt. We don’t need faith or consequences for that.
There were some pretty graphic sex
scenes. Tae-ju enjoyed pain, and even inflicted it upon herself.
The priest was uncontrollably aroused by her pain and pleasure. I’m
not sure if these scenes were made to scare us for the lack of
control and vulnerability, or if they were made to display more of
their animalistic behavior. Perhaps it was a bit of both…
immorality presenting itself as a thing that cannot be controlled,
and the consequences of her actions when she allows it to enrapture
her.
At one point, before making love, the
priest tells Tae-ju that he is evil. That she will go to hell. She
responds, “I won’t go to hell because I have no faith.” Tae-ju
felt she was beyond consequence. And perhaps she did not go to hell,
but she would eventually face the consequences here on earth.
Directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy,
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance),
you will see some awesome shots typical of this master filmmaker.
Horror film directors would be wise to learn to use his crooked
tracking shots that provide viewers with obscurity and a loss of control. The use
of white to exaggerate blood splatter is also fantastic. High
contrast makes for edgier scenes. Who needs the shaky cam tricks or
sudden loud noises when you watch a story unfold through the eyes of
Park Chan-wook?
