Full Explanation of Film

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Just finished watching this movie and came here to see what people thought about it as I too was slightly confused by it all. So I might as well add my thoughts to the issues.

Firstly the basic message I believe is that we cannot escape the cycle of war and the ghosts of war that come with it. Which explains why the film starts and ends with a similiar scenario, a lone survivor who will say all his comrades are dead only for a message to arrive to invite another search party and conflict. It is the ghosts that haunt and will never leave an individual who has been in that situation.

I am sure there is some relevant history that people might be able to elaborate on as I am sure the French occupied Vietnam in the 50's until communist China invaded and drove them out during a bloody period of history. So I guess the girl was witness to and a victim of a mass extermination of the French soldiers.

The fact that so much blood was spilt on sacred ground would be enough to anger the spirits and again someone with asian knowledge might be able to enlighten us. I believe the girl is a manifestation, like in Ringu and The grudge, of a spirit that was torn from life in a terrible way and is therefore hellbent on revenge. Also I believe she chose to show herself to Choi because he sort of stopped them from shooting her, even though she was a ghost, in the gun pit. So in turn she enlightened him to pieces of the puzzle and eventually led to his understanding that he could save the boy.

I agree the spirit could only make them kill each other which is why the lieutenant makes the young boy shoot him, thus allowing him to fulfil his promise and save a squad member. There is no doubt that the film plays with ideas of confusion, paranoia and guilt all of which would undoubtably fill us all if we were stuck in the middle of jungle fighting a faceless enemy, which the Vietnam war supposedly was like. Soldiers in an unfamiliar environment fighting an enemy they could not see most of the time.

I think the lighter scene was just a way of showing us that they were in the same place as Choi but there was no graveyard so that was another apparition for his benefit and to give the viewer some added information.

The guy with the camera was faced with his demon because after the lad told him about seeing the guy with the writing on his helmet he felt guilty because he kept the camera he got for that soldier. The writing i believe said " I am waiting for you... his name"

The American soldiers died in a helicopter crash so maybe they were not evil but were aware of their surroundings as I am sure the leader says something about them "doing what they did before" in regards to gambling as to whether or not the platoon would last 4 days. Maybe they did not want them to see the radio equipment (i) because it would show that it had not been used for a long time (ii) they did not want them to call re-inforcements.

The blood on their hands bit I guess they were all guilty of it except the young lad as this was his first mission, I Think, although I do not recall the cook killing anyone, why would he if he is cook, even though he jokes at the start about beheading people.

I would also like to know what the scene on the DVD back cover lends itself to as it hints at a useful piece of information as it depicts the girl and a scene of horror.

Well that is all I can think of at the moment and yes it could, in fact, all be a load of bollocks but that is the beauty of a film that, intentionally or not, makes you think

Ive just finished watching the film and i have to say it was VERY confussing! It didnt help with the Asain names and the use of subtitles. It was hard to get an idea of each character. I also agree with wat the pervious guy sed about the back cover of the DVD, ther is a shot of 4 soldiers hanging.

Ditto everyone else, quite a confusing film, a couple things spring to my mind.

Yes, if the ghost is able to take on dead people's forms then how was Private Chung able to join the Platoon and disappear when the girl was still in the foxhole? Also, the other dead man in her foxhole had been "dead for awhile" and not killed by Choi, so maybe he was the haunting spirit that killed the previous platoon? If the girl was still alive on the island how was she haunting the previous platoon?

Also, is she able to take on the form of an entire squad? Remember that really creepy scene where the Pvt gets lost and see's that ghost squad with the helmet 'Wait for me...'? How did she do that? I'm not sure she's solely responsible, there seemed to be a lot of creepy sh*t goin on at R-point and i dont think she's accountable for it all. That apparition was chilling tho =)

It might not matter much, but im confused about R-Point. The inscribed rock calls it a 'temple' built on a lake of corpses, but another review says it's a 'hospital' built by the french, and the transmission by Jacques in the film calls it a 'castle'
And anyway, whats the deal with the French? What was the girl doing with them? The 'temple' was built by Chinese who just slaughtered Vietcong, so who killed the French then? Vietcong presumably, as (historically) they were the ones that kicked the French out when the VC were fed up with their occupation.

As for "blood on your hands", i don't think its meant to be taken quite so literaly. If you think about it all the members had done evil deeds at some point...
"Cook" had a family but caught syphilis sleeping around, thus being unfaithful. Also he had lied to everybody about being a war hero. Though u did sympathise for him, and he was killed accidently, by the jumpy soldier.
Sgt. Jin was a hardnut that mistrusted and deceived Lt.Choi and cut off that evil corpse's head that had the radio in the cave (what was that all about??)
Then you had the dude with the camera deal, the guy who flipped and shot Cook by mistake coz he thought Sgt.Oh was chasing him. etc etc
Lt.Choi had the worst history though, rumoured to have killed many VC, including the girl he shot outside the room when he had that prostitute? Maybe this is why he got haunted the most by the ghost.

The scene with the graveyard is scary, and (as proved previously) is also an apparition as Sgt.Jin returns later and there are no graves. So what was the point of the grave scene? It was scary indeed, and you did see the grave for the french twins only to hear the Americans words "it all happened so fast", whats the significance of this? I also initially thought that (perhaps possessed) corpse that Sgt Jin found in that cave was Jacques. Who knows.

I need to watch it a 2nd time i think.

Hey

I think we are going into too much detail in this movie but everyone has very good points.

I think the most important issue is the things that each soldier did wrong, their sins so to speak. I was impressed by people suggesting the midget was blinded and therefore could not be possessed as its a strong argument. However, watch the flm again and take a mental note of their individual "sins."

I did not think his being blinded had anything to do with it. I reckon that he did not do anything evil, he did not sin and therefore the girl left him alone. Notice how there is no reference to him doing anything "evil." Notice how he starts talking about his mum (a sign of innocence) when he has been cocky throughout the whole movie. I think he did not sin in the eyes of these spirits and thus he did not come under the category of "those with blood on their hands will not return." This view makes sense I believe but again the suggestion about him being blind is an excellent point to make as its logical.

In short, everyone in their unit committed some form of act of evil e.g. stealing cameras/bracelets covering up deaths of soldiers etc However bear in mind that some were killed by accident e.g. Sgt Cook and therefore did not sin or perhaps they did and we just dont know about them. Exclude those killed by accident from our minds and it appears that only the midget is the one who may deserve to survive as he had no blood on his hands when he entered the site and thus was simply allowed to depart from it. It's obviously a rule and is there for a reason. The main flaw in my theory though which some of you will notice is that the signalman (little quiet guy who worked on radios etc) did nothing wrong throughout the movie and likewise to others who are killed at the end.

Also, with the bracelet I dont think its worthlooking into it in too much depth. I think its just a tool by the script writers, firstly to taunt the lieutenant and secondly the noise it makes causes him (and me) to shiver (not sure if anyone else felt that way.) The bracelet was mere nerve wrecking symbolism by the writers to point events in the girls direction, refer to her so-to-speak and to scare the audience basically. I came to this conclusion but the emphasis you guys placed on it is probably correct but all we can do is form our own views at the end of the day!

With the girl, there is no solid proof to suggest which side she is on! She may have been an impartial civilian who supported no one whereas she could have been a bloody sniper for all we know. Theres no point making assumptions about her but my best guess would be that she was an innocent civvie held captive by the VC who was killed by the Lieutenant. Her killing him and the rest of the unit at the end makes sense (in my view) compared to her killing people over an issue of mere theft. Her actions after this, her wrath would be more logical if she were an innocent civillian but then again if this was the case she was simply a casualty of war who was killed in error. It's also possible that she killed them because of her death and that their sins are irrelevant and are simply used to frighten the men; perhas their evil acts are of no help to us at all, who knows!

Finally, this is a story of perception so I dont think we will ever find a totally logical answer to everything because it simply does not make sense. My views and the views I have read are all full of holes and so is the plot itself but this is what makes the film so ambigious and brilliant.

There is also reference to mythology which westerners may not be able to understand as Asian mythology tends to be complex. What would be ideal is to get some views of someone who understands the culture, mythology, history etc of Vietnam, south Korea and China. Any oriental fans with good English please pass on your views and enlighten us before we go mad hehe

Hope this helps.

Just saw the movie. Was very good, I almost didn't watch it, but honestly I'm glad I did. I'm usually good with plots, but this one shook me off a few times. Some of your points (and others in replies) have helped me understand it more. Thanks.

ok several things:

no one stole the bracelet from the dying girl (technically undying) in fact i think her prescence in the foxhole was just foreshadowing afterall, it is observed by the squad that the other corpse with her had been dead for quite some time.

also i think everyone is putting too much emphasis on the girl in white.
she pretty much was just a manifestation of 'hungry spirits' of the area, who came to an unnatural end like everyone else on the island.

the real haunting was the island itself, r-point...
in fact the black-american sgt even tells Lt. choi that the island is haunted.

it is interesting to note that the area of r-point also seem to exploit the weaknesses of the characters... pride, theft, deception, cruelty, and apathy.
as far as having blood on their hands, all of the team's members were all seasoned soldiers before they joined the mission except one...the 18 year old kid who was paid $50, which he only took so he could buy his mother a cow and who remained the only survivor albeit blind and maimed. i believe that it is in this sense that all the soldiers had "blood" on their hands. he is also one of the only genuinely caring of the other characters...everybody else sort of just looked out for themselves.

i believe it is easier to understand the movie from a buddhist perspective...
in buddhism there are 10 metaphorical states that human beings exist in...some are good and others are bad...one of the worst is the state of the "hungry spirits", it is an existance in which a person is consumed by unquentiable desires...so that person exists as a ghost, a slave to their desires. since in buddhism giving in to your desires ultimately ends in your destruction, the same sentiment is echoed in R-point. i am not saying that the movie is specifically buddhist in nature but there are features that come up, maybe because of cultural influence?

i really enjoyed this movie alot.

I thought the girl was purely incidental in the film, as she died well after Donkey 30 disappeared.

Simply, those who had killed before were targetted by the ghosts of the dead- those from the past such as the Vietnamese villagers and the French colonists. The only ones that had never killed anyone were "Private Cook" (killed not by the ghosts, but by his own man) and the blinded private, who survived.

The soldiers didn't steal the girl's bell bracelet when they left her to die, they left it with her. She was a ghost or something similar using the foxhole, hence Byun stating that "It looks like this guy's been dead for a long time" (referring to the other corpse)- perhaps killed by Donkey 30? The girl, you'll notice, only menaced Choi too, perhaps because he was the one who rocketed her? But then, when we look at the photograph from one of the dying soldiers that he found in a chest we see that the girl was photographed alongside the French colonists- perhaps she was murdered along with them?

The American soldiers were ghosts too- the helicopter found in the jungle had been there a long time, and when Choi finally opens up the second floor restricted room he finds it to have been abandoned and derelict for years. Ghosts gave them beer, it seems.

As for the timeline, it goes like this:
Long ago (1000 years? who knows?) the Chinese slaughtered many Vietnamese villagers and threw them in the lake. They filled it in and built a temple- the area with the stone faces and insence burning. Since then it was cursed.
Im not sure when, but between 1900 and around 1960, French colonists built a plantation there (the Mole base) and were subsequently slaughtered by the Vietcong who were strongly in opposition to the French colonisation.
Around 1970, American troops land and occupy the old plantation, leaving radio equipment behind. Upon leaving, for whatever reason, they crash and are killed.
1972- Donkey 30 squad are sent to R-point.

Also- those Koreans sure love the word " don't they? And what was that dance to The Ventures all about? Talk about electrocuting a paralysis victim...