MovieChat Forums > Dalkomhan insaeng (2005) Discussion > Reason the Boss punished Kim (never expl...

Reason the Boss punished Kim (never explained explicitly)

posted 16 years ago by skat1140
22 replies | jump to latest

In the final showdown, Kim asks the Boss why he was treated so badly after "7 years of working for him like a dog." There's a pause, then another. And the Boss refrains from answering so Kim shoots and kills him.

I guess its obvious, but its interesting that they didnt explicitly reveal the reason.

My obvious guess is, Boss sees how Kim spares the girls life and lies about it. Boss knows Kim is attracted to girl and knows all things being equal that she would prefer Kim over himself. Boss doesn't for a moment think Kim is cheating on him with the girl. And that perhaps makes it even worse: because Kim /is/ honorable, he /has/ served him faithfully and honorably for 7 years. That, combined with his youth, does make him a better match for the girl than the boss. So he acts to destroy this "rival", by humbling him so much so that he is no longer a contender for the girl, or failing that, by killing him.

[–] MinhHieuVN 16 years ago

The boss thought he could kill Kim like other "dogs" working for him. He just abused with his power

------------------------
Take any movies you can, give nothing back !

[–] baygerbieger 15 years ago

It was more typical crime boss mentality. If one person disobeys you and you let them get away with it, others might get the same idea.

It had nothing to do with love. The girl didn't love the protagonist and vice versa.

He was ordered to do something, but was tired of living his life as a dog following orders. Boss didn't like one of his right hand men, finally having a mind of his own.

Stand By For Action!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] baygerbieger 15 years ago

Nope. He liked her. She was indirectly involved with him realizing he wasn't his own man. So in that respect he was thankful to her. Love though? Nope. Otherwise he would have ran away with her or something more "romantic".

Stand By For Action!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] baygerbieger 15 years ago

No, he envied her for having a life of her own. Not envied, but admired. There you go. Again her being indirectly involved with his "awakening".

His, dream that could never be was him being free. He could never live his life like a man. It does give strength to the it was all a dream argument as well.

But yeah, It was before the voice over he had the flashback. Then the voice over leading to the shadow boxing. Which again could back up the day dream argument, but I think it was more remembering when life was simple. When he didn't have the taste for freedom. When he was happy living his life like a dog.

Though, the dream argument really is the strongest. Dreamed it all up, and in the end thought his life might not be great, but better than the alternative. Hence, Bittersweet Life.

Stand By For Action!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dnaplayboy 13 years ago

2 years later...

No, he envied her for having a life of her own. Not envied, but admired. There you go. Again her being indirectly involved with his "awakening".

If he didn't love/like her, why buy the lamp, and why constantly call her. What was he gonna say when she answered? "hey whats up? thanks for awakening me?" I doubt it.

But yeah, It was before the voice over he had the flashback. Then the voice over leading to the shadow boxing. Which again could back up the day dream argument, but I think it was more remembering when life was simple. When he didn't have the taste for freedom. When he was happy living his life like a dog.

I doubt he was ever "happy" being a dog. Maybe he was satisfied with it, but happy? Don't think so. After all he rarely ever smiles except in the flashback scene.

I don't see how the dream theory is strongest, all though it is strong. If the disciples dream was a sweet one, and he's crying because he couldn't live it, that's assuming he enjoyed the dream. So he enjoyed being buried alive, tortured, shot, stabbed, and killed. Sounds like fun eh?

The sweet dream, is a dream of a normal life. if it was otherwise we would have at least seen scenes of the main character bored as a waiter, or something. There is no definitive proof that it's all a dream. The simplest answer is usually the best.

[–] zamiel_asmodeus 13 years ago

When the boss is leaving in the limo, talking to Kim for the last time before returning from Shanghai, he says "That's why I like you." in relation to the fact that he's never been in love. He begins falling in love with the girl, which leads him to betray the boss, and then he has fallen out of favor.

[–] gabisu 14 years ago

Lee Byung-hun's character was in love. Obviously. It's just kinda different from the "let's bang that girl" attitude you hve in western movies
Shy, kinda teenage or pre-teen like, you know when he watches her hair and her smile. He's in love, why do you think he thought about her in his last moments...
Yeah it's a diferent love than the smack that ass attitude but hey it's love nonetheless

====================
Omae wa mo shinde iru

[–] imdblovers 15 years ago

I think the boss would never said the reason because whatever it is, it's ugly. And when the bodyguards heards that, he might be shot the boss. So the boss keep silent with hoping he doesn't shoot him, although he actually shoot him, the bodyguard will live in despair without knowing the reason.

[–] rollypolymasta 14 years ago

My guess was it was more to do with the fact that the boss trusted him so much as he told him about his girlfriend and noone else and he obviously in own way loved him, he may have loved him because of his great services he gave him or for his undeniable loyalty he had towards his boss for seven years. It may also be to do with the fact that the protagonist love his girlfriend you can tell this as he has no obvious affection for any other females and when asked if he had a girlfriend he didnt answer as in my mind i dont think he ever had one or a serious one anyway. You can tell he loved as she was able to break his tough man image and make him smile, the only other time he broke that image was when he was betrayed by a person he truly trusted his boss in which he had based his life around. I think he tried to kill him as the protagonist was showing signs of being unloyal and thinking differently from his boss, this caused him so much upset that he decided to kill him, if you think about it they both sort of suffered the same experience they were both betrayed by the person they truly trusted and they were both obviously not easily trusting people. They also went about the experience the same way, instead of dealing with their horrible memories of betrayal they tried to erase but couldnt so instead they erased the traces of the memory (eachother). This makes sense as well if you think that the boss was willing to kill his girlfriend if she betrayed him even though he loved her. Even though the protagonist betrayal was worse they both acted teh same as the boss obviously had issues with being betrayed. The protagonist loving his girlfriend was just the icing on the cake and the boss was trying to get the protagonist to say he loved the girl as this would some way justify this as the boss could in his mind not find any justification for this act of betrayal that obviously seemed so unreal to him. Well thats what i thought anyway.

[–] Dragon_Eye_Morrison 14 years ago

Sun Woo is not in love with the girl, and the boss is punishing him for disobeying orders. It is as simple as that.

''Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you."

[–] madsic 14 years ago

i may be terribly wrong, but I saw it as like sun woo is a better man than the boss. The boss would of killed them both right. But Sun Woo, someone the Boss saw himself in, decided to spare them both, therefore making him more human than him. He desperately wanted to know why Sun Woo did this, and since he would never tell, tried to kill him.

then again, like the boss said earlier, "even when the boss is wrong you agree with him" or something along those lines, maybe the whole point was just like someone earlier said, the boss was pissed Sun Woo didn't listen to him so he wanted to kill him. By the time he realized Sun Woo was too strong and the other boss told him to drop it, it was too late.

Thats my point of view.

[–] Valkyrist 14 years ago

The obvious answer is that he disobeyed his bosses orders, but something more is alluded to by the two characters. The boss mentions that it wasn't the act itself that was so bad, but the fact that he couldn't admit he was wrong. He said it didn't matter who did what, the boss is always right. Sunwoo was disrupting the status quo by defying the boss, and insulting the boss' enemies/possible partners. I imagine Moon also planted some ideas in the bosses head. Sunwoo was operating on some moral ground that his superiors didn't understand, and moreover, he commanded a degree of loyalty within the organisation, combined with his intelligence and cunning, that the boss may have seen him as a possible rival for the throne. There's also the question of Sunwoo falling in love with the bosses girlfriend, which would have been the ultimate betrayal. In my opinion, it wasn't love Sunwoo felt, but something beautiful and innocent he recognised within the girl, that his boss wanted to destroy.

Check out SlamDunkStudios.webs.com -- "The global creative network"

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jamasian_man 13 years ago

The boss explicitly says in the beginning that he hates people who lie to him. When he confronts the girl, he says as you get older you lose patience. All of these character beats set up the kind of man the boss is.

They even have that scene where the boss tells his lackeys about the guy who lost his hand for defying orders. He abused his power for so long, and finally made a mistake and it cost him.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tvandfilmbuff 11 years ago

In my opinion, it wasn't love Sunwoo felt, but something beautiful and innocent he recognised within the girl, that his boss wanted to destroy.

I completely agree. She was pure, innocent, beautiful, trusting, and we don't know the last time Sunwoo knew anyone like that, if ever. I think she made him feel warmth and a softening in his heart. It would have grown into love, but it never had the opportunity. It was a revelation for him to meet someone like her. He couldn't kill something that lovely. He found himself feeling human again.

"I might be a Gung-Fu expert... but I need cash!"

[–] Gator_MacReady 10 years ago

There's also the fact that Sun Woo's boss decided to go into business with his rivals after all and gave up Sun Woo as leverage. Two birds with one stone.

Meh!

[–] owmybrain 12 years ago

My understanding was that it was all about the two of them and had nothing to do with the girl.

Kim forced Boss to question his own morality and methods. He also saw Kim as a stronger, better and more idealistic version of himself. It boiled down to jealousy of his youth and strength & fear of Kim's superiority and his own ageing.

The Boss forced Kim to question his own morality as well, and when Kim is faced with the young girl he realises that there is more to life than serving, obeying and respecting the old generation without question.

Essentially this is a film about adolescence reaching maturity, to the point where the new has to shake off the old for it's own growth to continue. The old will always resist, as does The Boss. It's a classic struggle told in many stories.

[–] mike_11231 12 years ago

To me it was much more simpler than that.She made him smile.He never smiled in the movie.

The character was only dedicated to his work, he wasn't good with people and kept no personal relationships.And he couldn't explain what he felt for her, just like the boss couldn't explain why he pushed things so far.

They're not hiding the reasons why they did it, they just can't come up with something they can put into words that would sound logical.