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Decide and chug along...

Revelations (Korean, 2025)
Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Although the ratings for this one were not very encouraging, the storyline made its viewers think.

No one knows the right course of action or what is contained in their recipe for good deeds. We merely drag our unfortunate selves along, clinging to straws, persuading ourselves that our actions are virtuous. No one can say whether our actions will lead to the best outcome in the grand scheme.

The movie explores what goes through the minds of three individuals who are somehow involved in the killing of a young girl and the kidnapping of another. There is a possible paedophile out on parole, wearing an ankle monitor. He seems to be following a young girl who enters a church. The paedophile follows into the church. The pastor notices him as a newcomer to the church and tries to woo him to join the congregation.

The pastor has a lot on his plate. He hopes to be promoted to a larger church, and he is troubled by his wife's infidelity.

One day, he forgot to pick up his son from school. Both he and his wife assume that their son has been kidnapped. The pastor suspects it must be the peculiar man with an ankle monitor. He hunts him down, believing he has killed him. Shortly thereafter, the wife informs them that a friend has collected their son.

The paedophile is also being followed by a police officer whose sister died after being kidnapped by him. Although she was released later, she took her own life due to social media shaming and PTSD.

The latter is assigned to investigate the paedophile after he went missing, having been assaulted by the pastor. Then it gets interesting…

So we end up with three people who want to do things beyond the bounds of decency but somehow find justifications for their actions.

The pastor wants to make sure that the paedophile is killed off before the police find him. The paedophile might say that the pastor tried to kill him. An arrest would destroy everything he had built for himself, work-wise and in his family life. He seriously sees signs from God that tell him he is on the right track. When he sees the clouds, an apparition resembling Mother Mary, and Jesus tells him to carry on, so he thinks, What else could he ask for?

The police officer thinks she failed the first time when her sister died. So, hunting down and killing the sadistic weirdo is justified. The question of her being a police officer does come into the equation. She sees images of her crying sister asking to seek revenge.


The criminal does not think he is doing anything wrong. All the voices in his head tell him so. His learned experience from his abusive childhood taught him so, too.

In the end, all three people have justifications to do all the things they want to do. While all these are happening, this church-going mother has lost her daughter. The pastor has to sit down with her to pray for the safe return of her child, who may have been abducted by the same criminal.

There is no secret formula for us to follow in this voyage of life. Every time the wind blows, we just hoist the sail, catch the wind and make intelligent guesses about where to navigate the boat. No self-proclaimed expert navigator can help you on this one.


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