Offering some food for thought, can be quite lengthy :-)

I spent my afternoon sitting at a quiet, dimly lit corner to watch this movie, and by the end of it I was truly touched by the deep, profound story that this movie portrays.

Having received 11 nominations in the 56th Golden Horse Awards and winning 5 of them, with one being 'Best Film', I know I already have high expectations the moment I clicked into the movie, and boy did the movie not disappoint me. It totally threw me into a whirlwind of emotions. :")

Story and acting wise, I have almost nothing to pick on. The actors were brilliant in their portrayal and well, my ratings are clear enough, and you can watch and judge it for yourself.

Rather, I would like to bring up some themes that lingered in my mind after I've watched the movie.

[We've all been hurt before, and that's how we can become each other's sun.]

[A Sun, A Son]
The title of this movie holds two meanings, 'A Sun' and 'A Son'. What happens when a family is thrown into darkness when the 'sun' of the family is no longer there? What happens to the family when A-Ho has to move out of the darkness, what hope can he, or rather, they, cling onto?
This is a movie that speaks about relationships within a family: mother and son, father and son, elder and younger sibling, and many many more. But ultimately, this movie explores what it means to be a family, and to be yourself.
Also, note the use of the article 'a' for the title of the movie. Why is it 'a' and not 'the'? How does the difference in definiteness of these two articles change the meaning of this movie?

[Light, Darkness, or Both]
In this movie we have characters who stand out and thrive in the world brightly lit up by the sun. However, some recede into the darkness where they seek comfort and find out their own meaning and interpretation of what they're worth. But how about both? How does having both light and darkness in a character's life influence him in any way?

[Expectations and Hope]
For someone who has been in the light all along, how does he feel about it? How do societal and familial expectations weigh down on such a person? How does he find shade to rest and take a breather?
Whereas, for someone who was always in the darkness, will he be able to find his own ray of sunlight and move into a world where the sun shines brightly upon him and his future? Over here, how does societal and familial expectations differ from that in the aforementioned case?

[The Sun (literally)]
The weather changes throughout the movie helps portray the different settings and atmosphere for each character's feelings, emotions and state of mind. And I must say, the appearance of the sun (or the lack of it), as well as the amount of sunlight shining upon a character, plays a huge part in helping viewers understand what state of mind the characters are in. The visual significance of these scenes are enough in showing us the characters' emotions even without them having to portray them. That's how powerful and well-thought-out the cinematography is in this movie.

[Seize the day. Decide your path.]
This is a recurring slogan in the movie, and we can begin to wonder why it's mentioned in the first place (and many times after) and also how much it weighs on the different people receiving this piece of advice.

Well, that's all I can offer for some thinking after the movie ends. Do watch the movie, you'll not regret it ;)

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Exceptional, Unforgettable

Previously when this movie haven't been listed on MDL, and when I was really affected by this movie and needed somewhere to vent my thoughts, I ended up writing a review on the Korean movie 'Silenced', which had a strikingly similar premise as this movie. In my previous review, I wrote about the comparison of 'Silenced' and 'The Silent Forest', by listing some aspects that were done differently and similarly between these 2 movies. I just felt that these 2 movies really complemented each other really well and they're so so so worth watching despite the emotional trauma that they'll leave us viewers with.

If you're thinking about whether to give this a watch, my answer to you is: This is a NECESSARY watch.

There's just so much I can talk about in regards to this movie; I don't even know where to start and how to start breaching this topic. All I can say is that this is a masterpiece. It's so rare for a movie to affect me so much that I'm just grabbing fistfuls of hair in the cinema and feeling so much anger and despair at the same time that I don't even know my tears were because of the anger or the despair that I'd felt.

Just to list some things off my head about this movie:
(note: possible spoilers ahead, i tried to refrain from revealing too many details about the plot)

[Villain]

One striking aspect of this movie was the concept of villains. The main antagonist of this movie isn't a conventional 'true' villain. He's what I would call an anti-villain. His character caused me so much dilemma throughout the entire movie, my heart hurts for him. I wouldn't say that Xiao Guang (Kim Hyun Bin) has notable redeeming qualities that made me feel that he shouldn't be punished for his misdeeds, but my heart also ached so much for him that I don't want him to receive a harsh punishment, because ultimately, he is still a broken child. This movie made me ponder about the concept of what really makes up an 'evil' person? There's so many cases of portrayals in dramas and movies that villains are just psychopaths that are born with the inherent desire to harm others. There's not enough exploration into the backstories of antagonists in the majority of dramas and movies in general, and thus I'm really grateful that the producing team wasn't afraid of taking on the challenge of exploring more about Xiao Guang's past. I loved how throughout the movie, Xiao Guang's dark past was slowly being uncovered and viewers were able to follow through that process and were given time to internalize his story and weigh our judgement towards the character. I really love a movie that explores about human nature and how one's experiences can shape a person and influence his behaviour. (!character development!).

[Hearing Impaired in Society]

This movie wasn't afraid of showcasing how the hearing impaired can be disadvantageously treated when they're out and about in society. There were several instances whereby the children spent some days outside of their boarding school, and the experiences they've went through were, well, ugly and heartbreaking. It pains when I'd realized that those children still considered the school as their safe haven despite all the horrendous things that have been happening there, because once they've spent time outside of their school, they realize that they are not 'normal' and struggle to fit into society in general. And society is unforgiving and cold towards them. Personally I've always thought that people in general in this day and age are more inclusive and welcoming in general towards persons with disabilities as compared to the past, but I realized that we are still far far away from being truly inclusive towards this group of people. Something said or done consciously or unconsciously that we might believe is a small, harmless action might have a huge impact on others, and this was brilliantly showcased in this movie.

[Systemic Abuse]

What I believe this movie was trying to convey was the fact that bullying/abuse is systemic and exists in a vicious cycle. Eliminating such a problem is so much more than just removing the one person who's causing all the trouble, or who had started all this trouble, and then expect everything to return to normal again. It's easy to take the convenient way out by just pushing all the blame and punishment to one single person, but when the bullying has spread exponentially to many other people, just like in a pyramid scheme, where there's much more victims than expected; the situation becomes ugly and goes almost beyond salvation. By this stage, it takes a whole lot of resilience and perseverance from someone, or a group of people, to uncover the whole issue and restore justice. Also, often in cases of bullying, the line between the perpetrator and victim is often blurred. After all, most bullies become bullies because they used to be a victim of bullying themselves. In such cases as presented in the movie, where there are so many victims and when the victims themselves become perpetrators, there exists so much resentment, anger, despair, hopelessness and guilt at the same time, and by the time when intervention is provided, who should be held responsible for all this then, when this is just a never ending cycle? This is what this movie leaves us with, and this is a question that we need to ponder about and find a solution to.

There's many more things I can explore and write about regarding this movie, and this review is just a small portion of what had been filling up my head ever since I've watched this movie. All in all, I believe the biggest takeaway for us viewers is to be more observant and aware of what's going on in our surroundings, because what is seen as peaceful on the surface might hide something dark that we can never imagine.

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Lengthy thoughts. I just wanted to keep an archive of how this drama made me feel :-)

Up to date, I've already re-watched this drama twice. This means 3 times watching this drama, and all 3 times I'd managed to learn something from it. This is the kind of drama that makes you clutch your heart as if it'd shattered into pieces. Never have I not cry buckets when watching this.

Okay, first up: the plot. I would say it's a fairly cliche plot-line to be honest. The thing about a tragedy, followed by the trauma that the main leads face: it's a pretty common plot used in dramas. But here's the thing: this drama wholly focuses on how this tragedy affected not only the main leads, but the various other people involved in this, from their past, to their present, and then their future. And I love it. We get to see how the same tragedy affected the victims (dead or alive), the victims' family, the construction contractors, architects, and many others not mentioned but could be inferred. We get to see the trauma, the survivor's guilt, the lack of consideration or empathy to some extent. All these different perspectives shone through the different characters and the stories they brought along with them.

The cast and acting. I have absolutely no problems with them. Our main leads aren't the most amazing, groundbreaking actors out there, but they acted with so much sincerity and that made their characters shine. All the little flaws in their acting made their characters seem so much more real and human. Their characters aren't heroes, they are just as normal as any human is; beautiful, raw, broken yet strong. I loved how realistic the characters are, they all have their fair share of problems, and they all deal with their problems in their own ways and keep fighting to go on in their lives. It's such a wonderful process to see the characters' growth, especially in our main leads; how they slowly came together, understood, embraced and motivated each other to head towards a brighter life ahead. How beautiful is that? Just two humans, two lovers finding themselves in the process of finding each other. I cannot imagine a love story more beautiful and pure than this.

I especially loved the little moments between Kang Doo and Granny. How Granny would impart her little bits of wisdom, encouraging Kang Doo to let down his burdens and start opening up and live life more courageously and with purpose, not just recklessly. One line from Granny stuck with me long after watching this drama: "Be happy with all your might."

The little moments where our characters are simply just content with the peace in their lives? The drama made me appreciate that too. The feeling of "when today is becoming tomorrow and not much is going on", yeah, I really like it too.

The OST is just breathtakingly amazing. It is the only drama so far where I love every single song, no kidding. Every single song and its lyrics can be related to moments in the drama, especially so for Jun Ho's "True Love" as well as Chang Min's "With Me". Every lyric in these songs revolves around our main leads and their relationship, and it is truly beautiful.

To end off: with any tragedy that happened, it's never "only 48 people died", but rather, "as much as 48 people died".

This is a drama that makes me think long after every single time I watch it, it's a drama that made a lasting impact on me and makes me want to be a better version of myself. And every time I come out from watching a drama or movie feeling this way, I know it's definitely one that will remain special to me in many years to come.

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A comparison: 'Silenced' vs 'The Silent Forest'

Note: This review isn't a true review, I'm just discussing about 2 movies and expressing my views because I wanted to let this out of my brain before it haunts me forever in the back of my mind :")

Originally I didn't want to write a review about this movie because I really just didn't know how to even start to pen down my thoughts. Watched this movie some years ago and I was so distraught after watching because I was so full of anger, pain and helplessness watching these characters fighting for the justice that they'd deserved, but end up being shortchanged.

What influenced me to write this review was that a few days ago, I watched a Taiwanese movie called 'The Silent Forest', or 《无声》, and I remember walking out of the cinema feeling the same sense of dread and hopelessness, a similar emotional trauma I received when I watched this movie years ago. Both movies are very similar in context, both of them have a theme of sexual abuse, of rape and the setting was also in a secluded school for the hearing impaired. Most importantly, both movies are inspired by real-life events that has happened before.

So naturally, I couldn't help but draw parallels between these 2 movies.

[Storyline and Perspectives: The Effects on the Audience]

'Silenced' is a movie that is really really good in its dramatization and storytelling. Props to the actors involved in this movie with such wonderful performances, really. 'Silenced' focused a lot on the experiences of our main character, In Ho (Gong Yoo). Here, we are viewing the story in In Ho's perspective. Hence, the emotions that we feel when we watch the movie is directly relatable to the experiences that In Ho has: arriving at a new city, a new school to teach, struggling to get closer to the students, finding out about the horrors that is going on in the school, facing a dilemma between securing his place in the school versus protecting the children, choosing to protect and fight for the children, and ultimately getting hit by the harsh reality and injustice that is prevalent in society. Whenever In Ho feels horrified, anguished or broken, we feel those emotions too as an audience. However, pertaining to the main problem in the movie, the sexual abuse, the perspective that In Ho provides the audience is that of a third person POV. As much as the problem is a serious one, In Ho is ultimately just a bystander, and to a certain sense, a witness, to this problem.

In contrast, 'The Silent Forest' is a movie that follows the experiences of a student enrolling into the school. This is where the impact on the audience is intensified, as we are no longer looking through the lens of a bystander, a witness. We are brought directly into the situation itself, as our main character Zhang Cheng (Troy Liu Tzu-chuan) gets entangled in a systemic problem of sexual abuse between the students themselves. This brings much more emotional impact on the audience, as we get to 'experience' first hand the horrors of the sexual abuse that is prevalent within the school. I remember the feeling of helplessness I felt was so immense and I was just gripping fistfuls of my hair because I was just so infuriated but there was nothing I could do about that situation. In 'The Silent Forest', the audience has taken a first person POV in the issue, but is also designated the role of being a witness of this matter as well. Because the movie didn't explore much about Mr Wang (Liu Kuan-ting), this movie's equivalent of In Ho in 'Silenced', we as the audience are forced to take on this position as a witness to the horrors as well. The movie was done really well in this aspect.

[Justice]

'Silenced' was done well in the sense that it really showcased the legal struggle that the children faced against the school principals. The movie made the viewers, especially the Korean public, know more about how the country's laws are set and how such laws can be disadvantageous to a certain disadvantaged group of people who are vulnerable and powerless. This was why after the movie was released, there was a public uproar about the laws involving sexual abuse towards minors, and that subsequently after that, the bill was revised by the South Korean Government. This movie called upon the public to look at the ugly side of society, the flaws in the justice system.

'The Silent Forest' did not showcase anything pertaining to legal affairs related to sexual abuse. There was a mention of media involved in the process, but that wasn't explored much upon, and I could understand that that wasn't the main point of the movie. The main point of the movie wasn't to point out the flaws in society, in the country's legal system. It implored viewers to look at humans' vulnerable and ugly sides which had eventually influenced them to do the horrible things they do.

In both movies, I wouldn't say justice was rightfully served, but there was a sense of reconciliation: reconciliation between one's past and present, and finding peace within oneself. There was a hopeful message of moving on and leaving the dark past behind among the characters in both movies. And I liked it.

[Villains]

In 'Silenced', there was a clear emphasis on who are the villains, the antagonists. There was a clear target that the characters as well as the viewers can direct their anger and resentment towards. There is a conventional 'fight' between the good and the bad. However, when I watched 'The Silent Forest', what I realized about why I felt so helpless and broken after the movie was really because there was no 'true' villain. What happens when bullies become bullies because they were emotionally and physically traumatized as a victim themselves in the past? What happens when we see that the main 'villain' has his vulnerability and redeeming qualities as well? This is where I as a viewer, felt sympathy for the anti-villain in this movie. That left me so torn and broken I don't know what I'll do if I were to be placed in the situation itself...

My conclusion is: both movies are exceptional in their delivery and performances. Rather than deciding which is better than the other, I would like to think that these 2 movies complement each other really well, as they tackle different aspects pertaining to a similar issue, and shows us the different perspectives there is to see to such an issue. Even though these movies are such a heavy watch, as they are really emotionally draining, I can see myself coming back and re-watching these 2 movies again from time to time, as a reality check for myself that sometimes, the world isn't as peaceful as it seems, and sometimes we really have to be more observant about our surroundings.

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