There is a law in the world, and the same is true in Hades.
The Buddha Says shou sheng sutra reads:
After death, a person who becomes a dead person will be subjected to 7 trials in 49 days in Hades, and the 7 kings of Yama will be judged by lies, laziness, injustice, betrayal, violence, murder, and heaven, and only those who pass all the judgments will be reincarnated.
This is the Buddhist cycle of birth and death. With this as a world view, in 2017, South Korea launched a science fiction god work - "Walking with God: Crime and Punishment".
After this life, before the next life, the Seven Judges, the Seven Hells, the Three Messengers of Hell, and a Righteous Deceased begin a seven-seven-forty-nine-day trial journey in the Dungeon.
As a 40 billion won science fiction film, "Walking with God: Crime and Punishment" is adapted from the popular Korean comic of the same name "Walking with God", which ranks second in The History of Korean Cinema with 14.41 million viewers, second only to "The Battle of Mingliang" (17.61 million people), which is the first science fiction blockbuster in China.
However, despite the fact that the fight scenes in the movie are flowing and the various special effects are dazzling, under the cloak of science fiction, the film ultimately explores the good and evil of human nature. As for the emotional color of "human nature", after stripping away the cocoon, what is presented to the audience is not a lashes but a praise.
Buddhism emphasizes karmic karma, just as all laws are empty, cause and effect are not empty, and walking with God constructs such a world of hades that emphasizes the cycle of cause and effect.
Jin Zihong, a firefighter, unfortunately fell to his death during a rescue operation and became a righteous deceased, that is, a noble of the dead.
Jiang Lin, Xie Wei Mai, Li Dechun, the three messengers of hades. As apologists, after Jin's death, they led him to Hades for judgment, and the path of walking with God began.
Unlike the limitations of the abilities of the judges of the world, the magistrates of the prefectural government are fully aware of everything about mortals, and in front of them, not only all good and evil deeds are hidden, but even some false thoughts will be detected by them.
This is the world of absolute reality from God's point of view, judgment, and absolute real human nature.
And the use of a righteous deceased as the protagonist of the film's trial can be regarded as the most unique feature of "Walking with God". Abandoning the ideal state of "natural opposition between good and evil" and integrating good and evil into one, such an interpretation may present the most complete and realistic human nature.
Jin Zihong was not an ordinary deceased. He is a nobleman, a kind man who has written justice and hard work all his life, giving up his life and forgetting death during the day to extinguish fires and save people, and working part-time at night. It is such a person who, although he was exempted from the double hell of "injustice and betrayal" because of his righteous death, he still could not retire completely.
From the lightest to the heaviest, he still had to be judged in turn by the remaining five hells of "murder, laziness, lies, violence, and innocence." After this, a series of unknown pasts are gradually revealed.
In the murderous hell, Jin Zihong once missed the best time to rescue his colleagues because he was afraid of danger and worried about his own safety, indirectly killing his colleagues; in the lazy hell, Jin Zihong personally admitted that he worked hard just to make money, he believed in money, and he was willing to become a slave to money;
In the hell of lies, Jin Zihong pretended to be a dead colleague to write letters to his daughter, and has always deceived his mother with a family and happiness; in the violent hell, Jin Zihong once brutally beat his malnourished and weak brother when he was young; in heaven and hell, Jin Zihong once wanted to cover his mother with a pillow, and after that, he ran away from home until he died.
The darkness behind the goodness finally appears in front of people with layers of judgment.
Shakespeare once said that life is like a cloth made of threads of good and evil; our good deeds must be lashed out by our faults, and our sins are covered up by our good deeds.
There is no pure good and evil in "Walking with God", but only the contradiction between good and evil. Jin Zihong is not only a heroic and righteous firefighter, but also a "hypocrite" with a dark side. The intersection of good and evil is not in conflict, because this is true human nature.
As for the seven hells in the film, it is not so much a judgment from the dungeon as it is a reflection on everyone's life. The gods know everything, and we, like them, are the subjects of our actions, and we are the most aware of the unknowable meanness of our hearts. Lies, laziness, injustice, betrayal, violence, murder, innocence, how many judgments can we, as spectators, withstand?
Presenting the good and evil of real human nature, thus causing the audience to reflect on themselves, this can be regarded as the deep meaning of "Walking with God", but it is not limited to this.
In the movie, among the five deadly sins committed by Jin Zihong, the three crimes of murder, laziness, and lies were successfully washed away under the defense of the three messengers:
Although it indirectly led to the death of colleagues, at the same time, Jin Zihong saved 8 lives; the reason why he believed in money was to treat his mother and pay tuition to his brother Jin Xiuhong; he wrote to the daughter of a dead colleague and deceived his mother so that they could ignite their hope for life.
From God's point of view, Jin Zihong is indeed guilty, but any fault that does not satisfy personal desires can be forgiven by the gods.
However, in the hell of "violence" and "heavenly", Jin Zihong is a complete offender.
His mother was seriously ill, his brother was malnourished, and the family's life was difficult to sustain, so in order to avoid suffering, Jin Zihong decided to cover his mother first, and then take sleeping pills with his brother. When he hesitated with the pillow, his brother found out and tried to dissuade him, Jin Zihong beat his brother like a vent, and then ran away from home with guilt.
Even if there is a reason, it is still a "crime of killing the mother" that is committed. What's more, for all this, the mother that the brothers thought was unaware of, originally knew from the beginning to the end. In order to enhance the conflict of the story, "Walking with God" sets up a reversal in each layer of judgment, and the knowledge of the mother is the biggest dramatic point of the film.
When the truth is all out, the crime is revealed. Compared with the "heart of killing mothers" that had been rash, letting innocent mothers suffer from the pain of the cone of hearts but never begging for forgiveness was Jin Zihong's greatest sin. At this moment, where should he go?
In the end, the film does not just stay at the level of "triggering self-reflection in the world", if this is too narrow. After reflection, how to redeem yourself? This is the more important theme core.
With the help of Jin Zihong, "Walking with God" gives us the answer.
Knowing that his mother had always understood his guilt and had been waiting for him to return, Jin Zihong was very remorseful.
"I am willing to accept punishment, any punishment can be, please let me see my mother, I will tell my mother that I am wrong." 」
"I haven't done anything when I'm alive, and I've given you enough time for 15 years."
It is a pity that the sincere apology that was 15 years late, the mother of the world could not hear it, and Jin Zihong, who also failed to get forgiveness from his mother, faced the consequences of conviction and sentencing. At this time, the messenger Jiang Lin, to relieve the grievances, and to help Jin Xiuhong, who has also become the deceased, enter the mother's dream and tell the truth in place of his brother.
The setting of "Walking with God" is very cruel, not only the accidental death of the brother Jin Zihong, but also the younger brother Jin Xiuhong, who is about to retire, was also "mistakenly killed" by his comrades shortly after the death of his brother and became a wronged ghost. As a side plot of the film, "Kim So-hung's Unjust Death Incident" develops independently but serves the main line, and the younger brother finally confesses the events of that year to his mother in his mother's dream, explaining his brother's guilt and self-blame.
"My child, you didn't do anything wrong, it's all your mother's fault, you know?" It's Mom's fault, I'm sorry, my son, I love you guys. ”
The mother, who could not speak before, opened her mouth in the dream, and she knew her son's helplessness, so she knew the truth but never resented. Even if she panicked and despaired when she saw the pillow in front of her, she still chose to forgive her child in the end.
"All human beings are guilty, but only a few can summon up real courage to ask for forgiveness, while a smaller minority of the minority can be truly forgiven." In the end, the King of Yan Luo made a judgment, and Jin Zihong, because of the sincere forgiveness of his mother on earth, would no longer be judged in Hades, and he would be reincarnated.
Sincere repentance and forgiveness are the final gift of the magistrate in "Walking with God" to the deceased sinner, and it is also a guide for audiences outside the film.
As the Bible says, "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous, and if we confess our sins, God will forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us of all our unrighteousness." "The difference is that for the audience, for us, repentance is not the end, reform is.
Reflection, repentance, and reform are the pure goodness of human nature as manifested in Walking with God, and it is also an expectation of reality.
Some people say that "Walking with God: Sin and Punishment" is cloaked in science fiction and sells tears of affection. Indeed, from beginning to end, the film constructs a deified world, where Yama, judges, messengers, the dead, the wronged, karma, reincarnation, are pseudoscientific beings, illusory and imaginative.
But it is from the perspective of such an imaginary absolute God that we see a redemption called affection. The son who bears guilt but does not dare to say it clearly, and who can only use his life to atone for his sins, knows that he chooses to forgive and wait for the mother of the child, after the past life and before the next life, the knot that the two sides cannot let go of is finally unraveled.
Such an ending is caused by family affection, because blood is thicker than water, and mother and child are connected. At the same time, it is human nature, because repentance and forgiveness are human instincts for good.
It is strange that it is obviously "sin and punishment", but the film ends with warmth and success, and in the seven hells, all crimes "caused by evil" also "end with good". There are no lies, no violence, no murderous intent, just repentance and forgiveness that are enough to resolve all evil thoughts.
In this showdown between good and evil, it is clear that the former has won. And this arrangement just proves that compared with the darkness and despicableness of condemning human nature, what "Walking with God" wants to convey most is the beautiful goodness of being born as a human being, and what it wants to praise most is also the sincerity and courage of human beings to dare to repent.
And when we are accustomed to watching all kinds of movies that condemn human nature, with the help of "Walking with God", we have renewed our expectations for the world.
It is a pleasure to meet you, more wonderful articles welcome to pay attention to self-media: nothing forever, multi-platform with the same name.