Confessions - 20101122

Before the film is getting off the shelf, I managed to watch it last Friday.

The cinema itself is worthy of a remark. Owing to the scarcity of option for timeslot, Chinachem in TST East is virtually the only choice. There are totally three cinema houses, Confessions was showed in House 3. Equipped with around 30 seats, the screen is ridiculously, outrageously tiny. I suspect that some of the home theatres could project larger movies than that. Anyway, I am too old to be rebellious on such a small issue. And to weight the balance,I found the seat reasonably comfortable, at least.

The film itself was very entertaining. The theme was on revenge. A teacher's daughter was murdered by two of her own students who were under the age of 14. Legally speaking, those kids are incapable of murder and thus no real legal punishment could be casted upon them. The teacher, by arranging a series of event, seemed to have punish the two murderers successfully. By interweaving monologues, or confessions, from different characters, the perceived events and consequences twisted rather dramatically.

Japanese have the gut to tell the truth. They constantly produced works which reveal the dark side of human beings. The Queen's Classroom is an outstanding example. Confessions pushes the stuff even nearer to the limit. Human beings are just one of the animals. Morality is one of the tools to control our animal traits. However, it may not be equally efficient among all of us.

It is arguable, in the legal perspective, juveniles lack mens rea to commit crime. Children are precocious nowadays. The murder of James Bulger by two 10-year-old boys in UK sets up a strong counter-argument.

Never underestimate the evil of children.