Things I Watched: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring Is Just Buddhist Stuff

For a film set entirely within the confines of an isolated Buddhist monastery it’s amazing how eventful Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring feels. Korean director Kim-Ki Duk’s drama is not just a good film in its own right, but an application in cinematic thoughtfulness. It evinces plenty of Buddhist philosophy and offers a contemplative journey, relevant for anyone concerned with the passage of time.

The story is split into five parts, each representing a specific season. Several decades are covered across the whole with events taking place over a period of fifty years. Generally speaking, these always concern two Buddhist monks: people whose vices and virtues develop and change much like the seasons themselves.

The film begins in early Spring with the focus on a young boy. Abrogating the stoicism of his elder, he's provided an early life-lesson when he's chastised for attaching rocks to the local wildlife. Informed that he’ll' carry that same rock in his heart all his life’ should any of them come to harm, he quickly scampers, only to find a deep sense of regret when he realises what he's done.

This becomes as a prophetic moment. When a young woman visits the monastery, the young boy (now eighteen) falls in love with her and eschews his faith before leaving the monastery altogether. This leaves the older monk with nothing but his unyielding faith until many years later when the boy returns, although this time on-the-run from the law having committed a much more egregious act of violence in the real world.

This sets up much of the drama, as well as pinpointing one of the key themes of Buddhist philosophy: recurrence. Speech is seldom uttered throughout. Instead most attention is on the visuals, which constantly provide a picturesque image of the changing landscape. It also provides a sense of calm that does well to juxtapose the disturbed nature of the boy.

I feel I could probably sum things up better if my knowledge of Buddhist philosophy was up to scratch but overall I found it a very thoughtful and funny film. I guess it's also a testament to how much I liked it given how I stayed up until 3am watching it.

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