Not just another cheap drama from low budget arthouse director Kim Ki-duk, but one of the cheapest films I've ever seen. It's literally just Ki-duk, his camera and the main actress wandering the streets of Paris in the vein of one of those modern-day video blogs that have been popular since lockdown. While the historic vistas of France and Italy are always nice to see, Ki-duk really needed more means here and doesn't even have a muffler to reduce the wind noise. The main actress does her best in a near silent role, but the story feels made up on the hoof and although this runs only 70 minutes on it does test the patience.
2 Reviews
This movie is a metaphor for the Soul (female part, young mother) seeking the missing Spirit (male part, the Father)
vajrayogini19 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Like "The Bow" - Kim Ki-Duk's masterpiece "Amen" is a story about the human Soul (female part of our life energy) who is looking everywhere for her consort - the missing Spirit (the so called male part, the Father). She wanders without a specific purpose and direction, barely remembering that she has something important to do and that she MUST find Him. She is calling Him vainly by His name, knocking on foreign doors (false doctrines). Deep in her heart, with her intuition the human Soul knows that once upon a time she had a partner, but now she is confused - they are somehow separated, she can not remember where is He gone. In the divine state the Soul is unite with the Spirit. In common humans - they are separated. She feels she is lost, but He always takes care of her. The Spirit is always near the Soul until the life energy is completely exhausted. "There are two lying in one bed: one will die, the other will live" - Gospel of Thomas. In the ancient times people made very clear difference between Soul and Spirit. The Soul (Shakti, Shekina, Prakriti, Isis) is the flexible life energy we take from the outward world (food, water, sun radiation) and we use it for perceiving outward world (eating, drinking, vomiting, having sex, having abortion, killing people, playing football, watching movies, to know good and evil in general). The so called Spirit (Siva, The Father, Purusha, Osiris) is the primordial steady life energy that we inherit from above. He is like the king in the chessboard. It takes personal effort to know Him. In "Amen" we may see some parallel with "the Cobbler" - the Father is alive, He is watching over His son's development, but everybody thinks He is missing or dead. In the beginning of the human life the ONE life energy is dichotomized - that's why in the Scriptures it is said "God made the human being male and female (regardless of gender)- Everybody has immovable hidden male energy (usually in the head) and flexible, curious female energy (inside the body, sense organs, etc.) Usually profanes spend all of their energy to perceive the outward world and they never get to the point to know the Father (because He is hidden in their inner world - it is more real than common people imagine). Human beings are born like orphans (see the apocryphal Gospel of Philip), they are "Sons of the Widow" - they know only their mother (Shakti, Prakriti, Shekina) because they are ignorant about the presence of the Father and the possibility to see Him face to face. He is in exile (symbolized by the police station in "Amen") To be able to connect the female and the male part means to restore the primordial divine state. To become immortal god again. Is it possible? Yes, the initiated persons follow the methods to re-unite the Soul (female) with the Spirit (male). Those sacred methods are called "religion" or "yoga", both meaning to re-unite and every viable doctrine deals with the ways to do it correctly. With arousal below comes arousal above. The Soul must say that She loves Him (see "The Great Gatsby") and He will forgive her. This so called alchemical marriage (hierogamy) is the most important goal of the human life. The alchemical marriage happened in the human heart - so called bridal chamber. Unfortunately most of us are educated that the Scriptures are a pile of mambo-jumbo and that this sacred re-union is impossible. How sad! People let themselves to die like common mortals without knowing the presence of the Father. Without make any effort to re-unite the Soul with the Spirit. In "Amen" like in "The Bow" Kim Ki-Duk presents the sad story where this alchemical marriage is inhibited by the ignorance of the Soul. It is the case of 99.99% of human profane population in 21 century.
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