MovieChat Forums > Izo (2005) Discussion > Izo solved!

Izo solved!

posted 14 years ago by fructoseface
4 replies | jump to latest

Not really... I can't claim to be the be all end all of symbolic interpretation, and clearly Miike hasn't outwardly expressed any real point but I will let you know how I see it.

The Japanese people generally have a tendency to believe in re-incarnation, as many Buddhist countries do. Izo obviously is killed in the beginning by crucifixion which is also a form of severe humiliation only intended for the most wretched types of people. From this point forward, the movie follows his soul through a series of spiritual tests. Where should such a soul go? Not Heaven, nor Nirvana as known from the beginning because he was simply a bad man. So, he can either be re-incarnated or go to hell. There is even a scene of him being reborn from a mysterious woman to show him his possibilities. He is placed through different time frames in which his re-incarnated soul could be placed if fitting and he abides. Izo has so much hatred and anger that regardless of where he is put, it only will result in more heartless killing. This is why we see him as a lawyer and again as another character (I forgot which) and he actually kills his proposed re-incarnated being. Izo will not follow anyone ever again or be who others would want him to be.

As the movie goes on, we see his fangs starting to protrude more, a bloodied mask, and red eyes which illustrate how evil he has truly become. It seems as though re-incarnation has been deemed too good and a waste on him, so he is given a chance to have his soul cast into hell. Towards the end of the movie, everyone he comes across is like a vampire, zombie, or guardians. (Bob Sapp has a very similar look to some of the guardians to the gates of Heaven and Hell in Japan, otherwise known as Tengoku and Jigoku respectively. The guardian names elude me though...) When he finally reaches the decision makers, who also resemble many famous historical figures, he would kill them too with the utmost hatred. It seems hell is also too good for this monster.

At the end, he comes across the man with the snake, who I feel is God and the Devil together. The calm and collective man wears white and is imposed against the sky in its finality and the snake is just a symbol I would believe the Japanese to know from Adam and Eve. That may go disputed I guess. As he is given the chance to be just within reach of the two to test his last second implications, he disappears. His soul has been erased.

I know some people might full heartedly disagree with me but that's how I saw it. As for the mystery woman who claims that she is not supposed to have direct contact with Izo yet does, she is a bit more confusing for me. She could be a spiritual guide of some sort, or the mother who is waiting for him on the other side if he abides by what is desired of him - compliance or humility.

I have only watched this movie once as well, so I am sure people might find other things that could contest this as well. I am eager to hear what other people think.

[–] snow_angel_97 13 years ago

i dont think this movie could ever be solved, but its certainly a movie that leaves a lasting impact, as well as a desire to keep watching it over and over.

"some look into a mirror and don't see evil. It doesn't reflect evil, but creates it."

[–] eivind-august 13 years ago

Nice post, those are some of the same thoughts I am left with after watching it. I think it would be a nice idea to watch this together with Hitokiri, the movie about the historical persona Izo. Then you would put more significance into his death. Or not. Might be worth a try, Hitokiri is an excellent movie as well.

A character I really liked, was the singer. I loved the sound of his guitar and voice (I might be one of the few, though). As I saw it, he is a part of Izo's soul, a more calm and observing part. I didn't get subs for the lyrics though.

Yet another thing, the mother character - Is she the actual mother of Izo, or a representation of mother Earth? It might be both, I would be interested in hearing some thoughts.

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

[–] Mog-Dude-Kupo 13 years ago

There are two different mother characters: one who represents something like "Mother Earth" or the mother of all creation, and one who claims to be Izo's personal mother (she claims to having given birth to Izo, seemingly literally). The more universal mother is the one who has the red dot on her forehead and who Izo has sex with; the personal mother is the one who Izo kills while she clings to trees with her arms.
There's also another birth scene later in the movie (with the bright white shining light emanating from her birth canal), and I am unsure as to whether that mother is supposed to be the same as either of the other two or as to how she is connected to Izo.

As to the original question: I suspect that there is no way to pull a unified and coherent interpretation out of this movie. There are many individual parts which are very interesting to think about and to try to find symbolic interpretations for, but I would be amazed if there's any interpretation which makes sense of the film as a whole.

One thing that I find interesting is the contrast between Izo's atheism at the beginning of the film and the godlike powers near the end of the film. Toward the beginning, Izo kills people who claim to be representatives of god and calls them frauds. The man with the snake that Izo encounters at the end, however, certainly appears to be a deity of some kind. Also, Izo himself is described as metamorphosing into something non-human, changing into some kind of monster or devil. This seems to be the sort of thing that the younger Izo would not have believed existed.

[–] GuineaPig 8 years ago

I think it is completely possible to understand this movie. Of course many people will lack the knowledge of all the symbolism or even personal interpretations made by Miike, myself included, but you can always find a meaning even through a bit of speculation.

First of all the movie is filled with religious symbolism, including a lot of christian religious symbolism which Miike usually uses on many of his films. I think the character of Izo represents several things, first he represents a Jesus-like figure. While he is crucified at the start of the film he receives a wound to the side by a "spear" just like it happened to Jesus in the Bible. This is the first act of violence that triggers his "divine retribution" goal throughout the film. As Jesus, he is the son of God who gets killed thanks to God's will. The death of Jesus was due to a sinful humanity "He died for our sins". But Izo is not going to accept it and so becomes enraged with God and His offspring: Humans. And so he goes through human history seeking revenge against this God and his children: us humans. If you read the Bible carefully Jesus is kind of a rebelling figure in the Bible. He kind of rebels against the fearful and vengeaful God in the Old Testament and tries to overwrite His teachings in a way. In a way I think Jesus represents this rebellious nature like I explain next.

God is the ultimate authority figure, he is in the top of the pyramid of authority. He is, to put it in video game terms, sort of the last boss for Izo. But God is not alone, He has his children which were created in his image. Therefore His children, humans, are kind of lesser versions than God but always striving to become God-like figures. That's why in the film Izo battles against different figures of authority that, while lesser than God Himself, represent the power to rule and give some "order" to the world. Part of those authority figures are religious, military, criminal (yakuza), scientist (one of the last guys offer Izo a respectable doctor degree in exchange of sparing his life), commercial, etc. All these human authority figures strive for power and this power is what makes them similar to God since, afterall, they were created in His image. Izo, in a way, also represents humanity's rebelling against authority, just like Jesus rebelled against the authority of the state and against the religious authority of the time before being crucified. The thing that the movie shows, rather pesimistically, is that rebelling against this auhtority is moot, because it is rebelling against human nature. At one point in the movie someone tells Izo that revolutions can never be achieved without destroying and killing in the process, basically what they are trying to tell him is that the rebel will end up becoming exactly like what they are fighting against. He will have to become a devil in order to destroy what he hates so much. This has also a very nietzchean interpretation: “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”. So Izo becomes a monster while fighting the monstrous nature of God and the creatures He created in His image, namely the human race. That's why the film is filled with real images of war and destruction. Humans are seen as very destructive and evil creatures and God is seen as the evil mastermind behind all this. That's why God is shown with the snake in the end which is another christian reference. God is also the devil, His plan was to lure humanity into sin using the snake in the Garden of Eden story and somehow playing with humanity. In the end God wins, because even if humanity rebels against His authority like Izo did, He is omnipotent and impossible to beat. It went all according to His plan.

I think the singer represents Izo's (or the rebellious side of humanity's) anger and frustration with their own nature and destiny. It is the emotional and artistic side. The woman who says that she's part of Izo's soul is just that, the more compassionate and innocent part of the human soul which is relegated to an observant that can't do much to repress the vengeaful and evil side of humanity. She gives birth to Izo again in the end, Izo now looks like a child figure, his innocence is back. It is probably part of the cycle of human suffering. Izo is reborn but he is destined to repeat again the violent process of fighting against the violent/authoritative side of human nature. Or maybe you can look at it as a more positive outcome when Izo cuts the infinite symbol, maybe it means that, even though Izo died, he kind of managed to destroyed the endless cycle of violence surrounding humanity and a new beginning (his rebirth) with a more positive destiny is ahead. Maybe it was also a part of God's plan to make humanity evolve somehow and Izo was the vehicle for it to evolve into wiser ways.

Anyways, there are a lot of interpretations you can get from the film, all of them are somehow valid I guess but I don't think the film is so cryptic as many people think it is.

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