MovieChat Forums > Samaria (2004) Discussion > 'Samaria' and 'Samaritan'

'Samaria' and 'Samaritan'

posted 20 years ago by ridwane
6 replies | jump to latest

Does anybody have any ideas on the significance of "Samaria" and "Samaritan" as used in the alternate English title?

My guess is that it's something to do with the Biblical good Samaritan parable (where someone from a group you despise is the only person who helps you while your own ignore you).

SPOILERS AHEAD:
Would Yeo-Jin be the good samaritan girl? The filthy prostitute who saves people? Unlike Vasumitra who turns her clients into Buddhists, she indirecly indirectly destroys her clients' lives (suicide, murder). The only person that she saves is actually her dad, who finds some sort of redemption during their mountain getaway.

Also, anybody noticed the following on the poster: "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone"? One more biblical reference.

[–] synbgirl 20 years ago

I first thought it had something to do with Samaritans, but I recently found out that 'Samaria' is a sort of made up word. 'Sa' being dead, death, etc and Maria bearing reference to the Madonna, sine we say Maria instead of Mary in Korea.

And the correct tagline is more like "Those who are free of sin, be the first to cast a stone on this child"

There's one more poster for this movie where the girl is being held by and man and it says "Dirty? Am I dirty?" (but it would sound more like "Dirty? Are you calling ME dirty?" in Korean...)

[–] Gerry-12 18 years ago

This sounds better than the other explanations for the title, which on the Sundance Channel was "Samaritan Girl".

I'm pleased to have the IMDB plot summary. I could understand various episodes, but I certainly couldn't put them all together. As I watched it I wondered if the reels had got mixed up (remember when films were on a lot of short reels?).

It's unusual in claiming that a yound prostitute enjoys the work. When this is asserted by a male director it is a little suspect. I was puzzled as to why the working girl enjoyed herself, but the pimp was distressed. And is suicide preferable to being busted in Korea?

I agree on the good photography, but I guess I'm too old to follow this kind of film. Sorry, kids.

[–] yea_whateva 20 years ago

samaria is the place where samaritans come from. people who come from samaria have a bad reputation. i think Yeo-Jin is the samaritan - she becomes a prostitute, something that could be considered "filthy", but there is nothing filthy about what she does. yet, her father thinks it´s wrong and starts to hunt down her clients to calm his anger. in the end, Yeo-Jin is left behind because of his actions, and it´s shown that she is not ready for it. her father indirectly "kills" her (as shown in her dream) by his moral judgements.

[–] dcfemella 18 years ago

I agree. I thought Yeo-Jin was saving these men, but her father sabotaged it because of his moral judgement.

Nina
http://spaces.msn.com/members/vampyrejuliette

[–] Tyrone_Slothrop 19 years ago

I think it's more to do with the story of the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman (who is a prostitute).
You'll find a _very_ in-depth analysis of the meaning of this here:

http://www.christiancourier.com/feature/november2000.htm

"You have watched it, you can't unwatch it!"

[–] Oskiros-Arg 19 years ago

Yes, Samarian or Samaritan (Samaritana in Spanish) is taked from the Bible , and are people that help people (In this case the second child).

Here in Argentina, the poster, din´t have this sentence, but yes, this is a Bible sentence too.

The poster is really beautiful, but in fact it lies, because it is not a image from the movie...!!!.

Oscar from Rosario-Argentina