Reviews

"One & Two" is a new interpretation of how Eva is tempted to "see" and to "feel" what is outside Eden. She really craves to know the real world (to taste good and evil). When we are born in this 3D world we are put in a fleshy body in order to know pleasure and pain by our five senses. The Father knows that if Adam and Eva run away they will face the cruelties of the outside world. That's why he is warning them not to cross the barrier. The Mother however is willing to give them a chance. In this film the omnipotent God the Creator is represented in his dualistic form - the Father and his female consort the Divine Mother(Sofia, Prakriti)- something that is omitted in the Bible, but well explained in the Gnostic scriptures and in the Vedic texts. In the beginning Elochim (plural)created the human being as two united parts - so to say in its precelestial state every human being (man or woman)is an ideal creature made of both male and female forces/energies/substances. When we descend in fleshy body from Heaven to our 3D world a dichotomy takes place - from One we became Two. We are no longer the ideal precelestial creature. We are separated and it causes us pain and suffering.

Please see for reference the Gospel of Thomas (11): "When you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?" In "One & Two" the director traces the painful process of postcelestial separation, the rage of the Father and the rejection of the Father's will. In the end of the movie Adam and Eva tried to destroy the heaven they came from. Did they succeed to burn out all the ways to return there or there is still a small possibility for the human being to recreate his/her original state?

In "The Bow" Kim Ki-Duk interprets the human state as life in a boat (the physical body) where the Spirit (old man) and the Soul (young girl) live together. The intellect (the bow) is the only tool the human being can use to connect the Spirit and the Soul. The arrow and the bow is old method of meditation and a way to re-connect the Soul and the Spirit. The bow (the Mind) can be used for protection, to play, to predict the future.... in fact it is the only instrument (weapon) human being has. When the old man plays music with the bow - this represents the internal music of the human body only the Soul can hear and understand.

In the beginning of the human life the primordial life energy is dichotomized in male and female energy (regardless gender in every human being). Christians call the male energy "Spirit", and the female "Soul". Synonyms: yang/yin, Purusha/Prakriti, Siva/Shakti, Osiris/Isis, etc. Those two kinds of life energy are absolutely real and everyone could know them by his/her own experience. The Spirit is old, immovable, conservative, caring and the Soul is always young, curious, dynamic, playful. Usually in common people the Soul is capricious and ignorant and she craves for external pleasures and the whole life energy of the body is used to know mundane things (eating, having sex, watching TV, voting, etc.)- this way no energy is left for the Spirit to be strong. The Spirit loves the Soul and He can't refuse her anything. If the Spirit is strong He guards the Soul, he plays with her, he nourishes her until She is ready for the hierogamy (alchemical marriage). In order to achieve hierogamy the Soul must be virgin meaning that she MUST love only the Spirit, and NOT to crave for mundane things. If the Soul is more interested to know the music from outwards world (symbolized by the Walkman)the Spirit will leave her (the old man dived into the water) and the body will die like the body of common mortal person (the boat sinks). The Spirit and the Soul are connected with a tiny thread (symbolized by the rope). When the Soul prefers to leave the Spirit in order to enjoy the mundane things (to know good and evil) the Spirit feels deep pain and He is wishing to kill Himself. If the Soul is willing to return, the Spirit is the happiest ever.

I believe in the end of "The Bow" Kim Ki-Duk tells us the sad story when the alchemical marriage is inhibited - the Spirit leaves the body (the boat) and the Soul descends into the mundane (she stays with the young boy).

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.