Synopsis
In 1997 and 1998, the Korean screen received the visit of cyberculture wearing the masks of fantasy and love. The visitors were The Soul Guardians and Chopsok (Connect). The Soul Guardians and The Contact based on a 13-volume cybernovel which has yet to reach its ending, employs archaic martial arts and elements of the Old Testament to promote a fantasy of powerful men saving women. The English title The Soul Guardians suggests the familiar theme of the separation of the body and soul, and of the evil spirit affecting the soul. There are three guardians--Hyon-am, Catholic priest Park and Chun-hu. Hyon-am has "wollyong," a sword in which a woman's soul is sealed and which can fly through the sky. Hyon-am has a strong sense of sin and responsibility for the death of a young girl and fights against the devil through prayers. The young Chun-hu helps the others with this skills of using amulets and mind-reading. Through the three people, the traditional folk beliefs and the modern religion appear on the same screen. Pro. Park and Hyon-am are placed under the influence of dead women. Their desperate efforts to protect Sung-hi is, in the others, their struggle to save themselves. Sung-hi plunges into danger as soon as she begins her first period. That is, after her body becomes able to impregnate. At first, she is chased by the evil spirit and later turns into an image of the spirit. The threat of the "dirty blood" of women who have just become adults, as in horror movies like Carries flows around The Soul Guardians and paints another contemporary film. What is interesting about "The Soul Guardians" is that the fantasy of men saving women turns out to be a failure. Neither the ancient and modern religions nor the romantic love and spectacular technology succeed in realizing this fantasy. (So-young Kim)