One theme that runs throughout the movie is “Contentment”. It is about knowing one’s needs over one wants
and knowing when to stop. “It’s for survival”, Steelhead’s companions
eventually reason this to him and gang up on him. Every character in the movie
doesn’t know when to stop. Some do like Steelhead and Yuko but it is too late
for them eventually. They have already taken too many steps out to achieve
their wants and not be able to step back from the world that they have brought
themselves into. Delving deeper into Steelhead’s actions, we can truly question
if all his motivations were purely needs. His fiancée was lost in Japan, so he
needed to find her. He killed the border guard as he needed to get out of
Japan. Once in Japan, he needed to acquire legal status. His friends were in
peril so he needed to achieve safety for them and himself.
A good man in a bad world? If we contend ourselves with the
reasoning that Steelhead needed to do those actions, we can still reason that he
made bad decisions in order to achieve good goals. He chose to tamper with the
slot machines to gain cash off them. He chose to sell fake cards so as to earn
more money. These were actions that he understood to have big gains but big
costs. Once the costs gathered, he didn’t know when to call it quits and kept
rolling bigger. The worst decision that he made was to strike a deal to kill
off the 2 Yakuza leaders (with Eguchi). That was the one step that he would
never be able to step back from.
Perhaps the only example of someone who performs good
actions to achieve her wants is Lily. She is seen throughout the movie helping
others. Yet she manages to achieve her wants. The irony is that her greatest
need (which is to be loved and held with utmost importance by Steelhead) was
something that she could not achieve.
Power corrupts or were they always primed for “evil”? From
running small scams to eventually running a territory, they were always
involved in “evil” means. It is easy to fall in love with their small time
roguish charms initially and be shocked by their eventual vileness. Jie was the
main character that never wanted to do anything evil. His dream of selling
chestnuts was legal and one that spoke of contentment and simple satisfaction.
But eventually the world turned him cold and power gave him the chance to seek
revenge on it as he became the bully. Another interesting irony is that Jie
started the movie as the one who kindly brought in and sheltered Steelhead and
suffered negatively for it. Later he used the task of “taking care of the new
illegal migrants” to his advantage and benefitted for awhile but eventually
paid for it too.
Jie also posts a philosophical question that has always been
around. Are we who we are or what we do? Jie concludes that he was still a
coward at the end of the movie and rightfully so because he confused being
brave with being arrogant. He never allowed/trained himself to perform any
actions that were brave. So he never transcended his cowardly nature through
his actions. Feeling fear is natural as Steelhead’s character juxtaposes but it
is what we do despite this fear which makes one brave. Admitting one’s faults
is a start so Jie was right to admit to himself and others that he was cowardly
by nature. But he was wrong to let it stop there and not confront and overcome
it.
The laissez-faire approach that Steelhead took with
leadership failed. He was firm when he was building things up but he was not
when things were just starting to be settled. As a reluctant leader, he did not
stay the course. The movie teaches us about the need for an authoritative approach…for
the need to control his flock with some power/discipline?
No permanent allies…only permanent interests. Chinese using
the Yakuza to bully the illegal immigrants. Yakuza using the illegal immigrants
to get rid of a targeted segment of the illegal immigrants. Yakuza killing each
other. Kitano-san using and dealing with Steelhead to arrest Eguchi. The
age-old principle showed itself all too starkly in this movie.
Poetic justice? Eventually the movie allowed the viewers
resolution through poetic justice. The Taiwanese boss getting his hand chopped
off by Steelhead. Kitano-san cracking the case. HK boy getting killed after he
killed Fatty and tried to kill Steelhead. Steelhead dying in the same manner
that he saved Kitano-san from. Eguchi dying and with his last energy, he does the
right thing but turning in the evidence. But of course the poetic justice are
but small consolations because with the grave costs that many of the characters
had to pay, we still step out feeling heavy which rightfully we should.
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