A Cinephile’s Reflections: “Innocence (결백)”
By: Ricco Victor
Tags: Family, Morality, Movies, Korea

Innocence (결백) questions how a woman is willing to contradict the principles that her job entails for the sake of proving that the suspect, her sick mother, is not guilty of committing a crime.

Ahn Jung-in, a lawyer from Seoul, came back to her hometown after 15 years when her mother, Chae Hwa-ja, was accused of poisoning five men, including the mayor of the town during the funeral of her stepfather. At first, she was only in the shadows during the beginning of the case, observing how the policemen were loosely examining the crime scene or how his mother’s lawyer was half-heartedly representing her during the first trial.

Confusion emerges in the viewer’s eyes as to the actions of the daughter, but it dissipates when the past relationship of Ahn Jung-in to her family was revealed. In her eyes, she was always a lone wolf as the pack always has attention to a special wolf, his autistic brother, Hong Kyung. However, knowing the present situation of her family, it’s absurd to her that a woman who has progressive dementia can commit such a crime. Thus, she decided to take the case and prove her mother’s innocence.

Through building the courage to face the victims’ families and discussing with people with whom she had connections in the past, she uncovers figments of truth about the victims and their friendship. These acts of hers were seen by the mayor who survived as challenges to his reputation and politics that he built, thus, recruiting a prosecutor who manipulates evidence, threatening her and her brother, and even attempting to kill her through a car accident. But all have failed. It did not stultify her drive to save her mother, but it did change her way of gathering evidence such as installing a recorder without consent or sharing the evidence of her witnesses. Such actions were unethical but had to be done for her to win the battle against a man who is a representation of the pathological side of utilitarianism, which was reflected in the pieces of evidence found by Ahn Jung-in about his past and his friends: scams, corruption, and murder.

“I did it! I did the crime!” the mother loudly exclaimed in every trial for the sake of his son who is also accused of helping her. Ahn Jung-in did not believe this in the beginning due to her health condition until she visited her in the prison before the final trial.

“Who am I?” “Who am I?” asked Ahn Jung-in.

“I don't know… I’m sorry…” replied her mother. “But you do resemble my daughter…”

Ahn Jung-in emotionally breaks down as her mother reveals a story of her, the crime of his husband, the mayor, and his friends to her first lover, her true father, and the judgment she made to them: spraying poison to the food of his husband and putting poison to the drinks of his friends during his funeral.

A silent gasp was released. Ahn Jung-in cannot believe it. Sobbing, confused, overwhelmed… She believed the false truth that her mother was innocent all along, carrying out unethical methods to extract evidence, but, in the end, it was a lie, and the one she is protecting laid down the whole truth to her: she was, in fact, the murderer.

“What shall I do? I’m so lost?” These lines were evident through the actions of Ahn Jung-in before the final trial, still contemplating about what to present to the court and what principles she shall abide by and reject until a conclusion was made.

She manipulates the evidence and makes it seem like her stepfather has the motive to poison his friends. His mother cannot commit such a crime due to her dementia, which was supported by Ahn Jung-in when he asked in front of the trial:

“Who am I?,” Ahn Jung-in asked the suspect. The courtroom was filled with silence, waiting for a word to come out from the suspect’s mouth.

“I really don’t know,” the suspect replied.

“She doesn’t even recognize her own daughter, so why do we think she can be a perpetrator of violence?” This question was the conclusion she presented to the court.

After this, the judges discussed. The verdict was finalized. His mother was not guilty of the crime.

In the end, every person who followed the narrative from beginning to end ought to contemplate this question: Knowing that your mother already suffered the consequences of the immoral act she committed, are you willing to sacrifice your fidelity to the principles that the law upholds? Are you willing to let her face the ‘legal’ punishment of the law?

In the modern world, are the law and the people who practice it can still be trusted to present the truth everyone ought to know and the punishment everyone ought to have?

If you want to watch the movie trailer, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1efBzcgvHA