Regarded as one of the best films of the decade, a complete masterpiece of storytelling. South Korea has become adept at creating outstanding original stories that are layered with social commentary, the same reason they are currently leading the way when it comes to TV shows and movies. This Oscar winning movie is no exception. Welcome to one of the most riveting movies of the decade.... A movie on the ugly face of inequality.
The Plot;
Parasite follows two families in South Korea, one the poor and struggling Kim family—Ki-taek (father), Chung-sook (mother), Ki-woo (son), and Ki-jung (daughter)—, the other, The Park family, a wealthy elite who lives in a mansion.
The narrative begins when Ki-woo gets an opportunity to tutor the daughter of the rich Park family. Due to the trusting and gullible disposition of the Parks, the poor family are able to infiltrate the rich family and the house that they live in, under the guise of being something they are not. They rely on lies, cunningness and manipulation to survive. They very much have a parasitic kind of relationship.
Ki-jung becomes an art therapist, Chung-sook replaces the housekeeper, and Ki-taek takes over as the chauffeur. They weave elaborate lies to secure these positions, living off the Parks’ wealth while maintaining the façade of professionalism.
However it's not long that the family discovers they are not the only ones living off the Parks, but their former housekeeper has been harbouring her husband in a bunker beneath the Mansion, to escape loan sharks.
The poor family kills the former housekeeper in front of her helpless husband and run home to discover that their house in the basement was flooded with sewage water.
My review;
"Parasite" is all about how the members of the lower classes leech off of the upper class, the Park family while it also lets us know how the Parks also leeched off of the lower classes by using them for cheap labour. So both families are “parasites” in different ways: the Kims latch onto the Parks, while the man in the basement survives off them too. Even the Parks parasitize cheap labor without understanding their workers’ struggles.
Mr Park is oblivious to the fact that the luxuries he enjoys everyday is because of the hard labour of someone beneath him. This borders on indifference which is exhibited so clearly in Park's relationship with the poor family so much so that he thinks "the poor smell." They draw the line making sure nobody crosses it because they are not interested in the outside world, people in the subway and people who might "smell" as a result of poverty, and he maintains his status as rich and superior.
The ruling class is the wealthy Park family, so Ki-woo and his family alter their appearances to fit into the mold of higher status individuals with so much yearning to become like them, both economically and socially.
The semi-basement and the mansion offers a sharp contrast — class divide and social inequality while also showing how the poor literally live beneath the rich.
What Parasite points out is really terrifying. It points out that the relationship between the rich and the poor is largely parasitic in the opposite direction. The poor remains poor because they are not compensated fairly for their labour, in other to maximize a profit and escape destitution. In reality, only the rich, like Mr Park, only truly benefits. This is the ugly face of inequality.
Parasite is a masterpiece of modern cinema because it balances entertainment with biting social commentary. It doesn’t preach—it shows. The final act is brutal yet inevitable, exposing how class resentment simmers beneath the surface until it explodes.
The film’s ending—Ki-woo’s fantasy of buying the mansion vs. the bleak reality of him still trapped in poverty—is one of the most powerful critiques of capitalism ever put on screen. It is a brilliant, layered, and unforgettable film that forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about inequality.
My Rating is 10/10.
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