On the night from Sunday, February 25th to Monday, ARD actually showed “Parasite,” one of the best films of the last 5 years. The South Korean drama won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2019 as the first non-English language film. MyMMO author Schuhmann says: “Parasite starts off great and just keeps turning up the heat.”
This is how Parasite begins: The Kim family would be categorized in Germany under “jogging pants-RTL2-Hartz IV.” The adult children are clever, but unmotivated and school failures. The father gave up years ago, while the mother keeps the family afloat with her iron will.
A friend of the son comes into the house, handing over a good luck stone and an offer: the son could tutor the daughter of a wealthy family in English. No one needs to know that he didn’t manage to get into university. The sister creates a fancy certificate for him using Photoshop, and soon the young man introduces himself as “Mr. Kevin” to the wealthy family.
Kevin quickly takes a liking to the daughter of the house, but he also realizes that the Parks, while rich, are not particularly clever: the pretty housewife is quite naive and susceptible to academic trickery. It doesn’t take long before his sister gives art lessons to the son of the family, the father drives the wealthy man, and the mother runs the household. To free up jobs, the unscrupulous Kims frame the driver with a sex scandal and the housekeeper with tuberculosis.
The father exults: If played right, every week wealth will flow from the Parks to the Kim family. They celebrate triumphantly how clever they are. But this will have repercussions.
Parasite starts off great
The special thing about the film is: Other films start normally and then plunge into the absurd. “Parasite” begins with an outrageous situation and ramps it up several notches in the middle. The plot twist midway through the film determines the rest of the story and leads to a surreal finale.
The great thing about Parasite is that the plot remains logical and consistent, and the characters behave naturally, albeit highly imperfectly. The integrity of the characters is upheld and not sold out for a cheap gag. The plot is thrilling, but every twist is cleverly prepared and well-deserved. Everything that happens, no matter how absurd it is, is rooted in the characters.
Director Bong Joon-ho is known for his flawed protagonists, who in other films would be absurd side characters but take center stage in his films. With “The Host,” he sent a dysfunctional family on an adventure. In “Parasite,” the Kims are painfully aware that they belong to the lower class – especially the father is constantly reminded of this.
The film takes all characters seriously. Mother Park, for instance, might be a naive ditz in another film, but in Parasite, even she has great scenes that make her a believable character.
While she appears easily manipulatable most of the time, she finally shows the sex scene with her husband on the couch in an element where she feels comfortable, revealing entirely new sides of the proper Parks for a moment.
The twists the film takes are downright brilliant. My highlight is when the housekeeper mimics the propaganda news from the North Korean news.
Here’s how you can watch Parasite for free until March 3rd
How can one watch the film? ARD has found the prime time slot of Sunday night at 12:05 AM for “Parasite,” one of the most successful and best films of the last 5 years.
“Parasite” can also be found in the ARD Mediathek and can be watched for free and without a subscription in German until March 3rd. However, the film is rated for 16 and older – so you can either watch it after 10 PM or have to register and confirm your age.
More recommended things you can watch: An “18+” series on Netflix offers intrigue, brutality, and bare skin like Game of Thrones
