The English title of the movie points out the theme of the whole movie: the three poisons of Buddhism, which are the root causes of evil according to Buddhism: “greed, anger and dementia”.
The tattoo on Aberdeen is a snake, which corresponds to “anger”, representing resentment, irritability, hatred, temper tantrums, temperamental, aggressive and violent character; the tattoo on Lam Luk Wo is a dove, which corresponds to “greed”, representing insatiable greed and greed for profit, and through the establishment of a cult, he brainwashes his followers, possesses their belongings and rapes them. The tattoo of Lin Luhe is a dove, which corresponds to “greed”, representing insatiable greed and lust for profit, and by establishing a cult, he brainwashes believers, takes possession of believers’ belongings, and rapes believers’ bodies; the relic of his grandmother worn by Chen Guilin is a piggy watch, which corresponds to the word “stupidity”, and represents ignorance of the facts and reasoning of the matter, not knowing the difference between good and evil, and being foolish and ignorant, without wisdom. Chen Guilin easily believed that he was terminally ill and was easily brainwashed by the cult masters, so he was confused and could not distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil.
In the end, Chen Guilin not only kills Aberdeen, who represents “anger”, and Lin Luhe, who represents “greed”, but also eliminates his own sins, which represent “dementia”, and ultimately accepts the death penalty without complaint or regret.
The climax of the movie is Chen Guilin’s killing spree in the church, which has a unique aesthetic of violence and brings visual impact to the audience, while at the same time triggering the audience to think about religion.
2023 / Taiwan, China / Action Crime / Huang Jingfu / Yuen Ching-Tien Yuan Fu-Hua
Wanted criminal Chen Guilin (Ruan Jingtian), whose life is about to end, realizes that he is only number three on the most wanted list, and is determined to find out what happened to the first two wanted criminals and get rid of them one by one.
Chen Guilin thinks he has become a contemporary Zhou Zhi to get rid of the three evils, but he does not realize that the greed, anger and obsession that he can never understand is the crime and punishment that he has to face in life.
The allusion to Zhou Chu’s “eliminating the three evils” quoted in the movie can be found in the Book of Jin – Zhou Chu’s Biography and the New Sayings of the World.
According to the record, Zhou Chu, a young man, was a strong and powerful man, but he was so disgusted by his neighbors that he went on a rampage in the township.
Later, Zhou Chu killed the tiger and the evil jiao by himself, and he himself also turned back to his old ways, so that all the three evils were eliminated.
