Students’ Reflections

Movie: Along with the Gods

Teacher: Mr Kiet Brak

Level: YL 11

By: Chrean Parenha

There are four things I have learnt from this movie. The first thing is to never do bad things because it will affect you in the afterlife. In the movie, when Kim Ja Hong beats up his brother when they were kids, it affected Kim Ja Hong in the afterlife. When Kim Ja Hong reached the Hell of Violence, the God of Violence showed Kim Ja Hong what he had done to his brother and Kim Ja Hong was judged guilty in this trial. The second thing is to never ignore people when they are in need of help because in the movie when Kim Ja Hong got to his first trial he was accused of murder; he left his friend behind but Kim Ja Hong was just obeying his friend’s order. The third thing is to not make mistakes over and over again because in the movie when Deon Yeon accidentally shoots Kim Su Hong, Deon Yeon starts to make more mistakes like he starts to drink a lot and tries to commit suicide. The fourth thing is to live your life to the fullest and to never be lazy because in the movie when Kim Ja Hong got to the Hell of Indolence, he said he worked for money only, but it was to help support his family.

By: Keat Amrin

There are four things that I have learnt from this movie. The first thing is that the living world does affect the afterlife and that when a relative dies with a grudge, it also affects our reincarnation process. The second thing is that reincarnation is not free; we have to earn it with honesty, help, fairness, justice and love for our family. This teaches me to save money and find new ways to use my knowledge to earn money, as well as spending it. The third thing is that when people are good in their lives they become paragons (helpful, heroic and useful people who died) in hell, which has got guardians to defend them through each trial; this also encourages me to help others and work hard in life. The fourth thing is that working hard in life actually pays off in the afterlife; I also learned that vengeful spirits can reincarnate. Before I didn't even know that there are such things as afterlife and vengeful spirits and I thought it was just a bunch of myths and legends and that reincarnation is just a story to make us do good things and work hard, but now I think it is more than just a story. It might be real or not, we don't know, so I think the best thing to do is to just work hard and be helpful, just in case.

By:  Kim Sok Serey Vicheka

Along with the Gods talks about a paragon who died saving a kid's life. The two guardians appeared to take Ja hong back to the world of the afterlife. They had to go to seven trials in 49 days to reincarnate. Ja hong's love for his mother helped him to try his best to go through every trial, but suddenly a ghoul came along and that ghoul was Ja hong's brother, Soo hong who dies by an accidental shooting and got buried alive. Ja hong ran away from home for 15 years to make money to support his mother’s hospital fees and his brother’s fees as well. Ja hong did all that but didn't come home afterward, since the escape made him feel guilty because he was in a situation where he thought ending his family and his life would be the solution. He went through all the trials and his brother Soo hong explained with his mother, through a dream, the situation Ja hong was in. The four valuable lessons that I learned throughout watching the movies are: that lying can make someone's day or ruin it, just like how Ja hong wrote letters to the kids and his mother lying about his reality. He said to himself, “they are too young” while writing letters to his dead co-worker's kids and told his mom that he was doing fine but if those lies kept building up, they would find out one day and be disappointed. The second thing is that family will accept you any way, just like how Ja hong's family forgave him about how he tried to kill his family. The third thing is that to try and help the people who reached out for help. Just like how Ja hong’s co-worker died; instead of helping his co-worker, he helped eight other people. Although it might seem like a lot, in reality, you can't weigh a person’s life. The last and final thing I learned was to live your life to the fullest, just like how Ja hong lived his. He lived every single day working, without a day off and that was his way of living life. Each of us will have different paths and ways to live our life to the fullest.

By: Leang Tith Muni

There are four things that I have learnt from this movie. Firstly, we won't give up because no matter how much you don't understand life as it is right now and how uncomfortable it may seem or how hard it gets, DON'T GIVE UP. But sometimes, you should probably give up before it gets worse. The world is way too hard to keep going on and it won't care if you give up or not! It'll keep spinning whether you're trying or not. You don't know if someone doesn't ask you to explain, you will get beaten up eventually. Secondly, learn to help people in a good way. Helping others is not only good for them and a good thing to do, but it also makes us happier and healthier too. Giving also connects us to others, creating stronger communities and helping to build a happier society for everyone. It's not all about money and we can also give our time, ideas and energy. So to feel good, do good, because when you give to others it sets a positive and powerful tone for the day. When we see someone do something kind or thoughtful, or we are on the receiving end of kindness, it inspires us to be kinder. Thirdly, don't use violence to solve problems. Violence is affecting people’s lives and also hurting them. Sometimes, violence is caused because kids see people killing each other, robberies, etc. so they think it's all right to do a crime. Sometimes, it's also caused by parents because they're not teaching their kids the difference between right and wrong. If kids aren't taught properly, someone can harm them through violence or they will keep doing it more and more. When people do bad things, it can affect other people and themselves because violence can make problems worse.

By: Leng Vichet Panha

Mr. Kim Ja Hong works as a firefighter who saves life’s. On a day when a building was on fire and he rescued a little girl but he forgot about his own life; he jumped from the building and unexpectedly dies. He does not recognize it until the three guardians call him, so the three guardians go through the gates to Hell and the lady guardian, named Deok-choon, calls him a paragon. The three guardians say that he has to pass the seven trails in 49 days. They tell him if he is judged innocent, he will be able to visit his family in a dream to say farewell. The seven trails feature betrayal, violence, filial impiety, murder, indolence, deceit and injustice. There are four trails that I think are important to most of us like the Hell of Murder, Hell of Indolence, Hell of Violence and Hell of Filial Impiety. Sometimes Mr. Kim is judged guilty by the goddess of each trail but the three guardians always find the clue to help Kim, as the captain guardian goes into the living world and finds out why there was a vengeful spirit. The result is that his brother Kim Su Hong is dead, by his friend who accidentally shot him because of his promotion.

Anyway, to be honest there are 5 things I learnt from this Korean fantasy movie. Firstly, everyone shouldn’t do bad things because you will go to hell and have to pass seven trails, each trail having a serious punishment. Secondly, we shouldn’t be lazy because like Mr. Kim, working as a firefighter and veggie delivery driver. Thirdly you should not be selfish because like Lieutenant, who buries his friend Kim Su Hong, alive because of his promotion. Moreover, you should not forget your parents because sometimes Kim does something wrong to his mother, but when he goes to hell he tries to pass every trail to see his mom one last time. Finally, you shouldn’t yell or hit because Kim hit his little brother and shouted at him. I would love to recommend this movie to my friends, family and bad guys. In my opinion, this movie is really great and it teaches some valuable lessons like I mention. I really enjoyed this fantasy movie, some parts almost made my classmates cry because the ending scenes were incredibly heart touching and some of my classmates laughed so hard.

By: Seng Panhaphea

In this movie, I have learnt four points. Firstly, it shows how much our parents love us. They do everything just to make their children happy. Whenever they see their son or daughter have fun even if they feel tired after work, they just feel happy. Sometimes our parents work hard even though they feel exhausted and they continue doing it without letting us know how tired they are. They dare to do everything for their children. Secondly, karma exists in this world. If you commit a sin in your life, karma will always be with you. For example, karma is always with you because you committed a sin and those sins are bad activities such as murdering, stealing and other crimes. In contrast, if you are moral and innocent, people around you will admire you and love you like their relatives. Whenever you have a problem, they will be there and help you if they can. Thirdly, you have to be honest. Honest people will always have someone to be with because being honest is good for the society. If you are not honest and you lie to everyone around you, they will hate you and won't trust you at all. For example, if you are a liar who always lies to the neighbors in your neighborhood and people don't know that you lied, but you keep lying to them and they will eventually find out the truth. One day, if you have an accident and you ask them for help, they will just act like they don't know you because they think you will lie to them again. The last point is to be persistent. In the movie, Ja hong conquered all problems that he was faced with and he finally passed the trials. That is why if we want to be successful we must be patient even though there are some problems in front of you; you must remember that "persistence is a key to success."

By: Taing Chhung Y

In the movie Along with the Gods, I have learned four things. Firstly, sometimes you need to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. For example, the part when Kim Ja Hong’s co-worker sacrifices himself to let Kim Ja Hong save the other eight people, then just wasting time to save himself because he has already been trapped. Secondly, live your life to the fullest, which means you need to grow up by living your life to your limits for your loved ones because you might hurt their feelings; for instance, in the part where Kim Ja Hong never rested, even on his days off. Thirdly, sometimes you have to lie because you don’t want your loved ones to get worried; for example, in the part when Kim Ja Hong sends 98 fake letters to his mute mother. He lied to make her less worried. Last but not least, love your family because they love you more than anyone else in the world. What I like about this movie is that the graphic design is cool, the script is great and the cast is amazing. I would like to recommend this movie to my family, my friends and my teachers.

By: Visal Sokunthearos

There are four things I have learnt from this movie. The first thing I learnt is to never lie because in the Hell of Deceit, Ja Hong was nearly found guilty because he sent fake letters to his mother saying that he had a wife and was living peacefully, but actually, he was trying to hide the painful truth of working super hard for his mother and brother. Lying sometimes is for a good reason because Ja Hong lied to his mother so that she would feel better from her illness. The second thing is to always live our life to the fullest. In the movie, Ja Hong is a firefighter who saved people when they were in danger. When we help someone, that person will respect you or pay you back and will always remember what you did. In the Hell of Indolence, he is found not guilty because he did life not only for someone in need but also for his family. The third thing is to never ignore a person in need. In the Hell of Murder, the judges accused him of murdering his co-worker by ignoring him when he was in need. However, the truth is his co-worker wanted him to save the person who was injured first and then come save him after. Ja Hong did that, but he was unlucky because before he could save his colleague, the building exploded. He tried his best to save his colleague but he couldn't; that night Ja Hong saved eight total lives, after that he was found not guilty because he didn't ignore the person in need but he just couldn't make it in time. The fourth thing I have learnt is to always respect and care for my parents and elderly family members. In the movie at the final Hell, the Hell of Filial Impiety, again, Ja Hong is found guilty because he wanted to kill his whole family when he was young. However, he then decided to run away from his house and never come back, over the past 15 years. The reason he ran away was that he wanted to make up for his mistakes and then he began to work hard to provide for his family. The God of Death then proclaims that Ja Hong is not guilty because he had spent the rest of his life working hard to feed them and that showed us that he still cared and respect his family.