On top of Jusan Pond in Korea, the film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring" follows an elderly monk and his young acolyte through the stages of the life cycle and the seasons of the calendar. The film's Zen simplicity, embracing a compassion for all things living, suggests that in all of us lies the strength to transcend our human faults and desires through the accumulated wisdom of our lives' sometime-painful lessons.

Divided into sections that encapsulate each passing season, the film is, in short, a metaphor for the circle of life itself. Under the vigilant eyes of Old Monk, Child Monk learns a hard lesson about the nature of sorrow when some of his childish games turn cruel.

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The action never leaves the confines of the lake setting, but as the seasons pass, the young boy's will be led away from his master and toward sex, obsession, murder and, ultimately, redemption.   Kim Ki-duk says  "I intended to portray the joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure of our lives through four seasons and through the life of a monk who lives in a temple on Jusan Pond surrounded only by nature."

By the conclusion of the film, the tale has come full circle.  The student has transformed into the new and wise mentor, caring for an infant orphan left in his care.