Chan Woo Kim

LUV is the movie about wrong fathers instinctive love. Vincent and Woody are
living in one house. Vincent is ex-convict and just released from the jail, and Woody has to
live apart with his mother and liv with his uncle instead because of their poor status. This
movie shows how Vincent attempts hard to live out his new life, however this movie shows
the reality that he has to confront as an ex-convict is not easy. Therefore, later on the
moment that he had to reengage crime came, and because of it he made his nephew Woody
in danger. Many people might think that Vincent deserves death. Bad person should be
punished, and good person should be awarded, that is what normal peoples mindset is. It is
right that he should have been punished. But, he should have to be punished as different
ways such as going jail or doing social work. However, he died even though he had a
family to support, so payback his guilt with his death was merciless. Therefore, before
people judge him, they have to focus on his bad situations such as social prejudices against
him as an ex-convict, and then people around him forced him to commit crime again.
First, everyone he had known and situations that he believed were all changed. For
example, Fish, the person that he believed and obeyed like his older brother, tried to kill
him. After he was discharged from jail, he could not figure out to live out his life, so he
went to his closest person Fish to ask help. However, Fish rather tried to kill him by
giving him dangerous jobs like drug dealing. Moreover, even when he met a person that he
used to love, she was very cold to him, and married other person. To him, it might be really
harsh situations to confront. Therefore, he experienced serious disorientation from the

world that he used to know, and in some extent it is comprehensible that he joined crime
again. According to National institute of Justice, the re-arrested rate of people who were
released within five-year is 76 percent (NIJ). This is because society is not favorable to exconvicts, for example, one article (Prison Legal News) says that person with incarceration
hire rate dropped from 30 percent to 15 percent. This stands for even though ex-convicts
released from jail, unless they do not have college diploma, they have to live as homeless.
Probably, Vincent was in the same shoes, as well.
Second, the reason that ex-convicts cannot get positions in our society is because
people judge them in a bad way. People think that every ex-convict is bad regardless of that
they reflected or not. Thus, ex-convicts have limits in getting job, so they have to join crime
again for their survival. So did Vincent. He knew that he could not lend money from the
bank with ex-convicts identification, so he counterfeited identification. However, there was
unexpected happens, so he had to ask Fish to help him again. Moreover, cops also
monitored him, and they threat him not to join crime again. He did not have any places to
stand in our society. People have to know that this is structural problem, and they have to
know there are a lot of people who try hard to live out their life after release from jail. For
example, there is a case that people contribute who release from the jail. Person named
Uchendi Nwandi committed serious crime which was cocaine trafficking. However, after
serve six and half months from the jail, he became a hard worker in federal boot camp.
Later, when he released from the boot camp, he opened his own barber shop and became
really successful. Now, he is traveling around the world to show people can be successful
no matter how they sink (Listverse). Even though these cases demonstrate that ex-convicts

could be successful, the reason that ex-convicts cannot reach out society is due to social
structure. To reform ex-convicts, people have to perceive ex-convicts as a group who
requires social help, but in modern system rather system itself makes ex-convicts to recommit a crime by perceiving as a group which should not be released in the society.
Lastly, He had his nephew to support. Vincent said that Woody is what he all got.
Woody was the person that he had to take in charge of. Even though, Woody had
grandmother, her economic status was not stable enough to support him. Hence, Vincent
had to take a role of Woodys parents and support him. But, he had grown up with bad
people, so he was influenced and learned wrong things such as drug and gun, so he had not
much choice. He had to re-engage crime for Woody and for himself to survive. Countries
which have low incarceration rates usually have strong public educations. For example,
Canada which has around 100 incarcerated people among 100,000 of population, while
America has 700 (Statistics Canada), is famous for strong public education. Strong public
education stands for equal opportunity is given for every person, however the American
society that Vincent had grown up does not offer an equal opportunity to every child unless
their parents are rich. Moreover, Vincent was raised with people who badly influence him
such as Fish. Theoretically, the influence that peer group gives to one in puberty is vast
more than that family gives. Therefore, to Vincent, drug trafficking and shoot a gun were
what he had learned. If he was enough well educated, probably this tragedy was not
supposed to happen.
There was one scene that hit my mind heart hard. At the very last moment, Vincent
said last word to Woody while he was dying which was, I tried my best. I personally

interpreted that he did his best to live out life in his own way. However, society did not
accept him, so he had to choose engage in crime again. And, it connotes critical message of
this movie. Ex- convicts, no matter how they try hard, there is a limitation due to peoples
bad prejudices against them. Sociologically, those bad perceptions prevent ex-convicts
social mobility to upper class, and promote ex-convicts to engage with crimes again,
especially American society which does not have equal opportunity from juvenile-hood and
jail business is main revenue of many companies. Therefore, before blaming Vincent or exconvicts make bad decisions, as members of this society, we have to seriously think about
whether we force people like Vincent to join crime by judging them with our wrong
yardstick, even though there are good examples of ex-convicts success of Bill Gates and
Robert Downy JR.