Ten years or so ago an old man kidnapped a seven-year-old girl and took her to sea. On his small boat the old man provided the girl with food, clothing, and care, but he never allowed her to leave the boat. Although at first the old man might seem like a kindly, albeit creepy, grandfatherly figure, the man's plans for the girl are not so pure because he plans to marry her on her seventeenth birthday.<br /><br />The old man and the girl live isolated from society, but in order to provide for himself and his young "fiancé," the old man allows weekend warriors to fish on his boat. Also, the couple is able to predict the future through an odd divination in which the girl swings in a swing attached to the boat in front of an image of the Buddha while the man shoots three arrows into the Buddha. The girl then removes the three arrows, whispers her fortune to the old man, and then the old man whispers the fortune to his patron.<br /><br />Because the girl has spent more than half of her life on the boat she is incredibly naïve and trusting. Dressed in thin dresses, even in the bitter cold, the girl is not hesitant to sit close to the fishermen and because she has grown into a stunning young woman, many of the fishermen try to take advantage of her simple nature. However, the old man is always on guard and shoots arrows at anyone whose hands become a bit too adventuresome.<br /><br />Ignorant of the world, the girl seems content to live with the old man even allowing him to bathe her every night, however, one day a teenage boy is amongst those who come to fish on the old man's boats and the young girl feels a stirring in her heart that she has not felt before. After this meeting, the girl tries to grow distant from the old man and refuses his affection. However, can she truly escape her watery prison and does she really want to escape? Being that The Bow is my first introduction to the films of Kim Ki-duk I am a little at a disadvantage to understand the themes of his films, but I can say that I truly enjoyed watching the film. The music sounds a bit like a New Age recording, but it is quite enjoyable and it fits the solitary nature of the film. This is definitely a film that I need to watch again; along with other Kim Ki-duk films, in order to truly appreciate it. Although the dialogue is at the bare minimum, I believe this film has a deeper meaning that words cannot convey.