November 25, 2007, 9:13am

A recap of "Lust Caution" before I forget my own thoughts.

1. Women are to be sacrificed. Women are expected to sacrifice. Women are willing to sacrifice.

Well, what is the causal and effect? Are women expected to sacrifice, then they sacrifice? Or are women willing to sacrifice, then they are expected to sacrifice? Does it also mean that women are not as valuable as other more important things? Say, the fate of a country? And women can be sacrificed for the "better good?" What are the other things should be on this weighing scale of goods?

2. What is the role of the tai tais? They play mahjog all day all night. It seems like they have their own politics. But what is it other than winning a few bucks? Are they contributing to getting information for their husbands' business? If yes, why do they seem so ignorant?

Mr. Yee obviously kept Mrs. Yee away from his business. What is the use of keeping the tai tais around then? What is the purpose of having a wife who apparently knows nothing and doesn't seem to provide him in anyway?

3. Ms. Chen (Mrs. Man) ruined the assassination plan in the end. She lost her love. She lost her friends' lives. And her own life. She lost her country. She's in such a tragic situation that she would not be able to win at all. She's betrayed in the very first beginning already. She's told that she's going to England. But who's going to care such an unattainable goal. No one is going to keep such a promise.

What a loser in a dead end situation. Here it comes the debate of person-situation effect. Is personality more influential or is it the situation? Would a different person bring a different story? A different process and a different outcome?

4. Can I generalize this tragic character in a dead end situation to the war as a whole? That the war is a no-win situation anyway. Mr. Yee saved his life this time. But the war was over and the Japanese lost in the end. Probably he didn't survive very long.

Can I generalize the love between Mr. Yee and Ms. Chen to the love between the enemies? The war story reminds me about loving my Japanese friends despite the sad history. It also reminds me about the European invasions. I still love my Scottish friends and my German advisor, after all.

Bert showed me pictures of him in the Royal Air Force. He's a bright, handsome, young man in WWII. He said, 50 years after the war, Ann and he met a German couple. The two sides realized that they were trying to kill each other when they were young. Yet, they can actually be good friends. People are stupid. People do stupid things. The governments are stupid.