Film Review: "A Taxi Driver ("택시운전사") (2017).

"May 1980: A taxi driver heads to Gwangju" in A Taxi Driver (택시운전사). This South Korean historical action drama film directed by Jang Hoon, and written by Eom Yu-na. The film follows a Seoul taxi driver named Man-seob who drives a German reporter named Peter from Seoul down to Gwangju and back again. Although stopped by police roadblocks at the edge of Gwangju, Man-seob eventually manages to find a way into the city. There they encounter students and ordinary citizens taking part in large-scale demonstrations against the government.

May 18th to 27th 1980 saw the Gwangju Uprising (광주 민주화 항쟁), or alternatively called the May 18 Democratic Uprising and May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement in the city of Gwangju, South Korea. The event is sometimes called 5·18 in reference to the date the movement began. During this period, Gwangju citizens took up arms (by robbing local armories and police stations) when local Chonnam University students who were demonstrating against the martial law government were fired upon, killed, raped and beaten by government troops. The movement saw an estimated 606 people may have died, but the numbers may have been suggested as higher. The movement would have been almost ignored altogether if it were not for the heroic efforts of two men; a German journalist named Jürgen Hinzpeter, and an ordinary Korean taxi driver named Kim Sa-bok. Born on 6 July 1937, Hinzpeter was reporter for the ARD and the only journalist to film the massacres during the Gwangju uprising. His footage was delivered to Germany and broadcast worldwide. Because of his efforts, he was dubbed in South Korea as "the blue-eyed witness" ("푸른눈의 목격자"). Born on 3 October 1932 in North Korea, Kim fled south during the Korean War and developed a passion for learning foreign languages. After a failed business venture following his compulsory military service, he moved to Seoul and was subsequently hired as a taxi driver for a luxurious hotel. Following the uprising, Kim fell into a deep depression and severe alcoholism which led to his death on 19 December 1984. Hinzpeter never reunited with Kim and ultimately died on 25 January 2016. In May 2016, a memorial tombstone and a special memorial garden was erected in the Gwangju.

The film stars Song Kang-ho as Kim, Thomas Kretschmann as Hinzpeter, Yoo Hae-jin, Ryu Jun-yeol, and Uhm Tae-goo. Terrific performances were given by the cast, especially from Song and Kretschmann. Song continues to prove that he is one of the greatest actors, not only in South Korea, but on the entire planet. Kretschmann gave a terrific performance in a non Nazi/German soldier role.

A Taxi Driver is a familiar yet compelling South Korean period drama, propelled by Song Kang-ho's strong performance as an unlikely hero. Despite some concessions to unrealistic Hollywood conventions, the film's righteous anger at injustice is delivered with effectively mounting urgency.

Simon says A Taxi Driver (택시운전사) receives: