May 18 화려한 휴가 by Kim Ji-hoon (김지훈) 2008
22 February 2008A big budget epic, that was Korea’s highest grossing film, and I an see why. This is a fictional story based on the true events based on the Gwangju massacre that occurred between May 18th and May 27th, 1980 in South Korea in a period of martial law. An event where the exact fatalities are still not known, but many people were killed. This is an enjoyable film, though of course sad, and of course you know a bigger tragedy is coming as the film goes on. I enjoyed this film because I liked the characters and grew to care about them, which made their impending doom so much harder to take. A well done and gorgeous film, and an enjoyable watch, even if you know what will inevitably come. And amazing to think that this was happening in Korea in 1980, a country I think of as a democratic nation. Of course we are giving up our human rights freely in the name of fighting terror at this point, which is pretty scary in it’s own.
In 1980 a Korean General Chun Doo-hwan declared Martial law in South Korea, and he sent the armed forces around the country to set up in all the universities to put down any so called revolutionaries who would protest. We meet a taxie driver named Min-woo (Kim Sang-kyeong 김상경 from Memories of Murder) who hangs with his best friend a loud taxi driver, and takes care of his high school student brother named Jin-woo (Lee Joon-ki 이준기). Min-woo pines for a local nurse named Shin-ae (Lee Yo-won 이요원) who goes to church with Jin-woo, and whose father is an military commander named Heung-su (Ahn Seong-gi 안성기) who also happens to be Min-woo’s boss. Min-woo figures out a plan to get Shin-ae to go the movies with him by using Jin-woo to get her to go, but outside the students are protesting, and the military starts using deadly force, and when the theater gets smoke grenades coming into, they go outside, and the military turns on them, and they barely manage to get away. The militaries use of lethal force, and the fact that they are indiscriminate in their violence, attacking anyone who is out and in front of them, turns the people against the military, and they all start to go out and protest.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
The Region 3 Special Edition DVD with 3 discs and a booklet and some postcards. Damn Korean’s know hot to make very nice and special dvd cases!!
Life tries to go on in the town, but the hospital is nuts, and Min-woo starts driving Shin-ae to and from work because of the army, but when he is driving around, he runs into a protest, and ends up helping some wounded people, so he gets grabbed and taken away in a truck, but when the army starts beating their prisoners, he attacks and jumps off into the river, and escapes in a hail of bullets, going to the hospital and getting stitched up by Shin-ae.
When a student at the school is killed, Jin-woo leads the other students in a protest march across the city, and the people start protesting too. Min-woo sees his brother and tries to stop them, but they hear the army will be leaving, and all close in on the town hall, the whole city coming out. Right at noon, when it is rumored the army will leave, instead of leaving, the army steps into position and opens fire on the civilians. May people are killed, and Jin-woo is shot trying to save someone. Min-woo goes mad, but Hueng-su comes out and saves them so Min-woo can take his brother to the hospital, but there he dies, and Min-woo loses it, and heads over to break into the town arsenal, and arm the populace against the military. And when a doctor goes out to help the wounded with Shin-ae, the army opens fire and kills the doctor, and Min-woo barely saved Shin-ae, and they run, but a soldier comes and attacks, and is going to kill Min-woo but Shin-ae grabs a rifle and kills the soldier.
Heung-su ends up taking the 50 caliber and firing at the town hall, causing the army to fall back, but of course that means they will come back.
The army returns with tanks, so Min-woo sends them a box of dynamite, to keep them away, but ups the ante. Heung-su goes an talks to the army, but they want all out surrender and to arrest everyone involved, so the people will fight back. They set up in town hall, and many people come out. When Heung-su learns that Min-woo and Shin-ae are dating he wants them both to leave together, so his daughter won’t be alone when this is done, and they leave, but Min-woo decides he can’t do it, and goes back to help Heung-su, leaving Shin-ae alone to ride around and use a loudspeaker to rally the people.
The military comes in full force, and basically kills everyone. Heung-su tries to get Min-woo to escape, but he runs into the army, and when they call him a traitor, he yells that they are not traitors and raises his gun, and is killed as well.
And we learn there are least 200 official deaths, and over 900 missing people. What a disaster and a mess, and so recently in Korean history.
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I am glad to see this film, because I knew nothing of these events, and such recent history should really be taught and shown. A gorgeous film, and with great performances all the way around.
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