A taxi driver

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Movie
German title A taxi driver
Original title 택시 운전사
Taxi Unjeonsa
Country of production South Korea
original language Korean
Publishing year 2017
length 137 minutes
Rod
Director Jang Hun
script Eom You-na
production Choe Gi-seop
music Cho Young-wook
camera Go Nak-seon
cut Kim Sang-bum ,
Kim Jae-beom
occupation

A Taxi Driver (original title: 택시 운전사 Taxi Unjeonsa ; translated: taxi driver ) is a feature film from South Korea . Directed by Jang Hun , the main actors are Song Kang-ho and Thomas Kretschmann . The film is based on a true story.

content

The film tells the uprisings in the city of Gwangju alternately from the perspective of the Korean taxi driver and the European journalist :

In May 1980, the German television correspondent Peter was in Tokyo when rumors were spreading among journalists about unexplained incidents that are said to have occurred in the area of ​​the South Korean city of Gwangju. Since all telephone contact with the city has been cut off, he decides to go to South Korea and see for himself.

In Seoul he meets a taxi driver who wants to quit his job for private reasons, but who urgently needs money first to sort out his affairs. The driver happened to overhear a conversation in a restaurant that a foreigner was urgently looking for a taxi and wanted to pay a lot of money to the person who was driving him to Gwangju. He offers himself to Peter as the driver, without the two men being aware of the dangers they are getting into.

The taxi arrives in Gwangju on May 19, one day after the outbreak of the uprising, and although the city is completely cordoned off by the army, the two men manage to overcome the blockade by bluffing. At first they encounter a group of students dancing and singing in high spirits, but then arrive at a hospital where they are confronted with the bleeding victims of military violence.

Historical background

In 1980, South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan , who took over the government after a military coup, declared martial law in South Korea . The reason for this was the unrest that broke out because of the repression by the government and its actions against democratic aspirations, in which students were largely involved. The NDR's East Asia correspondent , Jürgen Hinzpeter , drove into the unrest area on his own and with the help of a Korean taxi driver got to the town of Gwangju, which was sealed off by the military . Gwangju was a center of unrest. He managed to film the massacre . His film material came to Germany and was broadcast both on ARD and worldwide. Nothing is known about the taxi driver himself and his later fate, his biography in the film is fictional.

production

The film was produced between June 5 and October 24, 2016 and was enriched with recorded authentic film material that was shot by Hinzpeter himself.

publication

The film has only appeared in South Korea so far, where it was released on August 2, 2017. Edeltraut Brahmstaedt, the widow of the German journalist Jürgen Hinzpeter, visited Seoul on August 8, 2017, where she also saw A Taxi Driver . After the Korean film release on August 2, 2017, the film saw 6.5 million visitors in the first ten days.

A release in North America is scheduled for August 11, 2017. It will be released in Australia and New Zealand on August 24th. The film is due to be released in England on August 25th. Other publications, e.g. B. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan are planned for September.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Choe ang-Hun: In South Korea, an Unsung Hero of History Gets His Due In: The New York Times , August 2, 2017, accessed October 20, 2017.
  2. ↑ KOBIZ - Korean Movie Biz Zone: in Production . Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  3. ↑ Shim Sun-ah: (Movie Review) A Taxi Driver: Gwangju Uprising seen from eyes of outsiders . Yonhap News Agency . July 14, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  4. ↑ 'A Taxi Driver' tops 5 mln on 7th day. Yonhap News, August 8, 2017, accessed August 12, 2017 .
  5. ↑ KBS World Radio Already more than 6.5 million watched "A Taxi Driver" in eleven days
  6. ↑ SONG Kang-ho Takes Lead in TAXI DRIVER Depicting the Gwangju Democratization Movement . Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  7. ↑ 'A Taxi Driver' to open worldwide next month . Korea JoongAng Daily . July 18, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  8. ^ S. Korean Movie "A Taxi Driver" to be Released Internationally . KBS World Radio. July 17, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.