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Review: A Taxi Driver (택시운전사) (2017)
An uplifting tale of heroism and teamwork. What a coincidence that the last movie I watched was also about the Gwangju Uprising. This movie had a different take, covering the events as they happened, but it was just as deep. This was a solid drama and action movie.
Spoilers.
Story
Kim Man-seob was a taxi driver focused on earning money to raise his daughter as a single dad. He was behind on his rent, so when he overheard another taxi driver taking on a 100,000 won job, Kim Man-seob intercepted, not knowing that the drive was purposely to take a foreigner to the Gwangju region that was currently under martial law. Jurgen Hinzpeter, going by Peter, was the customer. There were struggles as Man-seob took him to Gwangju. Peter needed to get to Gwangju, and Man-seob, who did not know of the situation, only went as long as Peter could pay his fare.
In Gwangju, Peter joined some students as they went to the hospital. Man-seob got into an argument with college students who felt that he was unjustly charging Peter. Man-seob gave the money back and took Peter and Jae-sik, a student who spoke English and could be Peter’s interpreter. He took them to the provincial office where there were protests. The protests soon grew bloody and Man-seob took them away, after Peter got some shots. Man-seob’s car broke down so he, Peter, and Jae-sik spent the night at the home of Hwang Tae-sool, another taxi driver. The local TV station was attacked so the group went there to get shots. However, Jae-sik was captured.
Missing his daughter, Man-seob decided to leave Gwangju, but he decided that the right thing to do was to return and take Peter to the airport so he could share footage of the Gwangju uprising with the world. In the attack, Man-seob and other taxi drivers helped the effort, driving away people who were hurt. Later on, Man-seob took Peter out of Gwangju. They were stopped at a checkpoint. A soldier had noticed that Man-seob had Seoul license plates in his car (signalling him as the taxi driver who was going to take a reporter out), but the soldier let him go. Even then, other soldiers chased them. The other taxi drivers came to help Man-seob, causing distractions for the soldiers.
When at the airport, Peter asked Man-seob for his name and number, but Man-seob gave him a false name and number. Though the authorities knew that Peter was going to catch the plane, Peter was able to leave, hopping on an earlier plane.
Man-seob returned home to his daughter, emotional after the events. He resumed his job as a taxi driver and we saw that he was less stingy and more caring of his customers. Years later, Peter returned to South Korea to accept an award, and also thank his friend Kim Sa-bok, the false name that Man-seob had provided. The movie ended with footage of the real Jurgen Hinzpeter reaching out and hoping to find Kim Sa-bok.
It was a heroic tale, definitely dramatized, but I think it both shed light on the Gwangju uprising, as well as have a character story for Kim Man-seob.
Production
Production was good. Song Kang-ho is a very experienced actor and this is known, so no complaints from him. I did feel that the actor for Jurgen Hinzpeter was not so charismatic at first. We know that he was very serious and that Man-seob was more enthusiastic because he didn’t know the truth of the situation. But I think as the movie progressed I could focus more on the story.
I will admit the music got me emotional at times, so kudos to the mix of scoring and the directing.
Characters
Kim Man-seob
As much as this was a story about the Gwangju Uprising, I did also feel it was a character story for Man-seob. At first, he was really stingy and cutthroat, focused on earning as much money as possible. He intercepted the job from the taxi driver from the private company in order to earn a big wad of cash, enough to cover his late rent.
When Man-seob was driving Peter, he thought it was a normal job, so he tried to strike up conversation, which did not work at all because Peter was obviously tense about the political situation. I think the first time Man-seob questioned going to Gwangju was when they had to take a back road, and he demanded payment from Peter. Fair enough, since they had gone through some trouble.
After arriving in Gwangju, I think Man-seob was forced to challenge his own values. First he ignored the grandma on the street, only feeling bad after she fell. He took her to the hospital and saw how worried she was, as well as how there were people in the hospital who were very hurt. Still, Man-seob just wanted his money so that he could go home to his daughter but was challenged by the students, and forced to cough up the money so they’d leave him alone.
Man-seob was still none the wiser as they went to the provincial office. He wanted to convince Peter to stay on top of the building away from the soldiers but when Peter and Jae-sik went, he was kind of pressured to go to. It was a high stress situation where he tried to get Peter to leave and in the scuffle Peter dropped his camera. But I don’t think anyone was really mad at anyone else.
In the night time, Man-seob thought about his daughter and his late wife, and he missed them, so he decided to leave and return. He had a hearty meal, and bought a nice pair of shoes for his daughter. But as he drove, he was forced to confront what he was leaving behind, that he was directly running away from people who needed help. So he turned back and went full force into helping the people there, culminating in driving Peter out of Gwangju and to the airport.
When Peter asked him for his contact information, Man-seob gave him a false name and number. I think part of it was Man-seob’s conscience. He decided that he didn’t help people for the publicity, but because it was the right thing to do to help his fellow citizens. The other thing that was implied at the end of the movie was that it might have been dangerous for Man-seob to be able to be tracked down.
Nonetheless, I think Man-seob appreciated the experience in that it forced him to reflect on his values and on his behaviour and that the world would be a better place if everyone was kinder to one another.
Jurgen Hinzpeter
Peter was a German reporter based on Japan who travelled to South Korea to cover the uprising in Gwangju. He had entered the country as a missionary so that the authorities could not catch him. Then he arranged to get into Gwangju by taxi. As mentioned, it was a bit hard to feel attached to Peter because he was so serious. Not that he shouldn’t have been serious, but there was hardly any chemistry between Peter and Man-seob to appreciate Man-seob’s role in relation to Peter. Maybe that was on purpose, so that the story would focus on Man-seob as a man confronting his values rather than just a friend to Peter. Peter, like any journalist, needed to see all the action. He was enthusiastic about following the students to the hospital to see what had gone down. He was going to stay and let Man-seob go seeing as how Man-seob was just focused on the money.
When Man-seob returned to help, he found Peter at the hospital and Peter seemed quite defeated at the gruesomeness of the situation. It was Man-seob who encouraged him to take photos and footage, to fulfill his job as a reporter.
After Man-seob and Peter were in the clear, Peter asked for Man-seob’s contact information, saying it was to pay for repairs for his car, though honestly I think he just wanted to keep in touch as friends, as a sign of his gratitude. But he never did find Man-seob again.
The real Jurgen Hinzpeter received an award in 2003 for his work in covering the Gwangju uprising, because communications in that part of the world were cut off and nobody knew of the massacre, not even people from the other parts of Korea.
As a character, I regret to say that Peter was not very charismatic. Again, there wasn’t much chemistry between him and Man-seob so it was hard to see him as anything other than a prop.
Hwang Tae-sool
Tae-sool was a taxi driver from Gwangju. He had bumped into Man-seob at the hospital, and later again at night when Man-seob’s car broke down. Seeing as how Man-seob’s car could not be fixed before curfew, he offered for Man-seob, Peter, and Jae-sik to stay with him, his wife, and his little son. Tae-sool was very kind-hearted and optimistic, wanting to believe the best in people.
When Man-seob left, Tae-sool gave him Gwangju plates so that he wouldn’t be so easy to track, and even suggested that Man-seob return one day with his daughter so that they could have a picnic together. Tae-sool also helped Man-seob escape the soldiers. A really good guy.
Gu Jae-sik
Jae-sik was one of the students that Peter had joined. He was the only one who knew some English so he acted as an interpreter. While in the taxi with Man-seob and Peter, he conversed with Man-seob about the situation. Jae-sik was protesting on behalf of the people, while Man-seob didn’t understand that the people were being oppressed. Jae-sik had gotten frustrated at one point that Man-seob didn’t understand and yet a foreigner like Peter did. Man-seob did ask Jae-sik about his personal life. He told him that his mother must have been worried (like the grandma he had driven earlier), and that with the tuition he paid, he should have been getting an education. Jae-sik said that he’d joined university because he wanted to participate in the music competition. So in the evening, at Tae-sool’s house, he put on a performance of questionable quality. But it was a nice moment of bonding.
When Man-seob returned to Gwangju, he had found Jae-sik dead at the hospital. Tae-sool said that he had been killed and his body dumped. His shoe was off and Man-seob reshod him, giving him something of a dignified death. But it very much shook Man-seob because not long ago he was laughing and having fun with Jae-sik.
Themes
Of course the Gwangju uprising is a huge event. From what I’d read of it before, the man responsible had not apologized for it and so this act of oppression and violence remained a sticking point for citizens. So it’s a statement for artists to be making art directly referencing this act.
The other theme was that of Man-seob learning to be a friend and neighbour. He was a very “I got mine” kind of guy at the beginning, but as times got rough, he realized how important it was to help each other.
Overall
As I said, a solid drama movie. Not perfect but I enjoyed it.
Spoilers.
Story
Kim Man-seob was a taxi driver focused on earning money to raise his daughter as a single dad. He was behind on his rent, so when he overheard another taxi driver taking on a 100,000 won job, Kim Man-seob intercepted, not knowing that the drive was purposely to take a foreigner to the Gwangju region that was currently under martial law. Jurgen Hinzpeter, going by Peter, was the customer. There were struggles as Man-seob took him to Gwangju. Peter needed to get to Gwangju, and Man-seob, who did not know of the situation, only went as long as Peter could pay his fare.
In Gwangju, Peter joined some students as they went to the hospital. Man-seob got into an argument with college students who felt that he was unjustly charging Peter. Man-seob gave the money back and took Peter and Jae-sik, a student who spoke English and could be Peter’s interpreter. He took them to the provincial office where there were protests. The protests soon grew bloody and Man-seob took them away, after Peter got some shots. Man-seob’s car broke down so he, Peter, and Jae-sik spent the night at the home of Hwang Tae-sool, another taxi driver. The local TV station was attacked so the group went there to get shots. However, Jae-sik was captured.
Missing his daughter, Man-seob decided to leave Gwangju, but he decided that the right thing to do was to return and take Peter to the airport so he could share footage of the Gwangju uprising with the world. In the attack, Man-seob and other taxi drivers helped the effort, driving away people who were hurt. Later on, Man-seob took Peter out of Gwangju. They were stopped at a checkpoint. A soldier had noticed that Man-seob had Seoul license plates in his car (signalling him as the taxi driver who was going to take a reporter out), but the soldier let him go. Even then, other soldiers chased them. The other taxi drivers came to help Man-seob, causing distractions for the soldiers.
When at the airport, Peter asked Man-seob for his name and number, but Man-seob gave him a false name and number. Though the authorities knew that Peter was going to catch the plane, Peter was able to leave, hopping on an earlier plane.
Man-seob returned home to his daughter, emotional after the events. He resumed his job as a taxi driver and we saw that he was less stingy and more caring of his customers. Years later, Peter returned to South Korea to accept an award, and also thank his friend Kim Sa-bok, the false name that Man-seob had provided. The movie ended with footage of the real Jurgen Hinzpeter reaching out and hoping to find Kim Sa-bok.
It was a heroic tale, definitely dramatized, but I think it both shed light on the Gwangju uprising, as well as have a character story for Kim Man-seob.
Production
Production was good. Song Kang-ho is a very experienced actor and this is known, so no complaints from him. I did feel that the actor for Jurgen Hinzpeter was not so charismatic at first. We know that he was very serious and that Man-seob was more enthusiastic because he didn’t know the truth of the situation. But I think as the movie progressed I could focus more on the story.
I will admit the music got me emotional at times, so kudos to the mix of scoring and the directing.
Characters
Kim Man-seob
As much as this was a story about the Gwangju Uprising, I did also feel it was a character story for Man-seob. At first, he was really stingy and cutthroat, focused on earning as much money as possible. He intercepted the job from the taxi driver from the private company in order to earn a big wad of cash, enough to cover his late rent.
When Man-seob was driving Peter, he thought it was a normal job, so he tried to strike up conversation, which did not work at all because Peter was obviously tense about the political situation. I think the first time Man-seob questioned going to Gwangju was when they had to take a back road, and he demanded payment from Peter. Fair enough, since they had gone through some trouble.
After arriving in Gwangju, I think Man-seob was forced to challenge his own values. First he ignored the grandma on the street, only feeling bad after she fell. He took her to the hospital and saw how worried she was, as well as how there were people in the hospital who were very hurt. Still, Man-seob just wanted his money so that he could go home to his daughter but was challenged by the students, and forced to cough up the money so they’d leave him alone.
Man-seob was still none the wiser as they went to the provincial office. He wanted to convince Peter to stay on top of the building away from the soldiers but when Peter and Jae-sik went, he was kind of pressured to go to. It was a high stress situation where he tried to get Peter to leave and in the scuffle Peter dropped his camera. But I don’t think anyone was really mad at anyone else.
In the night time, Man-seob thought about his daughter and his late wife, and he missed them, so he decided to leave and return. He had a hearty meal, and bought a nice pair of shoes for his daughter. But as he drove, he was forced to confront what he was leaving behind, that he was directly running away from people who needed help. So he turned back and went full force into helping the people there, culminating in driving Peter out of Gwangju and to the airport.
When Peter asked him for his contact information, Man-seob gave him a false name and number. I think part of it was Man-seob’s conscience. He decided that he didn’t help people for the publicity, but because it was the right thing to do to help his fellow citizens. The other thing that was implied at the end of the movie was that it might have been dangerous for Man-seob to be able to be tracked down.
Nonetheless, I think Man-seob appreciated the experience in that it forced him to reflect on his values and on his behaviour and that the world would be a better place if everyone was kinder to one another.
Jurgen Hinzpeter
Peter was a German reporter based on Japan who travelled to South Korea to cover the uprising in Gwangju. He had entered the country as a missionary so that the authorities could not catch him. Then he arranged to get into Gwangju by taxi. As mentioned, it was a bit hard to feel attached to Peter because he was so serious. Not that he shouldn’t have been serious, but there was hardly any chemistry between Peter and Man-seob to appreciate Man-seob’s role in relation to Peter. Maybe that was on purpose, so that the story would focus on Man-seob as a man confronting his values rather than just a friend to Peter. Peter, like any journalist, needed to see all the action. He was enthusiastic about following the students to the hospital to see what had gone down. He was going to stay and let Man-seob go seeing as how Man-seob was just focused on the money.
When Man-seob returned to help, he found Peter at the hospital and Peter seemed quite defeated at the gruesomeness of the situation. It was Man-seob who encouraged him to take photos and footage, to fulfill his job as a reporter.
After Man-seob and Peter were in the clear, Peter asked for Man-seob’s contact information, saying it was to pay for repairs for his car, though honestly I think he just wanted to keep in touch as friends, as a sign of his gratitude. But he never did find Man-seob again.
The real Jurgen Hinzpeter received an award in 2003 for his work in covering the Gwangju uprising, because communications in that part of the world were cut off and nobody knew of the massacre, not even people from the other parts of Korea.
As a character, I regret to say that Peter was not very charismatic. Again, there wasn’t much chemistry between him and Man-seob so it was hard to see him as anything other than a prop.
Hwang Tae-sool
Tae-sool was a taxi driver from Gwangju. He had bumped into Man-seob at the hospital, and later again at night when Man-seob’s car broke down. Seeing as how Man-seob’s car could not be fixed before curfew, he offered for Man-seob, Peter, and Jae-sik to stay with him, his wife, and his little son. Tae-sool was very kind-hearted and optimistic, wanting to believe the best in people.
When Man-seob left, Tae-sool gave him Gwangju plates so that he wouldn’t be so easy to track, and even suggested that Man-seob return one day with his daughter so that they could have a picnic together. Tae-sool also helped Man-seob escape the soldiers. A really good guy.
Gu Jae-sik
Jae-sik was one of the students that Peter had joined. He was the only one who knew some English so he acted as an interpreter. While in the taxi with Man-seob and Peter, he conversed with Man-seob about the situation. Jae-sik was protesting on behalf of the people, while Man-seob didn’t understand that the people were being oppressed. Jae-sik had gotten frustrated at one point that Man-seob didn’t understand and yet a foreigner like Peter did. Man-seob did ask Jae-sik about his personal life. He told him that his mother must have been worried (like the grandma he had driven earlier), and that with the tuition he paid, he should have been getting an education. Jae-sik said that he’d joined university because he wanted to participate in the music competition. So in the evening, at Tae-sool’s house, he put on a performance of questionable quality. But it was a nice moment of bonding.
When Man-seob returned to Gwangju, he had found Jae-sik dead at the hospital. Tae-sool said that he had been killed and his body dumped. His shoe was off and Man-seob reshod him, giving him something of a dignified death. But it very much shook Man-seob because not long ago he was laughing and having fun with Jae-sik.
Themes
Of course the Gwangju uprising is a huge event. From what I’d read of it before, the man responsible had not apologized for it and so this act of oppression and violence remained a sticking point for citizens. So it’s a statement for artists to be making art directly referencing this act.
The other theme was that of Man-seob learning to be a friend and neighbour. He was a very “I got mine” kind of guy at the beginning, but as times got rough, he realized how important it was to help each other.
Overall
As I said, a solid drama movie. Not perfect but I enjoyed it.