[Confession] A Taxi Driver
I was in my deepest sht yet in the past few weeks so I wasn't able to review any of the movies/dramas I've watched. But I was so inspired after watching 'A Taxi Driver', a historical roll on the Uprising in Gwangju in 1980s, that I immediately opened my blog for a quick review. While I tell you it offers a lot of drama, it's an eye-opening look at a violent chapters of South Korea.
Here is the synopsis of the movie:
A taxi driver from Seoul, accidentally gets involved in a German journalist. They arrive to find a city under siege by the military government, with the citizens, led by a determined group of college students, rising up to demand freedom. What began as an easy fare becomes a life-or-death struggle in the midst of the Gwangju Uprising, a critical event in modern South Korea.
I was more than intrigued when A Taxi Driver, Directed by Jang Hoon, tackles one of the most sensitive part of the Korean modern History in 1980: The Gwang Ju Uprising. In simple terms, it is similar to the Martial Law that happened in the Philippines in the 70s. Military takes over the city, riots everywhere and news censorship has taken its toll that even nearby cities doesn't know what's going on. I'm not Korean and I was unfamiliar with the uprising before watching this, but I find it excellent that the writers drastically simplified the political context that triggered the uprising, but this in turn helps foreign viewers grasp the plot more easily than denser, more intellectual probings of the subject.
You know what I liked the most here? It's not just the powerful and tragic journey of the uprising and how they were able to tell the world what really was happening, but it was the fact that the movie gives light to a Humble Taxi Driver who became an instrument in acquiring freedom. It was based on the true story of the German Journalist who, months before his death in 2016, made one final attempt to reconnect with his Seoul cabbie and his video message, included at the end of the film, provides an especially poignant coda. It was a heartfelt appreciation of ordinary people turned heroes in extraordinary circumstances.
A Taxi Driver is set in the relatively recent past, but its messages and themes remain every bit as relevant in today’s world: one day may happen, that the next 24 hours of your life may not just be eye-opening but may be heartbreaking as well and what will make the difference is that dawning consciousness and courage that must be powerfully felt and act upon.
A Taxi Driver will be showing on local cinemas nationwide this October 18!
My Rating:
Plot: 10/10
Characters & Dialogue : 9.0/10
Structure & Pacing: 8.0/10
Theme: 10/10
Style & Tone: 8.9/10
OVERALL RATING: 9.2