Based on a true story of a journalist and a taxi driver who sneak into Gwangju, South Korea during the 1980 student uprising, this film is both gutting and heart-warming. A must-see.
A Taxi Driver is one of those films that has been in the ether for a few years. I’d heard of it, I’d seen the movie poster, it stuck out a little extra because it was A Taxi Driver (not Taxi Driver), and I’ve been meaning to watch it. I’m so glad that I finally did. What a movie.
A Taxi Driver is about Kim Man-seob (Mr. Kim), a Korean taxi driver and single father with financial issues in May of 1980. Looking to make enough money to cover his back rent of four months, he nudges himself into a situation where he pretends to be a hired taxi planning to take a German visitor (Jürgen “Peter” Hinzpeter) into Gwangju, South Korea. There are rumors of an uprising against suddenly instituted martial law in Gwangju, but the news only reports a few injuries and a single death among law breakers. When they get to the border, all entrances to Gwangju are closed. So even though Mr. Kim wants to turn back, for the money, he finds a way to get the German businessman (who is actually a journalist) into town.
Oh my goodness, this movie. I went into A Taxi Driver completely blind, so I learned about the Gwangju uprising through written text on the screen as well as what eventually became an obvious depiction in the movie. I do recommend that you educate yourself just a little bit on the Gwangju uprising so that you know more going in, but if not, you will slowly figure out what is happening, just as I did.
This is an incredibly powerful film. In the first half, I enjoyed myself, but I wasn’t hooked. The characters are likeable enough, there is some play in that Peter can’t understand what Mr. Kim is saying when he speaks Korean, and the journey to Gwangju is a little harrowing, but they make it.
Then the second half hits. You get to know a few other men in town – some taxi drivers and students – and Mr. Kim, who is a fairly selfish and short-sighted man – begins to see the larger world more clearly. Peter is filming the atrocities taking place, as students are slaughtered during the uprising, and the goal of those being killed as well as other journalists becomes: help the German man – the only one who might be able to get out because he is not Korean and has all of the valid paperwork – let the world learn what is really happening.
I cried on and off through the entire third act of the film. And then when it ended, I cried some more. I cried because of the beauty of friendship, the goodness that is in so many, and the bravery of those who were slaughtered as well as those who survived. Then, when you think that it is over, there is footage of the real Jürgen “Peter” Hinzpeter. Full on chills.
This amazing film stars Song Kang-ho (from Parasite) and Thomas Kretschmann (from The Pianist), both of whom give soul-stirring performances. Watch it. If I say anything else, I might cry again.
Runtime: 137 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: TV-MA
Languages Spoken In The Film: English, Korean, Japanese, and German with English subtitles
A Taxi Driver is one of those films that has been in the ether for a few years. I’d heard of it, I’d seen the movie poster, it stuck out a little extra because it was A Taxi Driver (not Taxi Driver), and I’ve been meaning to watch it. I’m so glad that I finally did. What a movie.
