A Taxi Driver () is a 2017 South Korean political action drama film directed by Jang Hoon and written by Eom Yu-na, with Song Kang-ho starring in the lead role, alongside Thomas Kretschmann, Yoo Hae-jin, and Ryu Jun-yeol.
Based on a real-life story, the film follows a taxi driver from Seoul who unintentionally becomes involved in the events of the Gwangju Uprising in 1980. It draws on the experiences of German journalist Jürgen Hinzpeter of the ARD and his interactions with driver Kim Man-seob (based on Kim Sa-bok). As little was known about Kim at the time of production, many details of his life and the events outside Gwangju were dramatized. Hinzpeter's films revealed to the world that the South Korean government was carrying out mass killings against protestors in Gwangju, a city that was placed under curfew and cut off from the rest of the country.
The film was released on 2 August 2017 in South Korea. The film was positively received by critics, who praised its distinctive portrayal of the Gwangju Uprising, its emotional impact, and the depiction of the relationship between the main character and Hinzpeter. It was also selected as the South Korean entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. The film was a notable commercial success: it was the second highest-grossing South Korean film of 2017, and currently stands as the sixteenth highest-grossing South Korean film in history.
Background
Historical background The film centres on the Gwangju Uprising, which took place from 18 to 27 May 1980 and is estimated to have resulted in up to 2,500 deaths. Its plot reflects the historical background of the event. The uprising arose from the ongoing struggle between the authoritarian government under Chun Doo-hwan, who had seized power in a coup in 1979, and citizens of South Korea, particularly university students, who want the country to democratize.
For many years, the uprising remained a taboo subject in South Korea, as those who had supported the government at the time continued to hold power in the country. According to scholar Jang Se Young from the Wilson Center, "books related to Gwangju were strictly censored or prohibited from even being published. Although a number of political dissidents and activists sought to inherit and develop the spirit of Gwangju, they were persecuted." Scholar Kim Yong Cheol stated, "the political legacies the Gwangju Uprising produced played a pivotal role in checking military intervention in politics during the democratic transition as well as in establishing the principle of civilian supremacy during the democratic transition period." Despite being banned, hundreds and thousands of news articles on what was happening in Gwangju were trying to be released by some of the journalists inside the city.
Efforts were made by some American journalists in order to inform the world about what was happening in Gwangju. Tim Shorrock published numerous U.S. government documents related to the uprisings that were happening in Gwangju, and Terry A. Anderson, who was a former Associated Press (AP) correspondent, covered the uprisings himself and provided an eyewitness account of the situation in 1980. People in the rest of South Korea were not aware of what was happening in Gwangju, until international media took hold of the story. Andrew David Jackson of Cambridge University argued that Jürgen Hinzpeter's relationship with South Korea's democratization movement "have become important weapons for the activist generation in an ongoing struggle over the memorialization of the Gwangju Uprising."
Candlelight protests Candlelight protests through the fall and winter of 2016-17 marked the thirtieth year of significant democratic advancement in South Korean history, compared to the setting in which A Taxi Driver took place. Harvard sociology professor Paul Y. Chang argued in 2018 in KOAJ that "the contemporary candlelight protest industry draws on organizational and cultural resources first established in past democracy movements."
Plot
In 1980, Kim Man-seob is a debt-laden and widowed single father who works as a taxi driver in Seoul. Overhearing another taxi driver bragging about a 100,000 won job to bring a foreign client to Gwangju, Man-seob steals the client, unaware of the events in Gwangju. The client is Jürgen "Peter" Hinzpeter, a German journalist wanting to report on the increasing civil unrest in Gwangju. The two men are stopped by soldiers as they approach Gwangju, but manage to enter with Peter posing as a businessman.
In Gwangju, they encounter a group of college students, who warm up to Peter and invite him aboard their pickup truck. Man-seob turns back, reluctant to be involved in the civil unrest. Along the way, he takes pity on an old woman and brings her to the local hospital to look for her son, who turns out to be one of the college students. Peter confronts Man-seob about abandoning him and offers to pay up part of the fare, but the college students and the local taxi drivers refuse to let Peter pay until Man-seob fulfils the agreed-upon trip.
Man-seob takes Peter and another student Jae-sik to a protest at the Provincial Office, where protesters greet the trio with food and gifts. Peter films the crackdowns that follow. Plainclothes Defense Security Command (DSC) officers attempt to arrest Peter, but the three evade capture. That evening, Man-seob's taxi breaks down and Tae-soo, one of the local taxi drivers, tows the taxi to his shop for overnight repair and lets the men stay at his place for the night. During dinner, the television station is bombed, and the three head there for Peter to film the turmoil. The officers recognize Peter and chase the three men; Man-seob is assaulted and Jae-sik is captured, but before he is taken away, he yells for Peter to share the footage with the world.
Distressed about his young daughter and unable to contact her, Man-seob departs for Seoul the next morning with the fake Gwangju license plates Tae-soo has given him. In Suncheon, he overhears reports of the events in Gwangju; the media claims North Korean infiltrators caused the chaos. Overwhelmed with guilt, he drives back to the hospital in Gwangju to find Peter in shock and Tae-soo mourning over Jae-sik's corpse. Peter, encouraged to continue filming by Man-seob, urges Man-seob to return to Seoul and see his daughter, but Man-seob insists on staying by his side.
At a street protest, soldiers open fire at civilians, including those rescuing the wounded. Man-seob and the other taxi drivers assist the wounded into the taxis and get them to safety. Departing for Seoul via a mountainous road, Man-seob and Peter arrive at an armed roadblock. The sergeant searches the car and finds the Seoul license plates but lets them go. The soldiers, receiving orders to stop any foreigners, open fire on the taxi but Man-seob breaks through. DSC officers give chase but the local taxi drivers intervene to allow Man-seob and Peter to escape at the cost of their lives. At the airport, they bid each other farewell. Before departing, Peter asks Man-seob for his name and phone number, but Man-seob writes "Kim Sa-bok" as his name and a cigarette company's phone number in Peter's notebook. Man-seob reunites with his daughter while Peter broadcasts his footage about the Gwangju Uprising. On subsequent trips to Seoul, Peter attempts to search for "Kim Sa-bok", but is unable to find him.
In 2003, Peter receives an award in South Korea for his report on the Gwangju Uprising. In his speech, he expresses his gratitude to "Kim Sa-bok" and hopes to see him again someday. Man-seob, still a taxi driver, reads a newspaper article about Peter's speech and achievements, murmuring that he is more grateful to Peter and that he misses him too. The film ends by stating that the real Peter died in 2016 without ever locating Man-seob, followed by a video of him expressing his thanks to "Kim Sa-bok" and his wish to see him again.
Cast
Song Kang-ho as Kim Man-seob A widowed taxi driver who lives with his eleven year old daughter in a small house. He is an ordinary man from the working class who cares only about his family's livelihood and is uninterested in political issues. The character is loosely based on real-life taxi driver Kim Sa-bok, who ferried Jürgen Hinzpeter to Gwangju. Kim's whereabouts was unknown until the release of A Taxi Driver, when in September 2017, following the immense commercial and critical success of the film in South Korea, Kim's identity was finally confirmed by his son, Kim Seung-pil. The younger Kim shared with the media a photo of Jürgen Hinzpeter with his father and revealed that his father died of cancer in 1984, four years after the Gwangju events. Kim Sa-bok was reportedly 54 years old at the time of his death in December 1984. Thomas Kretschmann as Jürgen Hinzpeter A German reporter. The character is based on the life of Jürgen Hinzpeter (1937–2016), the German journalist who filmed and reported on the Gwangju Uprising. A video of Hinzpeter appears at the end of the film, recorded several years prior to his death. Yoo Hae-jin as Hwang Tae-sool A kindhearted local taxi driver. Ryu Jun-yeol as Gu Jae-sik A naive university student who knows English. Park Hyuk-kwon as Reporter Choi Choi Gwi-hwa as Leader of Plainclothes DSC Officer Uhm Tae-goo as Sergeant first class Park of ROK Army 31st Infantry Division Yoo Eun-mi as Eun-jeong Kim Man-seob's daughter. Cha Soon-bae as Driver Cha Shin Dam-soo as Driver Shin Ryoo Seong-hyeon as Driver Ryoo Park Min-hee as Kwon Joong-ryeong Lee Jung-eun as Hwang Tae-sool's wife Kwon Soon-joon as Kang Sang-goo Yoon Seok-ho as Hwang Tae-sool's son Heo Jeong-do as Seoul pregnant wife's husband Lee Bong-ryun as Seoul pregnant wife Lee Ho-cheol as Hong Yong-pyo Lee Young-yi as Hong Yong-pyo's wife Han Geun-sup as University student protester Hong Wan-pyo as University student protester Ko Chang-seok as Sang-goo's father Jeon Hye-jin as Sang-goo's mother Jung Jin-young as Reporter Lee Ryu Tae-ho as Gwangju newspaper director Jeong Seok-yong as President of car center in Seoul
Production Filming began on 5 June 2016, and ended on 24 October 2016.
Release The film was released on 2 August 2017, in South Korea. On the same day, the film had its international premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, where Song Kang-ho was named Best Actor for his role in the film.
According to distributor Showbox, the film was released in North America on 11 August, Australia and New Zealand on 24 August, followed by the UK on 25 August. It then opened in Asian countries including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan in September.
On 13 August 2017, South Korean President Moon Jae-in viewed A Taxi Driver with Edeltraut Brahmstaedt, the widow of Jürgen Hinzpeter, and her family. A Blue House official said, "The movie shows how a foreign reporter's efforts contributed to Korea's democratization, and President Moon saw the film to honor Hinzpeter in respect for what he did for the country." After watching the film, President Moon commented:
Reception
Critical response
A Taxi Driver received positive reviews upon its release. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 97% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads "A Taxi Driver brings a ground-level perspective and a refreshingly light touch to a fact-based story with sobering implications." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating based on reviews, the film has a score of 69 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".