FILM

A TAXI DRIVER BECOMES A COUNTRY

the Gwangju Uprising as political art

By Uijin Sohn

The uprising

The Gwangju Democracy Movement, also known as the Gwangju Uprising, began as a peaceful protest led by students and citizens calling for democratic reform and an end to military dictatorship, but the protests grew in size and intensity, leading to violent government repression, tragic confrontations and loss of life. The Gwangju Uprising was ultimately instrumental in South Korea's transition to democracy, sparking national outrage and spurring efforts toward greater political freedom and democratic reform. The movement is remembered as a symbol of the struggle for democracy and human rights.

Not a film about a great man: Napoleon need not apply

There are many ways to address political themes in movies or art, but they rarely deal with ordinary people. If we are watching a film about the French Revolution, we’re usually watching a succession of so-called great men making great decisions. If we’re watching a move about the joining of the seven kingdoms of ancient China, we’re usually watching a film about emperors, warlords, and heroic assassins. In other words, no matter what, political films tend to be about the big boys, big players – Napoleon, Lincoln, Mao. I find it interesting that, for me, the most effective film about the democratic rights movement in Korea is about someone who just doesn’t matter.

Jang Hoon's A Taxi Driver is a surprisingly deft political film. Why it’s a political film, what it says about Korean society, and how it goes about saying it, is all surprising and, in the end, moving. The context for the film is simple. It takes place during the Gwangju uprising and we see it from the perspective of a taxi driver, Man-Seok, and not a particularly successful one at that.

He’s a man who can be told what to do

Pay attention to his body language

One of the earliest and most striking scenes is Man-Seok’s landlord telling him to do a better job raising his daughter. Now, let’s put aside the fact that he’s raising her alone. The film wants us to zero in on a man who is so out of the loop that his landlord can give him child-raising advice. That’s sad. Generally, your landlord just wants your money; here, she thinks Man-Seok is so low a person that she can literally give him advice and order him around about how he should treat his daughter. Look at the look on his face when his landlord tells him this. So, what’s important here is that we’re seeing him in a specific social context. He’s a low man in the social hierarchy where people can just comment on his life.

600,000 km is a long way to…

A sense of quiet desperation 

…not have the money to get your damn car fixed. What the film wants us to know is that he is at one and the same time working like a dog and not getting anywhere economically. In the film, he does not waste money on himself or anything. He just works all the time, and so why is he still broke? He can’t even pay his monthly rent, borrows money from his friend, and can’t afford new shoes for his daughter.

He is a man who doesn’t mind stealing for money

Not exactly illegal, but not good form

In one of the earliest scenes of the film, Man-Seok secretly overhears another taxi driver's customer is willing to pay as much as one month’s rent for a ride. He hurries without finishing his food. When we see him toss aside his food, we know that this is a desperate man. But he’s not just a desperate man, he’s a desperate man who is only concerned about his own problems. That’s going to be important later. It’s true, he does steal another driver’s customer, but at the same time, it isn’t a crime. It’s just bad form.

Gwangju, a place that wasn’t welcoming

You can sense the danger escalating

All roads to Gwangju were completely controlled by the military. We know that this is a serious and dangerous situation, and that danger is always lurking in the background. The soldiers are rough, blocking access to Gwangju and pointing guns at innocent people. They don’t bother to give any reasons. So, one aspect of the film is that it makes clear that the government has declared martial law and that this insignificant man is in some way up against an entire regime, merely because of his job and his desire to survive at all costs.

The spiciness of kimchi

It's about to get spicy

As the night deepens, Man-Seok’s car breaks down. Man-Seok and his ride, a foreign journalist, are forced to stay at the house of a Gwangju taxi driver. It's a simple but important scene and Hoon handles it beautifully. The pain of the first taste of kimchi is not just comic, but represents the first painful steps it takes to truly understand another culture. Every culture is unique, every person is unique and kimchi captures an aspect of Korean that is sometimes difficult for outsiders to get. But Hoon goes further than this: he emphasizes the importance of modern society, of differing viewpoints, which requires diversity and mutual understanding.

Are taxi drivers heroes?

What does it take to become a hero?

Hoon takes advantage of a nice intersection between his film and what actually happened. During the uprising, taxi drivers carried injured protesters to hospitals and did everything they could to deliver goods and supplies. Usually, taxi drivers aren’t significant to our lives, but in this movie, they are heroes who reacted in the moment with incredible bravery. This makes the symbol of the taxi driver resonate with every Korean viewer. Yes, our hero, is an individual who sometimes makes dubious choices, but he is part of a mythology and symbolism that is easy to understand.

What it means to head into danger

He knows he must sacrifice everything!

There is a short sequence right before the climax that encapsulates the entire situation and what is at stake for Man-Seok. As I’ve said before, he’s raising his daughter alone and she’s waiting for him to come home. Before deciding to enter into the Gwangju uprising, he goes to a car repair shop and calls a friend, knowing that he could die (taxi drivers did die) and asks him to take care of his daughter. I can’t think of a more Korean and human gesture than this and it brings Korean audiences to tears. It is at this point that he becomes a full citizen in the broadest sense.

Taxis are revolutionary!

Here they go

As Man-Seok and the foreign journalist are driving back to the airport with crucial video footage of the uprising, soldiers begin to attack them. Suddenly, Gwangju taxi drivers appear out of nowhere and start crashing their taxis into the army’s jeeps and SUVs. It’s an incredibly exciting scene of ordinary people deciding that they are going to change the world. I want to remind you that when you risk your life like this, sometimes you lose your life. Many taxi drivers died in this confrontation and the movie makes clear that both they and Man-Seok are heroes. So, we can see in the film a huge arc. It starts with a man who is a no one and it ends with a man who becomes a hero for his country.

©Uijin Sohn and the CCA Arts Review