The dawn of the 1980s marked a time of great chaos in South Korea. President Park Chung Hee, who ruled the country with an iron fist for over 17 years, had recently been assassinated. Another dictator, military strongman Chun Doo-hwan, quickly seized control in a coup d'état and began cracking down on pro-democracy movements composed of students and other South Korean citizens who stood up against his tyranny.
Director Hun Jang’s 2017 humbly titled film “A Taxi Driver” is a dramatization of real events that transpired in 1980. It’s mainly focused on the titular character, a taxi driver named Kim Man-seob (Song Kang-ho), but also on an intrepid West German journalist, Jürgen Hinzpeter (Thomas Kretschmann).
Things kick off in the sprawling South Korean capital of Seoul, where Kim ekes out a marginal existence as a cabby. We learn that he’s a widower and now dotes on his young daughter, Kim Eun-jeong (Eun-mi Yoo).
Kim is having a hard time supporting himself and his daughter, and is four months behind on their small apartment’s rent. Kim hears reports about students rising up against Chun Doo-hwan’s new dictatorial government in the city of Gwangju, but since it’s so far south of Seoul, he doesn’t take them too seriously, especially since he’s simply trying to survive.
One day, while eating lunch in his cab company’s cafeteria, he overhears a loudmouth fellow employee boasting about how he’ll soon be getting paid a large sum of money to transport a foreigner to Gwangju. Kim craftily intercepts the foreigner first, a man who happens to be Hinzpeter posing as a missionary, and later a businessman, although he’s really a journalist working for the German broadcast company ARD.
As Hinzpeter settles into the back seat of Kim’s taxi, a clash of cultures ensues, and they attempt to communicate through Kim’s spotty English skills. After driving for a while, the two men encounter a roadblock set up by the military, are turned back, and are forced to take various back roads to Gwangju.
Hinzpeter is determined to get to the southern city since he mistrusts the South Korean government’s official reports on the uprisings, which underplay their severity. Kim is equally motivated to complete the trip and thus solve his current money problems.
Eventually, Kim and Hinzpeter come across a truck full of student protesters when they reach Gwangju and meet Gu Jae-sik (Ryu Jun-Yeol), who proves useful because of his English skills. They also learn of the human rights atrocities being committed by the military and that martial law has been imposed on the city.
Whereas Kim originally thought the student protesters were annoying and troublesome, the violent crackdown on dissent in Gwangju changes his mind, and he begins to use his prior military experience to aid the protesters. Other cabbies join the burgeoning resistance movement against the brutality of the soldiers. Hinzpeter also risks his life by capturing on film all of the chaos unfolding in the city in what would later be referred to as the Gwangju Uprising or, alternately, the Gwangju Massacre.
The film starts off as a comedy-drama about a humble Seoul cabbie and gradually turns into a buddy road movie with hectic action scenes and characters with interesting motivations. In the movie’s opening scene, Kim sings along to a catchy pop song playing on his cab radio, which instantly makes him relatable, while toward the end he backs up his new friend, Hinzpeter, and also helps to rescue ordinary citizens in need.
The film does not highlight any martial artists or grand figures making highbrow decisions, just everyday folks exhibiting tremendous bravery in the face of tyranny and relying on a shared sense of humanity and community, even when speaking different languages.
“A Taxi Driver” is an engaging and educational historical drama that sheds light on a tumultuous period of South Korea’s history. It’s also well-paced and features great performances by its talented cast.
“A Taxi Driver” is available on Hoopla, Roku, and Amazon.
