A Taxi Driver (2017)

Una de las mejores películas coreanas que he visto.
La verdad es que soy una apasionada de la historia y me gusta mucho cuando las películas/series coreanas utilizan como escenario principal un hecho histórico, principalmente reciente, de la península.
Esta película se desarrolla en la masacre de Gwangju y cuenta una historia real. Durante ese periodo, la ciudad de Gwangju inició una revolución contra el gobierno dictatorial de Corea del Sur de aquel momento. Sin embargo, para que la revolución no se expandiera a otras partes del país se cortó toda la información sobre lo que estaba pasando. Sin embargo, el periodista alemán que protagoniza esta película estaba decidido a ir a la ciudad e informar sobre los sucesos, para ello cuenta con la ayuda de un taxista.
Recomiendo muchísimo esta película sin embargo, he de avisar que la historia y algunas imágenes son muy duras sobre todo pensando que fue un hecho que ocurrió. Aún así, por favor, denle una oportunidad.

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Before you even consider watching this movie, be prepared to have your heart moved beyond return.

Where do I even begin with the beautiful movie? I watched this movie in the cinemas without any idea what I was going to be watching, no trailer and no synopsis at all. But the movie captivated me from the beginning. On surface level, it seems like a light-hearted, slice of life type movie revolving around a loving father and his daughter, but little did I know it was so, so, so much more than that.

There’s so much to say about this movie, but I’ll start with entertainment factors. If you enjoy plotlines that are based of real-life stories, tackle the human experience, explore history and how they shaped the world today, all whilst mixed with comedy here and there, then this is for you. If you have no idea whether or not you like any of the just mentioned, then this movie essentially follows the experience of a normal human stuck in a political revolution. Now, some of you might hear politics and cringe instantly, but A Taxi Driver manages to convey the whole plotline and context effortlessly without delving deep into the political history at all, making it a foreigner friendly film if you don’t know much about Korean political history.

A Taxi Driver also really does an amazing job at capturing human emotion. There are parts of the movie that are just so raw, sometimes you hate the main character, sometimes you love him, but despite whatever his actions, we could still understand and sympathise. Of course some of the situations are probably dramatized for effect from the true story, but in terms of the overall context of protests and uprising, it definitely conveys the aspects involved in these parts of history.

I would definitely recommend a packet of tissues and some social justice warrior spirit to watch this. Overall I think it’s a very important film because it really sheds light on some issues that we take for granted today (e.g. a free media!). So if you’re not really into this type of entertainment, I would still suggest you watch this just to learn a little more about things like protests and democracy.

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