1987

For the past decade, South Korea has steadily presented motion pictures based on real life figures and events in its modern history. May 18 (2007) and National Security (2012) were solid movies, well-intended and meaningful, but generally deemed too serious to reach a large audience. A Taxi Driver (2017) was a huge commercial success, grossing $88 mil/12 mil admissions in the domestic box office. Still, many regretted that the movie left something to be desired in terms of cinematic quality.

And here at the end of the year that commemorates the 30 years of the June Democratic Uprising came a motion picture that delivers both an accurate account of history and ample entertainment value. Despite a complex plot with a large ensemble cast (K-movie fans will have a blast recognizing those faces!), the movie never loses its focus--not a single scene redundant or wasted. Opening with a death of a college student during a police interrogation, the movie spends the first half of its running time as a well-crafted political/crime thriller. Then more characters appear and more things happen...which all culminates in that fateful day in June 1987.

To those that are not familiar with contemporary Korean history, the plot may seem contrived. But almost all speaking roles in this move are based on real life figures, with their motives and actions intact, which I believe makes the whole story even more astonishing.

E. H. Carr defined that history is an unending dialogue between the past and present. I would say that this movie is a superb example of how a motion picture can facilitate such a dialogue.

10/10

This movie goes between a nail-biting spy thriller, a gorgeous display of nature amid chaos, a hard-to-watch document of torture, and a rousing cry of patriotism all without slipping into exploitation. Contrary to what some people have said, I thought the movie found a way to celebrate the need for democracy amid oppression without painting the oppressors as cartoonishly evil. Every character had a role to play in this ensemble, in a story that truly encompassed a nation. Definitely paying more attention to this director for providing this masterpiece.

As a Chinese, I'm so related to this Korean film. I admire that Korean people can create this film to commemorate their own history, which we could not. The film is even banned in the largest movie-ranking platform, Douban. What Korean people have now is all because of their sustaining fight against dictatorship and the fight is still going on. Thinking about the Tian'anmen Square in 1989 and Hongkong in 2019, wish Chinese people luck.

However, objectively, I believe this film needs more efforts to do on the discription of female characters. There is only one main female character who severely influenced by two male characters.

I'm Chinese, and I hope that, one day, my country can admit the fault about what happened in 1989 officially.

The story begins with a corpse, a student tortured to death by the anti-communist secret police. This should be another forgotten death, but there's a general sense of outrage and one after another, the officials whose paper trail would normally cover up the mess, refuse to cooperate. As the story snowballs, the lives of those involved, as well as the broader political situation, change significantly.

A thrilling and moving film, well directed and acted, as well as informative for those of us who don't know much modern Korean history.