"A Taxi Driver" Movie Review

Title : A Taxi Driver / Taeksi Unjeonsa
Genre : Drama,Action,History
Director : Jang Hoon
Years : 2017
Duration : 2 Hours 17 Minutes
Stars : Kang-Ho Song, Thomas Kretschmann, Hae-Jin Yoo,Jun Yeol Ryu, Hyuk-Kwon Park

With " A Taxi Driver " the director Jang Hoon takes historical events in South Korea -- the imposition of martial law in 1980 by the dictator Chun Doo Hwan -- to construct an affecting what-if tale. The plot has a factual basis : the relationship between a German TV journalist, Jurgen Hinzpeter,and the locked-down city of Gwangju,at the time a hotbed of pro-democracy student rebllion and violent repression. While the real life name of the cabby and his ultimate fate are unclear(his name may have been Kim Sa-Bok), the film calls him Kim Man-seob and gives him a poignant back story and destiny.
Kim(Song Kang-Ho)is a garullous if gruff widowed father to an 11 years old girls,impatient with traffic jams resulting from protests in seoul. If it weren't for the back rent he owes,he wouldn't need to take hinzpeter (Thomas Krestchmann) to the besieged Gwangju. But when he does,they witness a huge street demonstration that is met with tear gas and military brutality,The soft-spoken Hinzpeter is determined to smuggle footage of the dictatorship's abuses to a german news organization,while the heterofore neutral Kim comes to realize the urgency of Hinzpeter's mission.
The film climaxes with a breathless escape from Gwangju,as Kim and Hinzpeter elude government vehicles with the aid of other cabdrivers. But most impressive is Mr.Song, who persualively conveys a wroking stiff's politically awakening.