įor many years, Gwangju’s Uprising was a forbidden term in South Korea – those who were on the side of the government during that time held the reins of nation. The Gwangju Uprising was a result of a continuous power tug-of-war between the government and the citizens of South Korea – mainly college students – that were advocating for democracy. The plot in the film mirrors the historical background of the Gwangju Uprisings. The film centers around the Gwangju Uprising that occurred from to and it is estimated to have led to 2,000 people being killed. The film was a notable commercial success: it was the second highest grossing film of 2017 in South Korea, and currently stands as the twelfth highest-grossing South Korean film in history. It was very positively received by critics, who praised its unique approach to depicting the Gwangju Uprising events, emotional weight, as well as the main character and his relationship with Hinzpeter, and was selected as the South Korean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. The film was released on August 2, 2017, in South Korea. It is based on German journalist Jürgen Hinzpeter's interactions with driver Kim Sa-bok however, as Kim's identity and real name were unknown at the time the film was made (Hinzpeter only knew him as "Kim Sa-bok"), most elements regarding his life and the events that happened to him outside of Gwangju are fictional. īased on a real-life story, the film centers on a taxi driver from Seoul who unintentionally becomes involved in the events of the Gwangju Uprising in 1980.
A Taxi Driver ( Korean: 택시운전사 Hanja: 택시運轉士 RR: Taeksi Unjeonsa) is a 2017 South Korean historical action drama film directed by Jang Hoon and written by Eom Yu-na, with Song Kang-ho starring in the title role, alongside Thomas Kretschmann.