May 18



May 18, 2007 dir. Kim Ji-hun



“Do you know what is more powerful than weapons? People”

-         Park Heung-Soo (May 18, 2007)

This quotation of the film denotes the nature of the events that took place in Gwangju in May 1980. It shows the spirit of a city fighting against the repression of Chun Doo-hwan’s military dictatorship, students looking forward the democracy after the death of Park Chung-hee.

May 18 is another example of the awakening of the social conscience in the Korean cinema, product of this historical situation. Other films such as A petal (1996) or Peppermint Candy (2000) depicted, previously, Gwangju slaughter.

May 18 relates a very critic, realistic and hard images of the event. On one side, a group of soldiers (they don’t even know at the begining) sent to the south to control the student’s demonstration against the martial law, and on the other side, a group of young people enjoying their life without knowing what will happen to them.

Kang Min-woo and his brother Kang Jin-woo

The martial law and the military presence in Gwangju triggered the protest of the university students what finally derived in the ‘brutal’ attack of the military army. This situation would not finish till 27^th of May.

The movie depicts with a very hard reality what happened in Gwangju. One of the most powerful images in terms of significance it’s when Gwangju citizens joined by the belief that the military army will leave Gwangju, and suddenly while they are singing the anthem, being proud of their nation, the army starts to shoot them. The cruelty showed in this moment with the korean anthem as background music is not unique. A child crying with his father dying in his hands or Kang Min-woo in shock after seeing the assassination of his younger brother are some other examples.

Comparing these images with some of the real ones (available on the internet), the film seems to represent the situation very close to the reality and it is impossible not to think that, what is on the film, really happened; soldiers hitting and shooting without any compassion toward people without weapons. And the Gwangju’s citizens finally will start a rebellion taking weapons to finally die defending a cause.

Maybe the most appealing point of the movie is that it is based on a true story. And, although not excellent, the cast is fine and the characters, still being quite typical roles, are able to capture the attention of the audience and move them.

And the last message is clear “please remember us, don’t forget us”