May 18

Lovers of history and film are often disappointed when a movie is "based on actual events." Based on a 1980 democratization protest in Gwangju Korea, Hwaryeohan hyuga (May 18) fails to depict anything more than military abuse of power. Prior to seeing the film at the Hawaii International Film Festival, I was unaware of the massacre. I enjoy Korean television dramas and found this almost as entertaining, though in a movie-of-the-week fashion. Characters and actions depicted in the movie seem artificial and the filmmaker seemed afraid to depict any political view other than love for Korea and Gwangju. The many fans of Jun-gi Lee on hand for the screening were probably mollified by his presence. While I feel the film trivializes the sacrifices made by citizens to advance democracy in Korea, it motivated me to learn more about Gwangju.