그때 그사람들 The President's Last Bang (2005)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seoul Exhumes the Past, And Conservatives Cry Foul

 

By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 3, 2005; Page A15

 

SEOUL, South Korea -- A film that portrays Park Chung Hee, the dictator who ruled South Korea for nearly two decades until his 1979 assassination, as a philandering tyrant with ties to Japan is part of an unprecedented spasm of historical revisionism roiling the country's business and political elites and damaging pro-U.S. conservative forces.

 

Produced in secret because its contents are so potentially explosive, the movie, "The President's Last Bang," is a partially fictionalized account of the killing of Mr. Park by his own intelligence chief. In the film, the killer calls Mr. Park by the Japanese name the president adopted when serving as a soldier for Imperial Japan, and then shoots him in the head, proclaiming victory for "democracy."

 

The movie, which is set to open here today, comes as South Korea is digging up its past, hunting those who collaborated with Japanese colonial rule and debating how to treat those who supported the country's own military dictators.

 

This wrenching re-examination has been prompted by liberal politicians -- in control of the presidency and Parliament for the first time in the nation's history -- in part to discredit conservative opponents by pointing up their links to Korea's former Japanese colonial masters and repressive home-grown regimes.

 

For South Korea, this is anything but ancient history. Newsreel footage of Mr. Park's state funeral, spliced into the end of the new movie, features close-ups of Mr. Park's daughter Park Geun Hye, who now is head of the conservative opposition Grand National Party.

 

Conservative lawmakers have condemned the movie. Mr. Park's son has sued the film's makers for defamation. A Seoul court on Monday ruled the producers must remove some scenes, including footage of Ms. Park, or it would block distribution of the movie. MK Pictures, which made the film, says it will contest the ruling.

 

The upheaval goes far beyond usual partisan bickering and is part of a much broader antiestablishment wave. Koreans who battled the generals who ruled here in the 1970s and 1980s are rising to positions of power in society and moving to break the hold of the old elite -- many with strong ties to Japan and the U.S. -- which has dominated politics and the economy for decades.

 

"This is a new generation. They don't have the same baggage of the past, so they can dare to do this kind of thing," says Kim Yong Deok, a historian and dean of the graduate school of international studies at Seoul National University. "So many things in our history have just been hidden. They need to be cleared."

 

The National Assembly passed a law late last year setting up a committee to investigate South Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese authorities during the colonial period. Japan annexed Korea in 1910, and Korea was liberated in 1945 after Japan's defeat in World War II. The government also wants to probe past abuses by military governments and those who served in them. And it has declassified documents showing how the American-backed Mr. Park cut a deal with Japan for development aid in exchange for letting Tokyo off the hook for claims by individual Korean citizens.

 

A poster for South Korean movie 'The President's Last Bang'

All of this is strengthening the hand of liberal parties and dealing a significant blow to the pro-U.S. conservatives here at a critical time. The U.S. and South Korea are working to redefine their 50-year-old military alliance, while at the same time struggling to maintain a unified front as they confront a nuclear North Korea.

 

It also could help the government's liberal economic agenda, which proponents say is focused on achieving a more equitable distribution of wealth. Critics say the administration of President Roh Moo Hyun is penalizing the wealthy and pursuing antibusiness policies, such as measures that seek to reduce family control of the country's major conglomerates.

 

"The president wants to rewrite history. He thinks existing history was written in favor of the conservative mainstream," says Park Jin, a member of the National Assembly from the opposition Grand National Party. "But you have to do that very carefully and not through the prism of politics."

 

A number of venerable Korean companies might be affected by the collaboration investigations. Among those accused by some scholars of cooperating with the Japanese or profiting under colonial rule: Chosun Ilbo, one of the country's largest newspapers and its leading conservative media voice; and the Doosan group, a large conglomerate with interests in construction, beverages and publishing.

 

Chosun Ilbo said that during the Japanese colonial period the paper may have done things that "were both meritorious and things that were mistakes." It said that both should be considered and "we should not highlight only the mistakes."

 

Kim Jin, vice president of Doosan Corp., said that since Doosan, founded in 1896, "led economic activities" in Korea during Japanese colonial rule, "some people assume that ... it must have cooperated with the Japanese. But that is not correct."

 

Some experts also suggest that South Korea's largest steelmaker, Posco, could face lawsuits. When the Park government cut its secret deal with Japan, much of the money it received was channeled to Posco, then a state-controlled enterprise, to boost the country's fledgling steel industry. And experts say victims of the Japanese colonial period may try to seek compensation from Posco that they have so far been unable to win from Tokyo.

 

A Posco official, who asked not to be named, said no one has yet sought compensation from the company and said victims of the Japanese should pursue the matter with the South Korean government, not the steelmaker.

 

New movies and books are looking at South Korea's past with a new -- and skeptical -- eye. The film about Mr. Park's demise uses dark humor to look at the nature of his autocratic regime and personal foibles. Mr. Park is shown speaking Japanese with aides and is shot dead while in the company of two women -- one a famous singer -- brought to entertain him.

 

"I wanted to reveal the truth about the regime and Park Chung Hee," says the film's writer and director, Im Sang Soo. Mr. Im, who was 17 years old when Mr. Park was assassinated, says he grew up frustrated at the inability of people in South Korea to speak honestly about the late president.

 

Criticism of Mr. Park and discussion of his service in the Japanese Army and his ties to Japan were discouraged when Mr. Park was in power. His successors also clamped down on free ｅxpression. "I wouldn't have been able to make this movie before now," Mr. Im says. "Korea is changing very rapidly."

 

Koreans don't like to discuss Mr. Park's connections to Japan, which is still widely reviled for its role as colonizer of Korea in the first half of the 20th century, says Mr. Im. Mr. Park served in the Japanese Army, fighting Korean partisans. "It's a tragedy of modern Korean history that Park Chung Hee could become president of this country after independence from Japan," Mr. Im says.

 

Liberal leaders say truth-telling is necessary for the nation to move on, and have put it at the head of the national agenda, despite other pressing problems such as a flagging economy and the North Korean nuclear standoff. Many see it as a way of avenging their own treatment during right-wing investigations of communist sympathizers. But it is turning into a messy fight.

 

Many conservative, older Koreans look back at the Park era with nostalgia. They say they yearn for a strong leader, who they contrast with the current president, Mr. Roh, and the torrid economic expansion that Mr. Park oversaw. Supporters of Mr. Park say his actions were necessary to turn South Korea into an independent, industrialized country. The excavation of the past is also forcing the nation to confront difficult issues about what constituted collaboration with the Japanese, and what was necessary to survive the occupation.

 

--Seah Park contributed to this article.

 

Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com

 

 

 

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110728572394142578,00.html

 

 

 

 

 

영화 '그때 그사람들' 논란 속 개봉

 

법원으로부터 가처분 신청 일부 인용 판결을 받은 '그때 그사람들'이 3일 전국 극장에서 개봉했다.

대구 지역에서 일부 시민들이 개봉 반대 시위를 벌인 것을 제외하고는 대부분 특별한 사고 없이 상영은 진행되고 있다.

정확한 관객 수 집계가 나오지 않았지만 첫날 스코어는 평일인 점을 감안하면 다른 경쟁작들에 비해 뒤지지 않는 수준이다.

서울 종로 한 대형 극장의 입회인(관객 수 확인을 위해 배급사가 극장에 파견하는 인력)은 "'그때 그사람들'은 `말아톤'이나 '공공의 적2' 같은 다른 경쟁작과 비슷한 수준으로 관객이 들고 있는 듯하다"고 말했다.

제작사 MK픽쳐스의 이윤정 팀장은 "평일인 까닭에 영화에 대한 반응을 점치는 것은 이르다"고 전제하며 "대단한 흥행은 아니지만 예상했던 것 만큼의 관객수는 기록하고 있는 것 같다"고 설명했다.

이 팀장은 이어 "주 관객층의 연령대가 다른 영화에 비해 높은 편이기 때문에 주말에 현장예매를 통해 영화를 관람하거나 설 연휴에 극장을 찾는 20대 이상의 관객들로부터 좋은 반응을 기대하고 있다"고 덧붙였다.

영화가 개봉한 후 이 영화의 홈페이지(www.peopke2005.co.kr) 게시판은 이 영화에 대한 원색적인 비난글들과 함께 영화의 관람평이 잇따라 올라오고 있다. 영화를 본 사람들의 평은 대체로 긍정적인 편이다.

네티즌 'Lunamoth'씨는 "(개인적으로) 영화를 충분히 긍정적으로 평가한다. 환상으로 도피하지 않고 시대의 폐부를 외면하지 않고 조금씩 건드려간 점에서 그렇다"는 글을 남겼으며 다른 네티즌 '김소희'씨는 "온라인분은 매진이 거의 되어서 아침에 현장에서 구매했다. 앞뒤 삭제된 부분이 어떤 부분인지 아니까 많이 아쉬웠고 안타까웠지만 하루동안의 일을 밀도있고 흥미진진하게 다뤄 흥미로웠다"고 평가했다.

또 "그 시대에 살지 않았던 사람으로서 동감이 가지는 않지만 계속 바뀌는 상황속에 약간의 스릴감도 있었고 안타까움도 있었다"(개구리), "하루 동안의 일을 영화화한 것이라 자칫 지루하지 않을까 걱정이었는데 밀도 있게 스토리가 진행된 것 같다"(서울시민) 등의 호평도 있었다.

반면 "정치적인 의도도 없고 그렇다고 대단하지도 않는 3류영화에 불과했다. 그냥 사회의 관심을 불러 일으켜 흥행을 한번해보자는 그런 영화인것 같아서 허탈감을느꼈다"(속았다!쩝..)라는 의견도 있었다.

10.26 사태를 소재로 한 영화 '그때 그사람들'은 박정희 전대통령의 아들 박지만씨가 고인에 대한 명예훼손이라며 제기한 상영금지 가처분 신청에 대해 법원이 일부 장면 삭제를 조건으로 상영을 허용한 바 있으며 제작사는 3분50초 가량의 다큐멘터리 장면을 무지(검정색 화면) 처리한 채 상영하고 있다.

(서울=연합뉴스)

http://www.donga.com/fbin/moeum?n=culture$l_701&a=v&l=3&id=200502030308

 

 

 

 

▲그때 그사람들 = 10.26 사태를 소재로 한 영화. 박정희 전대통령의 아들 박지만씨가 고인에 대한 명예훼손이라며 법원에 상영금지 가처분 신청을 냈고 법원은다큐멘터리 세 장면을 삭제하는 조건으로 상영을 허용했다.

`눈물', `바람난 가족' 같은 전작에서 이 시대의 청춘들과 가족들의 모습을 보여주며 주류의 허위에 시니컬한 비웃음을 던지던 임상수 감독은 같은 어조로 민감하고 중요한 역사임에는 분명하지만 비웃음을 살만한 가능성이 농후한 `그때 그날'에눈길을 돌린다.

전작들과 마찬가지로 이 시대를 보는 감독의 시선은 여전히 `쿨'(Cool)하다. 영화의 전반적인 톤은 정공으로 무언가를 공격하기보다는 그 시대를 뭉뚱그려 비꼬는듯한 블랙코미디의 느낌이다.

영화 최고의 미덕은 비판도 없었던 역사에 대한 감독의 `장난질'에 있다. 무언가의 두꺼운 껍질 속에서 본질이 드러나지 않은, 그래서 제대로 된 평가도 없는 그때 그시절에 대해 영화는 진지한 말투를 버리고 `쿨'하게 되짚고 있다.

 

 

 

http://www.donga.com/fbin/moeum?n=culture$l_701&a=v&l=8&id=200502030063