The President's Last Bang
Director: Im Sang-soo
Year: 2005
Production Company: MK Pictures
Running Time: 104 minutes
In 1961 Colonel Park Chung-hee led a coup to
overthrow the civilian government in Korea and installed himself as the
ruler for the next 18 years. Earlier in his career he had graduated from
a Japanese military academy in Manchuria and had fought in their army against
the Chinese. After the war he joined leftist elements that were fomenting
rebellion, but after being caught he ratted out his colleagues and was
allowed to stay in the military. After the coup, he was coerced by the
U.S. government into re-introducing democracy and was elected in 1963.
During his years in power Korea began its dynamic economic growth as a
major exporter of goods – but he also clamped down heavily on personal
freedom with brutal methods that led to a growing protest movement among
the youth. In 1979 he was shockingly assassinated by his own director,
Kim Jaegyu, of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. This film is about
that assassination.
The director received a fair amount of flack for
his portrayal of Park – not so much for recounting his repressive tendencies
but rather for his sexual proclivities, his fondness for all things Japanese
(when he established relations with Japan in the 1960’s it led to rioting
in the streets), his opaque dullness and his questionable intellect. Mind
you, this is not a political thriller – instead it more closely resembles
a dark slapstick comedy that chortles constantly at the characters. Everyone
in the film is basically portrayed as a nitwit and it’s as if The Three
Stooges were behind the assassination. At one point during the assassination
the gun jams and the killer has to run around trying to find another gun
to finish the job.
The reasons for the Director of KCIA (Baek Yoon-shik
– the CEO in “Save the Green Planet”) to kill the President (Song Jae-ho)
is never coherently addressed – he simply can’t seem to stand the fellow
for his sexual activities, his height and his annoying personality – and
so decides to shoot him at a small dinner party with the help of two of
his men (Han Suk-kyu being one of them in a marvelously muddle-headed turn).
But they haven’t really thought it out at all and have no plan for the
aftermath as they just hope things will fall happily in place for them.
They don’t. I have no idea how accurate or realistic any of these portrayals
are – could idiots like this run a government (well clearly so with Bush
and company) – but either way this film makes for a fairly amusing and
at times outrageous outing that unfortunately rather fizzles towards the
end – but then so did their plot.
Rating: 7.5
Trailer
Reviewed: 01/06
Previous films from Director:
A Good Lawyer’s Wife (2003)
Tears (2000)
Girl’s Night Out (1998)
