The President's Last Bang

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Movie: The President's Last Bang
Revised romanization: Geuddae geusaramdeul
Hangul: 그때 그사람들 / 그때 그 사람들
Director: Im Sang-Soo
Writer: Im Sang-Soo
Producer: Jae-myung Shim, Chul Shin
Cinematographer: Woo-hyung Kim
Assistant Director: Park Sang-Hyun
Release Date: February 3, 2005
Runtime: 102 min
Genre: Mystery / Comedy / Based on True Story
Studio: MK Pictures
Distributor: CJ Entertainment
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

Plot

South Korean President Park Chunghee came to power via military coup in 1961 and ruled for 18 years with near dictatorial powers. In October, 1979, students and civilians called for democracy and protested Park’s oppressive rule, but Park’s military easily crushed the protesters.

On October 26, 1979, the day will go down in South Korean history as the President’s Last Bang. While the President, his chief bodyguard and Chief Secretary have dinner with two female escorts, the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency will attempt to assassinate the President. Director Kim of the KCIA, along with his two tops aides will now try to change history by ending the life of this charismatic political leader.

Notes

In 2005, Ji-man Park, the only son of actual South Korean president Chung-hee Park, brought a libel lawsuit against the filmmakers for defaming of his father.
Ji-man Park sought to suspend the opening of the film and receive monetary compensation.
The Seoul Central Court ordered 3 minutes & 50 seconds of documentary scenes to be excised from the film and 100,000 Won awarded to Ji-man Park.
On appeal, July 2006, the film's production company, MK Pictures received the decision to restore the film to its original state. Plaintiff appealed.
In 2008, the lawsuit finally came to its conclusion. The Seoul High Court ordered the filmmakers to insert an explanatory title stating that the film was entirely fictional for future screenings and Ji-man Park must return 100,000 Won that he was awarded initially.

Cast



Han Suk-Kyu	Baek Yoon-Sik	Song Jae-Ho	Kim Eung-Soo
KCIA Chief Agent Ju	KCIA Director Kim	President Park Chun-Hee	KCIA Agent Colonel Min



Jo Eun-Ji	Kim Yun-Ah	Kim Sang-Ho	Bong Tae-Gyu
Banquet Guest	Singer	KCIA Agent Jang	Military Police

Additional Cast Members:

Jeong Won-Jung - President's Chief Bodyguard Cha
Kwon Byung-Gil - President's Chief Secreatry Yang
Jo Sang-Geon - Shim Sang-Ho
Lee Jae-Gu - Kwon Young-Jo (KCIA Chief Agent Ju's subordinate)
Choi Dong-Hoon - Army surgeon
Youn Yuh-Jung - Yoon-Hee's mother
Kim Byung-Ok - Colonel Kim
Jung Woo - Han Jae-Guk
Jo Jae-Yun - security guard
Kim Seung-Wook - KCIA Agent Won
Kwon Tae-Won - Restaurant Chef
Jung In-Gi - Director
Jeong Jong-Jun - Chief of Staff
Kim Yeong-In - Prime Minister Choi
Lee Dong-Yong - interrogation room
Kim Ki-Cheon - Boiler Kang
Lee Seung-Hoon - Major Lee
Kim Hyeong-Il - Security guard
Jo Duk-Je - Major Jo
Park Jin-Young - Brigadier General Kim
Kim Ki-Hwan - bodyguard for Head of Dept. Mr. Kim
Seo Hee-Seung - Deputy Prime Minister
Lee Do-Hyun - interrogation room detective
Kim Byung-Cheol - interrogation room suspect
Park Sang-Hyun - military police / officer
Hong Rocky - army headquarters sentry
Kim Jin-Min - Samcheongdong officer

Trailers

Image Gallery

Array

Film Festivals

2012 (18th) Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema - February 14-21, 2012 - Thématique : Brûlures de l'histoire
2012 (65th) Locarno International Film Festival - August 1-11, 2012 - I film delle giurie
2015 (14th) New York Asian Film Festival - June 26-July 18, 2015 - Myung Films

Comments

gasenadi Jan 29 2017 6:52 pm Can't beat Ki's exceptional review below. As for me, I have rarely guffawed in a political assassination movie as I did during parts of The President's Last Bang. Now to read up on that history!

gasenadi Jan 28 2017 5:05 am HOLY SMOKE! Just reading the scandal surrounding the film itself makes me want to see it. I'll check in after that - and probably finally getting to the PCH biography I've had on hold these last few years...

Ki Jan 16 2008 10:11 am The President’s Last Bang is based on a true incident; the assassination of South Korean President Park Chunghee. If you are not familiar with the political background of South Korea, perhaps some of the movie’s more controversial moments will become lost in translation. First a little back ground about the the era of President Park Chunghee.

President Park Chunghee was one of the more controversial figures in Korean history. His reign over South Korea began in 1961, after a (bloodless) military coup. When he ascended to power, the country was at an extremely fragile stage. South Korea was only 8 years removed from the Korean War and featured an economy that was nearly non-existent. At the time when President Park took control of the nation, the country’s per capita income was less than a $100. By the time his reign ended, South Korea’s per capita income increased by a factor of 20 and he has been widely credited for the country’s transformation into an economic powerhouse by shifting the focus of the economy into an export-oriented economy.

Unfortunately, President Park’s 18 year tenure was also renown for his disregard for human rights and near dictatorship like control over the country. One of President Park’s first actions, after taking over the country, was the creation of the KCIA (Korean Central Intelligence Agency). The KCIA was created to prevent another military coup and to suppress all potential enemies domestically and internationally. The KCIA eventually gained near unlimited powers. They could arrest and detain any person on any charge, which resulted in a climate of of extreme fear and repression. The director of the KCIA, Kim Jae-kyu, is the person responsible for the assassination of President Park on October 26, 1979.

Not only did The President’s Last Bang criticize Park’s regime for their disregard of human rights (the film featured an impressive scene with the camera panning across various rooms in the KCIA, interrogating and torturing citizens), but also portrayed President Park as a Japanese sympathizer. The film even showed President Park speaking in Japanese with his Korean aides. If you want to rile up the blood of Korean citizens, just show one of their leaders as a sympathizer to the Japanese! Although it may be fiction that President Park spoke in Japanese with his political allies, he was trained at a military academy in Manchuria when the Japanese occupied China and he eventually normalized relations with the Japanese in 1975. This would probably be the main reasons why the film portrayed President Park as pro-Japanese.

Beyond these criticism of President Park in The Presidents Last Bang, the film also protrayed Park as a womanizer, that indulged heavily in alcohol. It should be noted that, President Park lost his wife in 1974, because of a botched assassination attempt on his life. Soon after the death of his wife, he became more withdrawn and perhaps this event led to this alleged type of behavior. There were also a few brief scenes that showed Park and his aides discussing the role of democracy in South Korean and other countries. They referred to a handful of other politcal leaders, including a President that started out as peanut farmer from rural Georgia. I really can’t say how accurate these comments were, but regardless, it was fascinating to observe the way politicians view themselves against other contemporaries.

As you can see by now, The President’s Last Bang is extremely controversial for its critical view on one of Korea’s most historical figures. Beyond the political aspects of The President’s Last Bang, the film is a gripping tale of an assassination attempt and the dreams of a small group of individuals wanting to change the status quo for the betterment of their country.

The ensemble cast was impressive all throughout. Baek Yun-Shik, who played the the KCIA director responsible for the assassination of the President, stood out the most for his realistic portrayal of a government official fed up with politics and wanting to make a change because of that. Han Suk-Kyu gave perhaps his finest performance ever, as one of Director Kim’s top aides in the assassination attempt. I should also make a note about Eun-ju Ho who played the escort that was with the President during the assassination attempt. As always she was charming, but in every film I have seen her in (Afrika, Who Are You?, My Scary Girl and now the President’s Last Bang) she has always played a prostitute or a variation of one! I’m starting to get the impression that she is typecast?

The President’s Last Bang not only provided a gripping tale of the night of the assassination, but the film featured impressive flowing camera work, that really helped give the viewer a more intimate view on how the assassination occurred. The long pans across the building where the President was having dinner was as appealing aesthetically as it was informative. As much as the movie injected its own political views into the events leading up to the assassination, once the attempt was started, the film actually took on a near neutral/documentary like view on the events afterward.

If you like political dramas then check out The President’s Last Bang. The film is stylistic, (politically) sensational, and unique for its use of comedy & action in portraying a real life event. Fascinating from start to finish, The President’s Last Bang is the kind of film that I can watch many, many, many times.

The President's Last Bang

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