The President's Last Bang
Encyclopedia
The President's Last Bang The original title (in English, "The People of Those Days") refers to a famous Korean song of a similar title – "That Man of those Days". According to official sources, this song was performed by Sim Soo-bong
during the party the night of Park's assassination. In the movie, however, Sim Soo-bong
is summoned to perform Japanese enka
songs. 1 is a 2005 satiric black comedy film by South Korea
n director Im Sang-soo
about the events leading to and the aftermath of the assassination of Korean President Park Chung-hee
by his close friend and Korean Intelligence Agency
director Kim Jae-kyu.
The fictional portrayal of the former President has raised a storm of controversy, leading to a suit against the film by Park Chung-hee
's only son, Park Ji-man. In 2005, a ruling by the Seoul Central Court ordered that 3 minutes and 50 seconds of documentary footage (mostly of demonstrations) be censored out of the film. In response, the director had the excised footage replaced with a blank screen for its running time. During its theatrical run, both nationally and internationally, only the censored version was shown.
The ruling was appealed, and in August 2006 overturned, with the court issuing the following statement: "We must broadly confirm the right of free expression concerning the depiction of public historical figures." The court has also ordered MK Pictures, the production company that financed the film, to pay President Park's family 100 million won (roughly $105,000 USD).
fresh in the minds of many Koreans, this implies
affection for if not association with Korea's former colonizers.
The film starts out in the Blue House, where KCIA
Chief Agent Ju deals with the mother of a young woman who was one of Park's playmates, who has come with her daughter to offer her again to the President, by interrogating and intimidating them. KCIA
director Kim gets scolded by a doctor about his drinking, a direct result of having to attend President Park's drinking parties. Scenes of various officials and low officers making their way to a heavily-guarded safehouse follow, including Chief Agent Ju procuring an attractive young woman and the famous enka
and trot singer Sim Soo-bong
for the party.
During the dinner, President Park, his personal bodyguard Cha Ji-cheol, Director Kim, Chief Secretary Yang (appointed to the post to be Park's drinking buddy, portrayed as a total sycophant) discuss how to deal with demonstrators, with Cha berating Kim for not being repressive enough. Kim, having been agitated the entire day, decides then to kill Park, and hatches the plan with Chief Agent Ju and KCIA Col. Min.
Director Kim returns to the party, shoots Cha (who is unarmed) and Park, each with a single shot, jamming the pistol on this second shot. Soon thereafter, Agent Ju and Col. Min and a few minions kill the president's personal bodyguard staff and secure the building. Kim comes back with another gun and finishes off Cha and tells off Park before shooting him in the head. They move to make the scene resemble an ambush by North Korean forces, and Kim uses the political fear and tension to his advantage while convening a Cabinet Council.
Director Kim and Colonel Min meet with the Army higher-ups to sell them his version of events, but Chief Secretary Yang gets to them first and tells what really happened. With every agency under its own authority and the possibility of inter-agency war looming, the Army arrests Director Kim, leaving Agent Yu and Colonel Min helpless and confused. Realizing their fate, they call their families to say goodbye. Prime Minister Choi Kyu-ha ascends to the presidency, and the fates of those involved at the party, mostly execution, are listed.
.
Sim Soo-bong
Sim Min-kyung is South Korean singer known professionally as Sim Soo-bong. When she was a senior at Myongji University, she debuted in 1978 through MBC College Song Contest at which she performed her self-composed song "Geuddae Geu Saram" .-Personal life:She was born to a Korean traditional folk...
during the party the night of Park's assassination. In the movie, however, Sim Soo-bong
Sim Soo-bong
Sim Min-kyung is South Korean singer known professionally as Sim Soo-bong. When she was a senior at Myongji University, she debuted in 1978 through MBC College Song Contest at which she performed her self-composed song "Geuddae Geu Saram" .-Personal life:She was born to a Korean traditional folk...
is summoned to perform Japanese enka
Enka
is a popular Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern enka, however, is a relatively recent musical form which arose in the context of such postwar expressions of modern Japanese nonmaterial nationalism as nihonjinron, while adopting a more...
songs. 1 is a 2005 satiric black comedy film by South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n director Im Sang-soo
Im Sang-soo
Im Sang-soo is an award-winning South Korean film director and screenwriter.-Early life and film career:Im was born in Seoul. He studied sociology at Seoul's Yonsei University before making a move to The Korean Academy of Film Arts in 1989...
about the events leading to and the aftermath of the assassination of Korean President Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee assassination
Park Chung-hee, president of South Korea, was assassinated by Kim Jae-kyu, his security chief as the director of Korean Central Intelligence Agency , on Friday, October 26, 1979 at 7:41pm during a dinner at a KCIA safehouse inside Blue House presidential compound in Gungjeong-dong, Seoul. It is...
by his close friend and Korean Intelligence Agency
National Intelligence Service (South Korea)
The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
director Kim Jae-kyu.
The fictional portrayal of the former President has raised a storm of controversy, leading to a suit against the film by Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He seized power in a military coup and ruled until his assassination in 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth...
's only son, Park Ji-man. In 2005, a ruling by the Seoul Central Court ordered that 3 minutes and 50 seconds of documentary footage (mostly of demonstrations) be censored out of the film. In response, the director had the excised footage replaced with a blank screen for its running time. During its theatrical run, both nationally and internationally, only the censored version was shown.
The ruling was appealed, and in August 2006 overturned, with the court issuing the following statement: "We must broadly confirm the right of free expression concerning the depiction of public historical figures." The court has also ordered MK Pictures, the production company that financed the film, to pay President Park's family 100 million won (roughly $105,000 USD).
Plot
Almost the entirety of the film focus on the few hours before and after Park's assassination on October 26, 1979. Undoubtedly the most controversial aspect of the film is its portrayal of Park. In the film, he is shown to be a cowardly libertine, having late-night drinking parties, pawing young women, and in particular having much admiration for Japanese culture, to the point of occasionally speaking Japanese himself.The memory of Japanese OccupationKorea under Japanese rule
Korea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Japanese rule ended in 1945 shortly after the Japanese defeat in World War II....
fresh in the minds of many Koreans, this implies
Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea
The Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea is complex and multi-faceted. Anti-Japanese sentiment attitudes in the Korea can be traced back to the effects of Japanese pirate raids and the Japanese invasions of Korea , such as dismembering more than 20,000 noses and ears from Koreans and bringing them back...
affection for if not association with Korea's former colonizers.
The film starts out in the Blue House, where KCIA
National Intelligence Service (South Korea)
The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
Chief Agent Ju deals with the mother of a young woman who was one of Park's playmates, who has come with her daughter to offer her again to the President, by interrogating and intimidating them. KCIA
National Intelligence Service (South Korea)
The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
director Kim gets scolded by a doctor about his drinking, a direct result of having to attend President Park's drinking parties. Scenes of various officials and low officers making their way to a heavily-guarded safehouse follow, including Chief Agent Ju procuring an attractive young woman and the famous enka
Enka
is a popular Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern enka, however, is a relatively recent musical form which arose in the context of such postwar expressions of modern Japanese nonmaterial nationalism as nihonjinron, while adopting a more...
and trot singer Sim Soo-bong
Sim Soo-bong
Sim Min-kyung is South Korean singer known professionally as Sim Soo-bong. When she was a senior at Myongji University, she debuted in 1978 through MBC College Song Contest at which she performed her self-composed song "Geuddae Geu Saram" .-Personal life:She was born to a Korean traditional folk...
for the party.
During the dinner, President Park, his personal bodyguard Cha Ji-cheol, Director Kim, Chief Secretary Yang (appointed to the post to be Park's drinking buddy, portrayed as a total sycophant) discuss how to deal with demonstrators, with Cha berating Kim for not being repressive enough. Kim, having been agitated the entire day, decides then to kill Park, and hatches the plan with Chief Agent Ju and KCIA Col. Min.
Director Kim returns to the party, shoots Cha (who is unarmed) and Park, each with a single shot, jamming the pistol on this second shot. Soon thereafter, Agent Ju and Col. Min and a few minions kill the president's personal bodyguard staff and secure the building. Kim comes back with another gun and finishes off Cha and tells off Park before shooting him in the head. They move to make the scene resemble an ambush by North Korean forces, and Kim uses the political fear and tension to his advantage while convening a Cabinet Council.
Director Kim and Colonel Min meet with the Army higher-ups to sell them his version of events, but Chief Secretary Yang gets to them first and tells what really happened. With every agency under its own authority and the possibility of inter-agency war looming, the Army arrests Director Kim, leaving Agent Yu and Colonel Min helpless and confused. Realizing their fate, they call their families to say goodbye. Prime Minister Choi Kyu-ha ascends to the presidency, and the fates of those involved at the party, mostly execution, are listed.
Cast
- Song Jae-ho – Park Chung-heePark Chung-heePark Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He seized power in a military coup and ruled until his assassination in 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth...
- Han Suk-kyuHan Suk-kyuHan Suk-kyu is a South Korean actor.-Biography:Han is known as a family man, avid golfer, fisherman and voracious reader. He collects animation by Studio Ghibli and hopes to join Ghibli voice cast one day as a Korean-speaking character. While a student at the Film and Theater department of...
– KCIANational Intelligence Service (South Korea)The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
Chief Agent Ju - Baek Yoon-sikBaek Yoon-sikBaek Yoon-sik is a South Korean actor known for his characteristic acting with his near expressionless facial expression. Baek's son, Baek Do-bin is also an actor. Baek Yoon-sik was born in Seoul in 1947...
– KCIANational Intelligence Service (South Korea)The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
director Kim Jae-kyu
Pusan Film Festival
The President's Last Bang was restored and screened in its entirety, from October 13 to 18, 2006, at the 11th Pusan International Film FestivalPusan International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...
.