The President's Last Bang
| The President's Last Bang | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Hangul | |
| Revised Romanization | Geudttae Geusaramdeul |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kŭttae kŭsaramdŭl |
| Directed by | Im Sang-soo |
| Produced by | Shin Chul |
| Written by | Im Sang-soo |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Kim Hong-jib |
| Cinematography | Kim Woo-hyung |
| Edited by | Lee Eun-soo |
| Distributed by | MK Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
| Budget | $4.5 million |
| Box office | $6,287,722 |
The President's Last Bang (Hangul: 그때 그사람들; RR: Geudttae Geusaramdeul)1 is a 2005 satiric black comedy film by South Korean 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 also concluded that several scenes were an unjust smear against the former president and ordered MK Pictures, the production company that financed the film, to pay President Park's family 100 million won (roughly $105,000 USD).
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 film starts out in a luxurious brothel, 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.
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