'Peppermint Candy' is an ambitious movie with a protagonist directly involved in important political (a dictatorial regime, the Gwangju Massacre, torture) and socio-economic (trade unionism, the business world) issues. It is a strong meditation on the history of South Korea, its political problems and the violent repression of democratization movements by the government through the army and the police. These authoritarian interventions demoralized the population and broke the idealism of the South-Korean youth, with the protagonist of this movie as a pars pro toto. He is forced as a soldier to participate in the repression of a student and trade union uprising (the Gwangju Pro-Democracy Movement) and as a police officer in the torture of trade unionists.
For most non-Korean viewers the socio-political events in this movie are probably not well known. A (second) more explicit title for the various episodes would certainly have helped their understanding. Lee Chang-dong used brilliantly very effective symbols, such as people with disabilities (the destabilization of the population), a train for flashbacks or the title (and the distribution of mints during the different 'bitter' episodes) as a contrast with the fate of the main character.
This second feature film by Lee Chang-dong is very representative for the movies which could be shot in a freer and more open South Korean society from the 1990s on. Highly recommended.
For most non-Korean viewers the socio-political events in this movie are probably not well known. A (second) more explicit title for the various episodes would certainly have helped their understanding. Lee Chang-dong used brilliantly very effective symbols, such as people with disabilities (the destabilization of the population), a train for flashbacks or the title (and the distribution of mints during the different 'bitter' episodes) as a contrast with the fate of the main character.
This second feature film by Lee Chang-dong is very representative for the movies which could be shot in a freer and more open South Korean society from the 1990s on. Highly recommended.