A Petal is not only very unique in its storytelling, but also the way in which we grow up with “girl” after she experiences the trauma of the Gwangju Uprising. We see how lasting the effects of the revolution are. and the film does not hold back on graphic details of the uprising–showcasing scenes depicting bodies being dragged through the streets, and students (children even) taken out by paratroopers with their mothers crying over them.
Directed by Zhang Yimou, Coming Home tells the story of former political prisoner (Chen Daoming)as he tries to help his wife (Gong Li) regain her memory and rediscover their love for each other.
Farewell My Concubine 霸王別姬 (1993)
Farewell My Concubine tells the story of the lives of two Peking opera actors, Cheng Dieyi (played by Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Fengyi Zhang), from their youth and rigorous training in the 1920s to the years after the traumatic Cultural Revolution. Starring the much-loved actress Gong Li as Juxian, the woman who comes between the men, the film was noteworthy for its honest depiction of homosexual love and society’s role in the betrayal of loved ones.
Though it has been embellished, A Taxi Driver is based on the true story of German reporter, Jürgen Hinzpeter and Korean taxi driver, Kim Sa-Bok. In the film, Kim drives Hinzpeter to Gwangju in order to aid in him covering the 1980 uprising but he soon finds himself regretting his decision after being caught in the violence around him. May 1980.