A preview of a controversial movie about the assassination of former president Park Chung-hee drew crowds of lawmakers, but the late president's daughter and main opposition party leader was not among them.
The movie, titled "The People Back Then - The President's Last Bang", is directed by Lim Sang-soo and produced by Kang Je-gyu and Myung Film. It attracted public attention when the late president's son, Park Ji-man, applied for an injunction to stop its release. The preview was made possible after the court sided with the filmmakers in a first round of hearings last Friday, saying the preview was not part of a general release of the film.
The second round will take place this coming Friday, and the film is slated for general release on Feb. 3.
On Jan. 12, Park Ji-man filed for an injunction arguing that the film dishonored the late president by depicting Park Chung-hee as pro-Japanese and as having a complicated private life. Debate heated up when various civic groups protested against the injunction.
The movie focuses on the events of Oct. 26, 1979, the day of the assassination, through the eyes of Park Chung-hee's chief of intelligence Kim, and his right-hand man Ju. Kim and Ju are played by Baek Yoon-sik and Han Seok-gyu.
Over 100 politicians including members of the Culture and Tourism Committee in the National Assembly were invited to the preview session. But the president's daughter, Grand National Party leader Park Geun-hye, as well as Park Ji-man and singer Sim Soo-bong, who witnessed the assassination, had not been asked.
The reviews from the preview were mixed. Some viewers felt the film distorted historical facts, but others -- including the film's producers -- defended some of the liberties take as artistic license.
Others, including some of the lawmakers invited to the premiere, voiced concern that younger Koreans might not be able to distinguish fact from fiction in the film. Defenders of the film countered, however, by saying that Korean moviegoers were smart enough to weed out art from history.
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