History, nation and memory in south Korean cinema: Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy

Abstract

South Korean cinema entered in a new phase in the late 1980s as a group of young film directors started the National Film Movement (NFM). The new film-makers developed critical interests in contents, styles and languages of their filmic representation. They often exposed the scares of political oppression in the public memory of South Korean people. They examined the historical past and psychoanalytical dimensions of characters in their films. Peppermint Candy (Chang-dong, 1999) follows the footsteps of those NFM films. Lee Chang-dong’s film critically examines a time span of two decades, from 1979 to 1999 of the protagonist Kim Yong-ho’s life. In those eventful years South Korean people witnessed the rule of the military junta, popular uprisings and democratic movements, unprecedented state oppressions, coming of the civilian government in power, liberalization and privatization of the national economy and the International Monitory Fund crisis. These twenty years are important in the life of the protagonist of the film as well as in the national life of South Korea. Having disregarded his tender love of young age Yong-ho built his career in military service and established himself as a ruthless cadre. When he realized the mistake, it was too late. While critically investigating the role of the nation state, the film excavates collective memory of the people and delves into the individual psyche.