THE NIGHT BEFORE STRIKE

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THE NIGHT BEFORE STRIKE

Jul 23, 2019

Writer by Pierce Conran
View1958

1990 | 107 MIN | Drama

DIRECTOR JANG Dong-hong, CHANG Yoon-hyun, LEE Jae-gu, LEE Eun-ki

CAST GANG Neung-won, GO Dong-eop, Shin Zong-tae, HONG Seok-youn

RELEASE DATE March 28, 1990

CONTACT Little Big Pictures

Email cjlee@little-big.co.kr

Though by no means the first, The Night Before Strike (1990) is considered one of the most important early independent films in Korean cinema. Made on a shoestring budget of KRW 20 million (USD 29,000 at the time the film was released), the film was produced by a collective of independent filmmakers who called themselves Jangsangotmae.

The Night Before Strike focuses on several members of the 200-strong workforce of the Dongseong Metal Company. Among them is Han-soo, who dreams of marrying his girlfriend Mi-ja and saving enough together to put his brother through college. Han-soo is close with his colleagues at work, who are growing restless as a result of poor pay and harsh conditions on the factory floor. When Executive Director Kim begins to sense that the workers may try to mobilize and form a union, among his tactics to suppress any activity is to bring the young and credulous Han-soo under his wing to spy for him while promising a leadership position. Despite Kim’s efforts, the workers slowly begin to educate themselves and build their courage until the situation comes to a violent head.

Jangsangotmae’s previous film, Oh, Dream Nation (1988), dealt with the trauma inflicted on those who bore witness to the atrocities committed during the Gwangju Democratization Movement of May 1980, while The Night Before Strike deals explicitly with the struggles of blue collar factory workers. As such the film falls very much within the Korean New Wave movement of the time, which included PARK Kwang-su’s seminal work Chil-Su And Man-Su (1988), which also foregrounded blue collar protagonists lamenting their situation and eventually standing up to face their oppressors with tragic consequences.

A group effort that counted four directors, three screenwriters, six producers, three cinematographers and five lighting directors, among others, The Night Before Strike was never granted a theatrical release due to its sensitive subject matter, yet it became a sensation through special screenings organized on college campuses, where it was reportedly watched by hundreds of thousands of students. The military government of the time tried to crack down on these screenings, at one point sending 1,800 riot police officers to bust up a screening at Jeonnam University, which of course led to an unintended raising of awareness for the film.

This landmark protest film received a 4K restoration last year courtesy of the Korean Film Archive and was screened at the Seoul Independent Film Festival. Almost 30 years after it was originally completed, the film was finally granted a proper theatrical release earlier this year by Little Big Pictures, while the Myung Films Cultural Foundation also released the film on Blu-ray for the first time.

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