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The story begins at a train station where a Seoul schoolteacher arrives at the scene of a fight. He watches a local break up the brawl between two men. Another scene depicts a dusty road in wartime Daegu lined with thatched roof houses that form a shantytown around the original city. The influences of American culture prevail over the scenes. Refugee children play baseball in clothing straight out of 1950s American comic strips. Civilian life behind the U.S.-South Korean perimeter is depicted as impoverished but peaceful: Children bend vines in an apple orchard and swim together in a creek where they learn to stop fighting and get along. Though they watch their elders struggle to make ends meet, there are no obvious references to war in the film. Chung Chong-hwa of the film archive said the film shows the influence of post-World War II Italian classics like "The Bicycle Thief" in South Korean cinema at a time when war, poverty and desperation marked everyday life. Chung said the style of "The Street of the Sun" influenced other filmmakers, including prolific South Korean director and producer Shin Sang-ok. Shin was kidnapped in 1978 by Kim Jong Il, son and eventual successor of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, and spent years making movies for the cinephile and future dictator before escaping with his wife. Min, who made five films in a relatively low-key career, had a life story that reflects the divisions that still haunt the two Koreas. Min's son, Min Byoung-hak, said Tuesday that the director's younger brother, Min Jung-sik, was on the north side of the 38th parallel when the Koreas were divided, and ended up making propagandistic films for the Pyongyang government. Even in South Korea, which was led by military dictators for decades, filmmakers were often prevented from making the films they wanted to make as late as the 1990s, according to Darcy Paquet, founder of Koreanfilm.org. South Korean film directors are now a growing presence on the international film festival circuit. The modern South Korean classic "Old Boy" was remade by U.S. film director Spike Lee and will be released this fall.
[Associated
Press;
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