Fighter in the Wind

The movie “Fighter in the Wind” is a Korean martial arts movie that is based on a actual karate competitor, Yeung-Eui Choi , who actually went across the country of Japan to defeat martial arts masters after World War II. . The movie not only shows a lot of martial arts actions but also deals with the emotion of the main character; Bae-dal Choi. 

The first half of the movie tells why Bae-dal decided to train himself and never lose a fight ever again. In the beginning, Bae-dal is a young man who dreams of being a pilot. He hides in a back of a truck to go to japan’s air force training camp. However, he gets into a fight with one of the commanders at the military base, and gets defeated but fortunately manges to escape when America attacks the base. After escaping from the military base Bae-dal works at a Japanese market with another Korean immigrant. Again he gets defeated, and humiliated by Japanese gangsters in front of towns people. Bum-soo, who is another immigrant from Korea, stops the gangsters and rescues Bae-dal which inspires him to learn martial arts from him. After learning some martial arts from Bum-soo, Bae-dal goes around town and saves Japanese women from Amercian soilders and that’s how he meets Yoko, who he develops feelings for. However, Bae-dal’s master gets mudered by gangsters, and Bae-dal also gets knocked down and there he determines that he will never lose a fight again. So he leaves the town and goes into the mountains to train himself. 

First half of the movie helps the audiences to emotionally connect with the main character Bae-dal, so that they can understand why he decided to become a fighter and never lose a fight agian. 

After he returns, he goes across the country and defeats all martial arts masters in Japan including Kato, who humiliated him in the beginning of the movie. The movie ends with a scene where Bae-dal is fighting with a bull. 

In the very beginning of the movie, Bae-dal narrates “I am afraid of fighting. I am afraid of being beaten and losing. But I am more afraid of surviving as a cripple than dying while I am fighting”. In the end, he repeats this after he beating Kato. He also adds “However, I always try to find a new enemy”.This scene helps the audience to relate themselves to the main character and also understand why becoming a fighter was so important to Bae-dal. Also by showing many close up scene’s of Bae-dal’s face expressions tells the change of emotions. 

This movie definitely deals with a lot more emotions than other martial arts films. I personally was able to connect with the main character a whole lot better which it help me to enjoy this movie lot more than other typical martial arts films filled with actions!