When Chon T’aeil was fighting for the accomplishment of labor law, he wrote “I wish I can have a friend who goes to college.”. We can simply tell that in the 1960s, there was a gap between intellectuals and workers. Although Chon is heroic for dedicating his young life to democracy, although the self-immolation of Chon is even considered a “religious sacrifice”, the fact that Chon had no other choice but to flame himself to call for attention is desperate.

In the 1970s, we saw the educated and the working-class collaborated through Kim Yongsu, an intellectual who was writing the biography of Chon, ’s marriage with Shin Jung-soon, a labor woman. However, the social-political situation did not change much: labor rights were still not ensured. The nation was under President Park Chung-hee’s control for these two decades. Under the seeming miracle of rapid economic growth lead by him lie the life of hundreds of thousands of workers; but at least, there were people like Kim who could fight with their pens.

At the period when the movie could be produced and published in 1990s, the Korean society slightly improved its labor rights, but there was still not properly settled. As the beginning of the movie displayed, “It’s been five years since Chon’s death, the public seem to start forgetting him”, both Kim Yongsu, the writer of the book and Park Kwang-su, the director of the movie hoped for an everlasting remembrance of Chon T’aeil, the spirit of resistance. By addressing empathy of the public, Park wished minjung can gain reflection of themselves as well as current society, because every one of them is a single spark—those who donated money to help publishing the movie are Chon T’aeil, those who spoke for human rights are Chon T’aeil.

大韓民國——他們享受的今天是通過一代代人的努力爭取來的，前赴后繼的動力來自勇氣與孤獨，朝著自由的明天奮進。

很能理解這種永無出頭天的感受。自身的處境，女工們被摧殘，驅(qū)使全泰壹想到年幼的妹妹，他決心奮戰(zhàn)到底。

分別以黑白和彩色影像并置講述兩個勞工抗?fàn)幑适拢瑢Ｖ普疅o情鎮(zhèn)壓抗議群眾。

如果沒有他們的努力和犧牲，漢江奇跡、亞洲四小龍、韓國今日的民主和富足便不復(fù)存在。

時光仿佛定格在全離開的那個下午，泰壹瘦弱的身軀走進幽徑深處。

工人們的血淚史是一封寫不完的信，泰壹用自己的生命寫就濃墨重彩的一筆。后來者將永遠銘記他留下的火紅足跡。

畫面忽黑白忽彩色，除了表現(xiàn)兩段故事間隔的年代。幾組類似畫面的轉(zhuǎn)場，使本片有種間離感。

全和工友接連走訪黑心工廠，有的工人一天工作十六個小時，沒有休息日、沒有生理假。昏暗的工廠沒有安裝照明燈，沒有通風(fēng)扇，大量工人患上眼疾，長期操作機器導(dǎo)致手被損傷。連續(xù)加班還被注射類似興奮劑的東西。

想到拖欠工資的狗東西，不禁頭皮發(fā)麻。導(dǎo)演的工作，就是與人較量。

一列火車、一盞油燈，夜深人靜時熟睡的家人擠在逼仄的房間。全泰壹決意以身殉道。

他全身澆滿汽油，點燃手中的勞動法，奔向自由廣場。傳來人群騷動和吶喊聲。

“我們不是機器，遵守勞動法”

那些助紂為虐的狗腿子們，我不信你們猜得中我們的結(jié)局。我不信這世上沒有正義。我們絕不放棄對權(quán)利的爭取，自己救自己。我們絕不會讓他們的犧牲付諸東流。

一段社運往事，一部具有力量的電影！ 一部關(guān)于韓國上個世紀(jì)七十年代工人運動的先鋒——青年全泰壹的電影。影片由兩條故事線交織展開，黑白影像描寫的是全泰壹領(lǐng)導(dǎo)周圍的工人階級進行游行示威以爭取《勞動法》里所規(guī)定的權(quán)益，彩色影像則描繪了一位因認同和欽佩全泰壹而不惜被警察監(jiān)察緝捕、與愛人分離也要為之寫下傳記的知識分子。 資本家的無情剝削、骯臟破敗的工作環(huán)境、不公的待遇、不斷壓迫工人的社長、極度疲勞的工作時長等一系列讓全泰壹喚醒了自己的內(nèi)心，想要打破非人般的現(xiàn)狀。起初，他通過組織工會、走訪勞動局、與報社合作、與資本家談判、上街游行等手段，但是最終都是被打壓、被欺騙。 全泰壹終于認清了現(xiàn)實，他似乎絕望了，同時也做出了最激進、最勇敢、最震撼的方式——通過自焚（有如殉道一般）來喚起人們繼續(xù)斗爭的意志以及想要改變現(xiàn)有的不公體制。 那位為他寫傳記的知識分子的理想其實與全泰壹的理想是一致的，都是致力于工人階級的權(quán)益斗爭和披露社會的不公。 在樸正熙的獨裁統(tǒng)治下，全泰壹的光輝形象的歷史意義不僅在于他成為了往后工人運動、學(xué)生運動的精神圖騰，也激勵和喚醒了像影片中那樣的知識分子，他們相互聯(lián)手、共同抗?fàn)帲瑸槊裰骰鐣倪M程注入了具有生命力的強大力量。這時，也就不難理解影片的英文名“A Single Spark（星星之火）”的含義了。 這部電影是有7000多人共同籌款而拍成的，而他們所有人的名字也一一在片尾字幕中出現(xiàn)。 非常值得一提的是，作為此片編劇之一的李滄東之所以成為一名導(dǎo)演，就是因為受此片導(dǎo)演樸光洙的邀請為其電影《Starry Island》擔(dān)任編劇和副導(dǎo)演，從此開啟了他的電影創(chuàng)作生涯。