Fighter in the Wind (2004)

Fighter in the Wind (2004)

Release Date: 6 August 2004 (South Korea)
Quality: DVDRip
Language: Japanese | Korean | English
Runtime: 120 min
Director: Yun-ho Yang
Company: Big Blue Film, Cinema Epoch (U.S.)
Movie Info: IMDb
Cast: Dong-kun Yang, Aya Hirayama, Masaya Katô, Tae-woo Jeong, Doo-hong Jung, David Joseph Anselmo, Michael Frederick Arnold, Han-garl Lee
Genre: Action | Biography | Drama
Size: 304MB

Plot: At the tail-end of World War II, Choi Bae-dal is a young Korean man who longs to be able to fly fighter planes. Stowing away to Japan in order to join their air force, Bae-dal's first experience of the country is when a con-man tries to steal his money. Bae-dal discovers that the man is a fellow Korean called Chun-bae (Jung Tae Woo), who has survived the harsh treatment of Koreans in Japan by turning to petty crime. With their different motives: Bae-dal driven by desire for action and Chun-bae needing to escape from some gangsters, the two Koreans stow away in a truck to the air force training camp.

The commander in charge of the camp is a pompous imperialist called Kato (Kato Masaya). Having mistreated the two Koreans, he is amused by Bae-dal's fighting spirit and says that if Bae-dal can beat him with his inferior "foreign" fighting style, he will release them. The two men fight with Kato easily defeating Bae-dal, but an American attack on the airforce base allows Bae-dal and Chun-bae to escape.

Later, Bae-dal is found helping Chun-bae to run a pachinko stall in a Japanese market place. When local gangsters try to take protection money from Chun-bae, Bae-dal tries to defend him but is beaten up and humiliated by the gangsters. His ordeal is ended by the intervantion of Bum-soo (Jung Doo-hong), a martial arts expert from his home town who had also emigrated to Japan. Bum-soo invites Bae-dal back to the circus where he, and many fellow Korean immigrants, work and where he is attempting to build a decent standard of living for his countrymen. After some persuasion, he agrees to teach Bae-dal some of his more sophisticated fighting style.

Meanwhile, Bae-dal has taken to working as a rickshaw driver, honing his fighting skills by defending Japanese women from the rapacious advances of American servicemen. His success at protecting the women makes him something of a local hero, although his real identity is not known. One of the women he protects is the beautiful Yoko (Aya Hirayama), with whom he strikes up a romantic relationship.

When Bum-soo is killed by local gangsters, the Koreans from the compound vow revenge and attack the Japanese gangs. The fight ends abruptly for Bae-dal when he is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head. Bae-dal, vowing to never again lose a fight, retreats to the mountains where, living in his karate gi, he trains day and night; running in the mountains, lifting tree trunks and using makeshift training equipment to harden his body and fighting spirit through austerity.

Returning from the mountains, Bae-dal takes a Japanese name: Masutatsu Oyama, and sets about challenging the best fighters Japan has to offer. Wearing his ragged karate gi and looking like a cave-man with his unkempt appearance, Oyama challenges the first dojo he passes. He defeats every fighter in the dojo - often with only a single strike. ~wikipedia~

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