Second Opinion / OTHER MEDIA : KOREA TIMES (English Edition) : ‘Falling Down’ Falls Down

The new Warner Bros. film “Falling Down” has upset some members of the Korean and Asian American communities..

A Korean grocer scene occurs early in the film. (The main character) D-FENS enters the store and asks the Korean American man behind the counter for change so he can make a phone call. The grocer refuses unless he purchases something. When the Michael Douglas character finds out the Coke he planned to buy will not leave him with enough change for the phone call, he launches into a wild rant. D-FENS, who has commandeered the owner’s baseball bat, starts methodically trashing the store.

Marcia Choo, program director at the Asian Pacific American Resolution Dispute Center . . . was especially disturbed by D-FENS’ use of a baseball bat. “Vincent Chin was murdered 10 years ago with a baseball bat; Mr. Kim (Hyung Soo Kim, a Korean American grocer who owned a store in South Central) was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat on Feb. 4.

“The whole selling point of this film is, ‘Have you ever felt like this?’ and ‘Don’t you feel like doing this?’ while showing Douglas on this violent rampage,” Choo said. “Although we might not condone the character, we’re obviously supposed to identify with him.”