This is a rarity--one of the very few documentary films that gives access to North Korea and its totalitarian state. Even when the North Koreans tried to put on their very best face, the country comes off as a giant gulag where all thought is controlled by the state and the people live in total slavery.
So why would North Korea, the most closed society on Earth allow a documentary crew to come to their land since they have steadfastly refused to allow others in the past? Well, Lisa Ling and her National Geographic crew weren't entirely honest about why they were there. It seems that an international group of eye surgeons were going to North Korea to do thousands of free surgeries and the crew claimed they were there to document this. While they did do this, they also added material to put the entire situation in context--with shots of the Demilitarized Zone and interviews with those who had escaped this mad house.
What really struck me about all this is that although the North Koreans laid out the red carpet, so to speak, they couldn't help but continually remind us how sick and depraved their government was--and they had no idea how cult-like and brain-washed everything seemed. Here are a few of the oddities in the film. First, when a cameraman tried laying on the ground to take a statue of their "god" (Kim Il-Song--the first dictator of North Korea) in order to make the statue look more imposing and regal, he was nearly deported because "you cannot lay on the ground to do this--this is a great dishonor". Second, nearby was a park bench that no one was allowed to sit on--ever. Why? Because "the great leader once sat there". And, oddly, no one was in the park! It was as if the people were not allowed to go there. Third, when they went on a visit to a "typical family", it was anything but typical, as almost every sentence the family uttered were praised of their leader. When Lisa Ling noticed several portraits of Kim Jong-Il (the current leader) on the wall (and no family pictures of any kind), she asked "which one is your favorite"--at which point that said EVERY ONE is their favorite. Fourth, when the bandages from the once-blind patients were removed, not one thanked the doctors who had restored their sight for free but all went into raptures thanking their "great leader" for this!! It was all very, very surreal as they cried and showed more fervor than the most devout Muslim or Christian at extolling their love of their god.
In most ways, the film was exceptionally disturbing. Even most cults (including the suicide type) aren't THIS brain-washed and thought-controlled! As a result of all this hysteria, this is a very sobering and rather scary film--not to be missed. I strongly recommend this film to everyone and especially to teens--as they've got to know what it is that the civilized world is up against when it comes to dealing with this nation.
By the way, a great film to complement this is SEOUL TRAIN, which is about the exodus of North Korean refugees into China and China's efforts to deport them back even though they probably will be executed.
