Kimjongilia

for a while, i thought the interviewees were telling a joke, or perhaps delivering their physics dissertation, so thank god for the extreme close-ups and syrupy piano music, else i would never have realised they were talking about being tortured! and look, torture is very sad. see? sad face -> :(. it became very clear very quickly that the grand insight of the film was that north korea is a bad place, so i turned it off.

While the film has some rather stupid and out of place visuals{durr hurr dancing police woman is SOOOOOOOO deep!}, the stories we're told by the survivors are effectively horrifying and intriguing which contributes nicely to how the film accurately documents the events of NK history and its corrupt government. I also like how they never went to ask Western officials on what they wish to do with NK, as this is a movie about the survivors and them only as you listen to the plights they've endured.

"A classic case of a documentary filmmaker not trusting her material." - Andrew Schenker