LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ersbel Oraph Hitch has well said that the Christian Haven can be found in North Korea. The road filled with buses, but no personal car and the micro truck shouting from the loudspeakers an Ode to the leading Gods.Lately I have seen numerous documentaries filmed in North Korea by all sort of white clowns that needed to compensate the lack of skills with something catchy, something unusual. So far the best was one made by the team at Vice in which the team actually tried to go outside the marked path. Most were more than happy to engorge in the protocol food and drink, than whip out some "life is bad" text.This one is different. The director has certainly lived all this crap somewhere in the Soviet Union and he knows where to look. Sadly the frames are hard to decode. Happily this is a document and could be seen many years after the fall of North Korea. Take the school. This is no regular school. This is a school for the Nomenklatura. One sees the segregated group of girls (Christianity at its best) in school uniforms. He films the fingernails "cut this morning", yet he catches a glimpse of the bottom half. And some of the girls are not wearing regular school trousers, but denim. And that is the ultimate piece of clothing. It is hard to see, because they were specially chosen to blend it with the uniforms.Or there is the scene with the food set for all the foreigners to see that the malnourished people have everything their heart's desires. Yet the girl is playing with the food. She knows she is not allowed to eat, but she can't help herself from touching the tasty food. And later there are the State employees searching around the room, the room with the portraits of the local Gods. It is hard to notice, but through the frames the fancy food is not touched by the family. Or how the family is lightly dressed, yet the production team has the down coats they use outside.Or the bus from the beginning. A nice, regular bus. With people getting on. Only someone cries Action! It is not a regular bus. It is one of the better buses brought in from the party depots to show how good the life can be for the people. The bus makes a terrible noise. Because even the higher ups do not have the usual comfort of the West. But still, this is not what the regular people are using.In short, hard to decode, but the best documentary on North Korea so far. By far.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

vadimkhar-47330 The movie shows how rehearsed and show-offish everything in DPRK is, which is quite rehearsed by itself. I watch all documentaries about North Korea, read books by some escapees and have no illusions about Kim's regime. However, imagine you have stability, equality, booming economy, but without ever-watching big brother and Kim-idolatry. I think, there's something there we should strive for. So, I guess the movie is OK, but it offers shallow perspective on what that country truly represents. That's an early bird - our objective, I believe, is to watch closely and think how to make it work better and more wholesome in our society. After all, socialism and consequently communism can truly be the future of our societies.

Red-125 This European documentary about North Korea has a Czech title--V paprscích slunce--translated into English as Under the Sun (2015). (Google Translate says The Rays of the Sun, which I think works better.) It was written and directed by Vitaly Mansky, who is Ukrainian.The film was made in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which we call North Korea. Somehow, director Mansky got permission--or was asked--to film a "documentary" about a typical family in Pyongyang. The star is a young girl, Lee Zin-Mi.What the filmmakers tell us in text on the screen is that the "documentary" they were making was totally artificial. Their North Korean handlers rehearsed every scene, and had no qualms about total fabrication of plot. (As just one example, Lee Zin-Mi's father is not an engineer. However, for the "documentary," he is an engineer who consults with workers at a clothing factory to help them increase their production.)What the North Koreans didn't know--or didn't understand--was that director Mansky kept the camera rolling continually. We hear and see the North Koreans telling people what to say and do, and then we watch the scene when the people say it and do it. Sometimes we watch the scene twice, because the North Korean handlers don't like the way it turned out the first time. So, this really is a documentary, but it's a documentary about making a false documentary.What stands out in every scene is that the whole city revolves around endless praise for the late Kim Jong-il, who was the supreme leader of the North Korea from 1994 to 2011. Now, along with praise of Kim Jong-Il, we hear continuous praise of Kim Jong-un, his son.Kim Jong-un holds the titles of Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the National Defense Commission, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, and presidium member of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea. Kim was promoted to the rank of Marshal of North Korea in the Korean People's Army on 18 July 2012, consolidating his position as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. (All this from Wikipedia.)Poor Lee Zin-Mi has the same fate as all of her friends--a life where she participates in ceaseless devotion to Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-un. It's hard to tell whether she obtained any special rewards for starring in the documentary. Nothing is real, so nothing on screen can be trusted.Actually, that's not true. Twice Zin-Mi breaks into tears. No one comforts her--they basically suggest that she stop crying so they can continue filming. The documentary may be false, but the tears are real.We saw this movie at the excellent Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. On the small screen you'll miss some of the amazing pageantry that surrounds praise of Kim Jong-un. However, it will work well enough.

olivialin-96433 To be honest, this film shows exactly the same as I expect about North Korea, but as a Chinese who born at 1993, I feel more complex rather than sympathy.When I was at 7, I was also very proud of join children's union, children can talk about join this union for half years, no matter of what exactly this union means. No one knows what you will be responsible for this union, it seems empty and funny now, but for then, I just proud of it and "always ready" as well. Then the factory is also so real, basically all of my friends in my childhood were live in the factory. Some factories got their own primary school for children who born in that area. It is easier and safer for children to play around factory area, it seems like just flash back to my childhood.Then the recite thing in the very end of the movie is exactly same as myself experience too. However when I become an adult I am really thankful for that time when I was forced to recite those much thing, because nowadays when I see beautiful things those painful poems and lyrics just come out of my mind, gives me the best way of describing beauties.From my prospective, this mode maybe fit for North Korea. If people cannot see the outside world for this moment, then they will not become angry, jealous or pessimistic about their future.At the beginning of the movie I really thought that if China can develop this quick in this 15 years, maybe North Korea can do the same thing too.Although it is looks sad for a moment.