Masterful Movie

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

I have seen 2 or 3 documentaries about North Korea they were all compelling--it is a fascinating live brain washing horror show. The show they put on is impressive.This was the worst one not because of the stories far from it they ring completely true. But the use of interpretive modern mime like dancers in a split screen mode and other artistic gimmicks just distracts from these really horrific sad and tragic stories.For some reason the story that stood out for me was the girl whose brother carried her on his back when she had typhoid fever to China...he was later shot for turning himself in taking food to his parents.You have to wonder at these dear leaders--who need to be torn apart on the streets--and what humans are capable of living with and doing to each.

"Kimjonilia" is a documentary about life in North Korea during the last couple decades. It has no narration but instead consists of interviews with various folks who have escaped the country and are now telling their stories. The stories involve mass prison camps, torture, executions, starvation and total repression. Their eyewitness accounts are very compelling and sad---and they can't help but break your hearts. In between, you also have various clips of North Korean propaganda TV shows and massive highly choreographed dances all designed to sign the praises of their 'glorious leader'--Kim Jong-Il.This was an odd documentary. Although the content was fantastically compelling, the artistic style was just awful. I just don't get it and all the 'artsy' stuff distracted from the very powerful message. You see, throughout the film, there are many scenes of a woman dressed in a North Korean uniform doing bizarre interpretive dances! So, you have heart-wrenching story after heart-wrenching story of privation and murder...and then this weird dancing! Additionally, several times during the film, characters were shown in the weirdest sort of close-ups--a person's left eye or nose or any other part of the face was shown up very, very close. Perhaps this was an odd way to show a person without showing the whole face in order to protect their identity but surely there must have been a better way to do this! Overall, a very compelling message and a film well worth seeing--despite some silly artistic decisions.

It's mind-boggling to think that Concentration Camps still exist in the twenty-first century- yet, here we have the testimony of an escapee who witnessed the murder of both his mother and his brother inside a Korean concentration camp. Their crime? Expressing disagreement with Kim Kong's genocidal policies. (Dissendents risk not only THEIR lives, but the lives of THREE GENERATIONS of their families when they "pop off.") Children are literally BORN into concentration camp slavery and, as if that weren't bad enough, should they somehow manage to escape, they find themselves sold into slavery by the very people who help smuggle them into, say, China. (Women, of course, find themselves slaves in the sex trade.) But wait- it gets even better! As one escapee (a former military man) reveals, in one year alone, 3.5 MILLION PEOPLE STARVED TO DEATH in Korea. In MY book, that makes Kim Jong one ILL mother****er...

I have been fascinated with North Korea for several years. What we see on TV, and in news broadcasts, typically isn't how it really is. We see the best of the worst. But there is so much more to this country. If you look at maps of the world lit up at night, there is a very noticeable black hole, that is North Korea.I've always wondered how these people live in a country where control is so absolute. Why don't they just escape, or revolt? Other countries have this, escapes and revolts, yet we don't hear of it in North Korea.Then I stumbled upon this documentary, Kimjongilia, the flower named after Kim Jong-Il. It's a very well put together documentary, with the story told by those who were fortunate enough to have left. You hear the stories from their mouths (the version I saw had subtitles for us English language speakers). You got to hear (read) their stories. The woman whose children are gone. The young woman who miraculously survived a coma. The men who served in the military.The video footage is very stark, and real. The photographs, well some are hard to view. My teenage son and I watched this together, stopping constantly to discuss various things, and compare them to our life in the United States. The fact that on a Thursday, on a day we give thanks, we are able to sit/lay on my bed, watching this documentary while it's 20 degrees outside, and we're toasty warm inside eating a hamburger, we both commented on how there are so many people in that country who can't even imagine doing something like that, because it's not something they're allowed to dream about.I do hope, though, as one man does, that one day North Korea reunites with South Korea, and it happens sooner rather than later. I hope that North Koreans are able to learn the joys of reading something without worry of being turned in by your neighbors. Or listening to music that is free to choose from, not government sanctioned. Free from famine, from the gulags. Just free.As for age recommendation for this documentary, I would certainly say teenage is a perfect age to start watching, perhaps a little younger depending on the maturity level. It does show pictures of younger children that are starving, and they may be difficult for younger children to watch (and some adults). There is no graphic violence shown however. And it would be a wonderful documentary to watch with teenagers though who feel life is unfair. You walk away from this one feeling you have it pretty darn good.