Under the Sun

This documentary is very important. It helps to show the manipulation that must go on daily in North Korea. The constant reminders to "be more joyful" or to act "with patriotism" demonstrate this. It is well worth watching, if for no other reason that to see how Orwellian the world can become if allowed.

But by the end of the film, I felt sympathy for everyone involved. The children, the parents, and even the handlers.

While the children and parents are being directed by the handlers, the handlers are following the directions of those above them, and so on. These handlers are simply people who want to do their jobs and avoid punishment, the same as everyone else. You can see it, especially in one scene towards the end, when they are tucking Zin-mi into bed. The North Korean director looks as tired as anyone else, and as downtrodden. Everyone has a role to play, it seems.

The film is conflicting because you have to wonder what could happen to these people for their failure to censor this film adequately. Or for their failure to act appropriately patriotic in some of the takes that the censors didn't want us to see. We have to hope that the honesty of this film didn't lead to anyone coming to harm.

This would be a great documentary if permitted so by North Korea. However, movies transfer emotions from the location or situation to a person watching it. As my summary says, it did it perfectly. We cant really see what is happening inside North Korea and how people live their every day lives but this certainly gives an idea how it may be in reality. It still leaves a great deal of details to our imagination but certainly gives us a hint.

I will not comment or review this piece from a technical point of view as I could not focus on this part watching this. What we need to focus on, are certain aspects of life in North Korea and this staged documentary surely gives us an overview. You end up feeling upset, angry and at the same time heartbroken and in tears.

Filmmakers deserve thumbs up for trying to achieve the impossible and they did the best from what they have been permitted to get and still came out of country all together and alive.

The European and Russian filmmakers were invited by the North Korean government to make a documentary that glorified their country, but the filmmakers managed to subvert the intent of the film by keeping the cameras running while the government handlers were giving instructions to the participants. Other reviewers have discussed the ways in which the government handlers coached the participants and created fake backgrounds for the family.

But it is the unstaged scenes that really give an indication of the totalitarian nature of the country. I have ridden subways in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, London, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Seoul, and I have never seen, nor could I have imagined, a scene like the one after Zin-mi's initiation into the Children's Union. (That's a surreal event in itself, especially the unison applause that all stops at the same time.) That is, literally hundreds of parents and children are at the subway station, returning from what is supposed to be a momentous occasion, and none of the parents or children say a word. They wait silently for the train, and they ride it silently, looking rather depressed.

Or take the arrival at work. Everyone silently stands in line, and they are expected to bow to a billboard of the Kim family before turning at a right angle and entering the building. After dancers in colorful costumes rehearse outside, they silently board buses. Nobody seems to talk in public or show anything but a blank facial expression. Even in more intimate scenes, even among the children, people seem to be looking for cues as to what is permitted or appropriate.

This is not "Communism." I was in China in 1990 and in Cuba in 2011, and in both countries, people talk and show emotions in public.

It is telling that the North Koreans saw all the footage (except what the filmmakers held back) and still approved it. Are they so into their own mindset that they don't know that foreigners would be creeped out by a society in which people act like robots in public?

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.

First, to the people decrying this film as mere propaganda, I say you are either: 1. North Korean agents trying to put a happy face on a horrible situation, or, 2. are just plain dumb. if you honestly think the DPRK is a paradise, I triple dog dare any of you to pack up your Che Guevara t-shirts and move there.

If you actually pay attention to the film, you will see many, although sadly, not all, of the people look sad, frightened, beaten down, or all 3.

Places like North Korea are true hells on earth and how ANYONE can defend a regime such as this is beyond my ken.