A State of Mind (2004)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Daniel Gordon

Writer:

Daniel Gordon (writer)

Release Date:

2004 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A British documentary that follows two young North Korean girls as they prepare for the Mass Games, the world's largest choreographed gymnastics performance. |

Plot Keywords:

Gymnastics | Dear Leader | Kim Il Sung | Propaganda Film | Korean Agriculture

Cast

Daniel Gordon	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jong-il Kim	...	Himself (archive footage)
Song Yun Kim	...	Herself
Hyon Sun Pak	...	Herself

Runtime:

New Zealand:94 min | USA:93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Korean

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:PG | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:PG

Filming Locations:

Pyongyang, North Korea

Company:

VeryMuchSo Productions

Movie Connections:

References Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)

Caveat Emptor - not realistic, propagandistic

This film does NOT show what ordinary North Koreans go through. It focuses on an a family of the communist elite in Pyongyang who by western standards are filthy rich because they actually have some rice and meat for dinner. Give me a damn break. In order to live in Pyongyang where this film was shot, you need to be a member of the communist party. You need to prove your allegiance to the communist party. In order to do that you will probably need to inform on other people who will end up in a gulag and will die of starvation, beatings, exposure or other privations, if you are not outright executed. The informant is a murderer by proxy.

The film follows the lives of just such people. Some may be brainwashed. Some know exactly what they're doing. Some put decency to the wind and will do anything they can to survive. It's called dog eat dog. (No Korean pun intended).

Of course this all throws in the question of how exactly a UK crew was given access to a completely closed society; a society that could violently collapse at the drop of a dime if it had more information to the outside world. Could it perhaps be that these dunderheads are actually sympathetic to the murderous regime of Jong-Il? All signs point to yes. At the very least they consider this just a 'different system' of life. Just like living in your own house with your wife and kids is 'different' from being in solitary confinement in a state penitentiary... at best.

If the filmmakers had any integrity, heart, soul, or bravery they would have gone against all odds to expose the horrors that occur on a daily basis in this awful place. The concept of the so-called "mass games" as a tool for brainwashing - which is exactly its purpose - could have been shown for the sham that it is but instead is given a nice gloss-over in this rubbish film. The director's commentary on the DVD is the prize winner. He actually states something to the like of "I am just trying to show ordinary people in DPRK" and "it's just a different system". Well the Third Reich was a different system too.

Please try to keep your eyes open people! Relativism in the face of abject evil will make you the first in line under the firing squad when the bullshit artists come to power.