Nothing is rest except utopia . Rather, every image in this sharp and relevant documentary is real and often life-threatening. The danger comes from the rural landscape that director Madeleine Gavin presents to us from the first moments of the film. At the bottom center of the screen is the Yalu River, which marks the border between China and North Korea. On the Chinese side, the Changbai Mountains are surrounded by barbed wire. Border guards in North Korea are paid extra to shoot potential refugees.
Still, people are turning away from Kim Jong-un's brutality - even if the film sees this as necessary, he notes .
Despite the dangers of crossing the border, this is not the most dangerous point when leaving North Korea. This is just the first look at the film, which centers on Kim Seung-eun, a Christian priest who runs a subway for refugees in Seoul. Given the relationship between these two countries, there is no protection for them in China. Neither in Vietnam nor in Laos can they be seen as participants in the film. Instead, the defectors must travel to Thailand: the film is a long and difficult odyssey through the jungle and over water, with breathtaking first-person footage captured during the escape of the North Korean Roh family.
What may seem voyeuristic never is. Gavin also has to deal with the irony at the heart of the film: the prison situation from which Rolar escapes is still our dark curiosity. The balance is nimble. A regime that rejoices in its tarnished international reputation cannot turn its attention away from the refugees. However, the film is also full of surprising information about the North Korean state. Brutal repression is expressed both in concentration camps and in rehearsals for the Mass Games, a public spectacle once considered kitsch when visits to Pyongyang were fashionable among intrepid Western tourists.
Both sides of the project come together in the voices of the refugees. The consequences can be unbearable; Perhaps the most common interview is with Rochow's elderly grandmother. After decades of indoctrination, Kim Jong Un is still filled with shame as he avoids getting upset. “Great leader,” he calls him. For all the hope the film offers, true escape, as it suggests, is still very rare.
★★★★★
In UK cinemas now and in US cinemas from November 3rd.
