Really curious what modern North Korean cinema is like, especially compared to the slick South Korean productions. One of my favorite childhood movies growing up in late 80s Soviet Union was Hong Kil Dong, a campy North Korean martial arts movie, with a folk hero battling evil ninjas. Played across Eastern European movie theaters. Rewatching it as an adult, I was surprised how little propaganda there was in it. According to Wikipedia, the creators were inspired by Shin Sang Ok, the kidnapped director (other sources say he was directly involved - https://youtu.be/lroqzeyPVs0?si=A8yh0hNl0-d2QGgR).
Full movie on youtube.
This moment where baby monster bites a sword is epic: https://youtu.be/MHV-UOdBek0?t=1647
It's on YouTube:
Story is from 2015, but here's the readable link anyhow:
A friend of mine created a graphic novel about this, called "Madame Choi and the Monsters", if you're interested in that kind of thing.
https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/madame-choi-and-the-mons...
It's actually quite profound, politically speaking. I understand why Kim Jong Il thought it was a Masterpiece. To get hung up on visuals and call it a knockoff is itself tacky and shows a lack of appreciation for context; which is what art is about. It's an honest take on modern human society and the tradeoffs that are made.
It gives insights into the minds of some modern leaders... The idea that you have to kill the monster which saved you.
The part at the very end where the woman kills the monster and sacrifices herself with it (out of principle) is brilliant. At the end, the soul of the monster joins with the body of the woman and the camera zooms in on her face... You assume that it will bring her back to life but actually, she is not moving and you can't quite tell if her eyes are open or closed (dead or alive)? There's something deep behind the ambiguity.
I suspect Kim Jong Il saw the monster as a metaphor for capitalism or globalization, the woman as a metaphor for a revolutionary leader (maybe Kim himself) and the monster's relentless hunger for metals as a metaphor for greed-driven industrialization but I wonder to what extent did he see it as a metaphor for his own communist movement? The message seems to be that even though she did a bad thing killing their saviour, she did it with sound morals because she was willing to sacrifice herself. She knew it was the right thing to do to contain the monster's relentless greed. But I feel like the part at the very end where the soul of the monster joins her body is a way to show that she is forgiven because it's the intent that counts... Maybe a subtle hint that a good leader is rewarded for having good intentions and conviction but is it purely an ideological reward of being spiritually 'made whole' or also material (she gets to live)?
It makes me wonder if Kim Jong Il may have been tempted to turn North Korea into a capitalist society under the thumb of globalists; keep feeding the beast which had originally (in his view) freed his people from past oppression but instead, he decided to politically 'sacrifice himself' for his people by betraying that globalist monster which had helped him.
There is a statement at the end which essentially amounts to blasphemy in the west: "To keep feeding him, we will have to keep sending him to other countries to wage war. We cannot do this to the world." Ouch.
As unfree and poor as North Korea may be, this is an incredibly blunt, honest take.
Why did they have to resort to kidnapping though? There's so many people that will do anything for money. I must be missing something about North Korea.
Paul Fischer's book, 'A Kim Jong-Il Production' is well worth a read, not only for the story of these kidnappings, but of life in North Korea and its history.
This is why the movie tariffs are a matter of national security.
It's actually debated whether the director was "kidnapped". Lots of people in Korea believe he went willingly.
His left-wing films had been banned in the South, and Kim Jong-il offered him superstardom, big budgets and creative control. North Korea was not as bad back then, relatively speaking. Its economy still enjoyed support from both China and the USSR and it could trade with the entire Eastern bloc. South Korea was also a dictatorial military regime at the time (didn't get democracy until 1980s), and lots of South Koreans and Koreans in Japan actually moved to the North in the 60s and 70s. Shin was also generously allowed to "escape" with his family at a film festival after he and Kim ran into creative differences.
On another note Pulgasari is an interesting film because it contains a coded criticism of the Kim regime at the end.
For anyone concerned about accidentally hiring a fake NK remote worker, just ask if Kim Jong Un is fat during the interview.
Typically, they will end the call immediately.
Just to clarify, the article is from 2015, but the actual movie is from 1985:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulgasari