This is one of the most sophisticated and thought provoking documentaries I have ever seen on North Korea. Most anti-North Korean docus produced in the South are not very different from Dana Carvey channeling George H.W. Bush: 'North Korea bad, South Korea good'.
This documentary is completely different though, in that it presents from the mind's eye and lets you decide -- what all good docus should do. I especially loved how Daniel Gordon used a compelling soundtrack -- particularly in the final performance montage at the end -- to invoke a feeling of sympathy for the two characters -- Hyon Sun and Song Yun -- whose ardor in striving to attain perfection for "The General" is ultimately an exercise in futility and for naught.
Having to be submit to such mind-numbing discipline and undergo such a complete loss of individuality at such a tender age in order to entertain the higher-ups of the Communist Party is the metaphor Gordon uses to describe life in this repressive Stalinist state that should not be lost amongst the glitz and glamor of the so-called "Mass Games."
This documentary is completely different though, in that it presents from the mind's eye and lets you decide -- what all good docus should do. I especially loved how Daniel Gordon used a compelling soundtrack -- particularly in the final performance montage at the end -- to invoke a feeling of sympathy for the two characters -- Hyon Sun and Song Yun -- whose ardor in striving to attain perfection for "The General" is ultimately an exercise in futility and for naught.
Having to be submit to such mind-numbing discipline and undergo such a complete loss of individuality at such a tender age in order to entertain the higher-ups of the Communist Party is the metaphor Gordon uses to describe life in this repressive Stalinist state that should not be lost amongst the glitz and glamor of the so-called "Mass Games."