This film essentially involves a young girl by the name of "Soo-ryeon" (Mi-hyang Pak) who lives in a small village somewhere in rural North Korea. Although many of her schoolmates reside in an apartment building, she lives a little further in the country with her mother "Jeong Ran" (Yong Suk Kim) and her sister "Su-ok" (Jin-mi Kim) in her grandmother's house due in large part because her father San-myeong, (Cheol Kim) works at a factory many miles away and hardly ever comes home. As a result, Soo-ryeon feels that her father has abandoned them and becomes quite bitter about it. To that end, although San-myeong later admits to her that he hasn't been a good husband or father, he justifies his obsession with his work on the grounds that patriotism to the state and loyalty to the "Dear Leader" (Kim Jong-il) is much more important. Her mother agrees. Now rather than reveal any more and risk ruining the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that I didn't particularly care for this film due in large part to the excessive propaganda which not only distorted the reality of life in that country but also permeated the entire plot. The ending was especially ludicrous. That being said, if the story had been allowed to take a more normal course, I may have been more impressed as it honestly had some potential. However, since this film was nothing more than an obvious effort to prop up a corrupt regime, I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
Review of Han nyeohaksaengeui ilgi
Han nyeohaksaengeui ilgi
(2006)
A Potentially Good Film Ruined by Shameless Propaganda
11 December 2021