Camp 14: Total Control Zone (2012)

Shin Dong-Huyk was born on November 19, 1983 as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp. He was a child of two prisoners who had been married by order of the wardens. He ... See full summary »

Director:

Marc Wiese

Stars:

Shin Dong-Hyuk, Oh Yangnam, Hyuk Kwon

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Shin Dong-Hyuk	...	Himself - Former North Korean Prisoner
Oh Yangnam	...	Himself - Former North Korean Secret Police
Hyuk Kwon	...	Himself - Former North Korean Secret Prison Guard
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
August Diehl	...	Shin Dong-Hyuk (voice)

Storyline

Shin Dong-Huyk was born on November 19, 1983 as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp. He was a child of two prisoners who had been married by order of the wardens. He spent his entire childhood and youth in Camp 14, in fact a death camp. He was forced to labor since he was six years old and suffered from hunger, beatings and torture, always at the mercy of the wardens. He knew nothing about the world outside the barbed-wire fences. At the age of 23, with the help of an older prisoner, he managed to escape. For months he traveled through North Korea and China and finally to South Korea, where he encountered a world completely strange to him.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

Germany South Korea

Language:

Korean English

Release Date:

8 November 2012 (Germany)

Also Known As:

A 14-es tábor

Filming Locations:

Seoul, South Korea

Company Credits

Production Co:

Engstfeld Filmproduktion, Arte, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Himself - Former North Korean Prisoner: That first morning - outside the camp - was a big shock to me, I saw people just walking around freely, talking and laughing, and no one was there to guard them. Nobody was obliged to greet the agents when they crossed their path. The people all wore multicolored clothes, clothes they liked to wear. It seemed as if I had ended up in heaven.

User Reviews

Great Insight into North Korea

Camp 14: Total Control Zone is a genuinely disturbing documentary about a young man who escaped from a North Korean prison camp where he had lived since birth. It paints a genuinely horrifying portrait of a totalitarian regime and its capacity to dehumanize its subjects.

The film's main narrative focuses on the experiences of a man who was born to North Korean prisoners and spent his entire childhood in the prison camp. He relates experiences such as his first memory-an execution-daily life within the camp, informing on people, and being tortured by the camp guards. His story is supplemented with footage smuggled out of North Korea and former camp guards who defected to the South.

Camp 14 is at its best when it relates the psychological effects on the inmates, particularly those born there. However, the interviews with the guards could have benefited from more background, particularly their reasons for defecting. Furthermore, no source or explanation is given for the footage from North Korea, leading to questions regarding its veracity.