Under the Sun

A foreign crew is somehow given permission to shoot in North Korea. The term "documentary" is a bit far-fetch here, since everything is actually staged by an escort crew that supervises, scripts, directs and rehearses every scene being filmed.

If you want to see what George Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR would look like if it became real life, watch this documentary.

Watching it, I got strong vibes of movies such as EQUILIBRIUM, METROPOLIS, SLEEPER and THE PRISONER. Basically, every movie which depicts life in a state of dictatorship becomes a reality here and Orwell's book is the bible. All the elements from his book can be found here: Pictures of the leader at every corner, a constant state of war with military at every corner and as the center of every class in school, brainwashing the minds of people since an early age and basically turning them into human robots that would obey everything they are being told to do and learning how to hate the Japanese and Americans, production is always told to be getting "more efficient", TV constantly broadcasts programs about the leader, his military and war, and you hardly see anyone smiling.

This is life in a constant state of fear and it's a living nightmare.

The movie is far from perfect – many scenes are way too long and repetitive, tighter editing could have made wonders here – but its value lies in the achievement of showing a surreal regime that is almost impossible to believe that still exists in the 21st century and showing how "reality" can easily be fabricated.

Good cinematography and excellent musical cues by Karlis Auzans.

6.5/10 Highly recommended

Greetings again from the darkness. There is an old episode of "The Twilight Zone" that has always stuck with me. It starred Bill Mumy (who later became well known as Will Robinson in "Lost in Space") as a young boy with God-like mental and telekinetic powers. The entire town was afraid of him, so they constantly acted in ways to make him believe they were happy and appreciated him. Memories of that show came rushing back as I watched this documentary from Russian director Vitaly Manskiy. We outsiders know little about life in North Korea (it's known as 'the Hermit Kingdom'), though the film seems to confirm what we've been led to believe: it's a country filled with citizens either living in fear or living with acceptance of their plight (or both).

Director Manskiy was contracted to make a movie about daily life of an ordinary family in Pyongyang. Two "escorts" were assigned to him, a state-sponsored script was provided, and his footage was reviewed daily. When the project was dissolved, Manskiy assembled the pieces … and added the secretly saved snippets from when he kept the cameras rolling between takes. The result is a documentary on the attempts of a Communist government to stage an illusion of perfection. It comes off as a foolish propaganda effort to convince the world that North Koreans are a happy people. What we see on screen convinces us otherwise.

At the center of all this is 8 year old Zin-mi and her family. If you thought The Monkees were a pre-fab TV version of The Beatles, this shows what true manipulation is all about. Zin-mi's parents are given new jobs for the movie version. Rather than a print journalist, her father is given a job as an executive at a garment factory; and rather than a cafeteria worker, her mother is presented as working at a soy milk factory. Additionally, the family is moved into a nice apartment and then provided with meal time conversation, and even told where and how to sit and stand.

Zin-mi has joined the Children's Union and the whole community is preparing for Day of the Shining Star – the national holiday celebrating the birthday of Kim Jong-Il; keeping alive the memory of their supreme leader who died in 2011. During these preparations, we see the clean streets and no-frills buildings, as well as the brainwashing that occurs during presentations and classes … the Japanese are labeled scoundrels, while Americans are cowards. The lingering images, and faces of those posing for photos, can't mask the emptiness of the individuals.

The film reinforces more than enlightens, and it's more a rare snapshot of this society than a global perspective. Still, we can't help but feel saddened for the people as their lines are fed to them with directions like, that was "too gloomy", and, do it again with "joy". No proof of the brutal regime is presented, but it's obvious freedom of thought is not encouraged. The correlation becomes all the more ironic when it's recalled that the title of that Twilight Zone episode was "It's a Good Life".

This is a documentary that sheds an unflattering light on the propaganda machine within the hermit kingdom known as North Korea. It's safe to wager that Russian filmmaker Vitaliy Manskiy didn't tell DPRK officials of his plans ahead of time.

To the North Korean government, the premise of the documentary is to follow an ideal family as their 8-year-old daughter, Lee Zin-mi, prepares to join the Children's Union (run by the Workers' Party) on the Day of the Shining Star (that's a fancy term for the North's "founder", Kim Jong-il's birthday). It's a great idea for a propaganda film! Anything that spews respect and admiration for the Great Leader will go over well in North Korea. Not to mention the reassurance and comfort the citizens will feel knowing how great and wonderful and protective Big Brother is.

What we end up seeing, however, is less propaganda and more how a propaganda film is made and that's not exactly favorable to the regime. The family patriarch, whose name we never do learn, is a print journalist, but that doesn't fit with the filmmaker's (government handlers') vision. For this "documentary", Zin-mi's father is an engineer in a garment factory. The reason for this sudden change of career becomes rather evident a little later during a ridiculously staged event. Mother works at a soy milk factory, an "essential job" that contributes to the excellent health of her family and friends. "Workshop" as the Handler likes to correct, "Not a factory." And it's not friend, it's Comrade because "it sounds better." It doesn't take too long to see where this film is going. Manskiy's handlers have scripted nearly every move the camera makes, and every word spoken.

The handlers are master exploiters, and the exploited are terrified. You can see it in their expressions and in their actions. If this were a movie you'd be laughing at the horrible acting. But this isn't acting, it's real. Frighteningly real. It's what happens after the camera supposedly stops rolling that makes this documentary. Manskiy dutifully films the action his handlers have scripted, almost as if he acquiesced to his role of propaganda cameraman. Unbeknownst to his handlers though, it is them who will be the stars of this film because the camera continues to record long after they believe it to be off. The manipulator becomes the manipulated.

TWO things you'll LIKE about "Under the Sun": 1) You'll learn a few things about North Korea, and you'll be thankful you don't live there. 2) There is no narrator per se, but there is some written text that appears on the screen every so often that further analyzes (albeit subjectively) a scene. There is English subtitles for spoken dialogue. It's important to listen (read) to what is being said. There's a particularly heart-wrenching scene where Manskiy, who is filming a crying girl, asks the handler to help her. The response is as disturbing as it is sad.

TWO things you'll DISLIKE: 1) Although informative, this film doesn't quite show enough of the neglected underbelly of North Korea. You won't see the starving and emaciated we often hear about. You won't see the abuses or horrifying examples of what happens to those who don't clap loud enough or aren't as effusive as they should be when instructed. Just as well, anyway, because what we do play witness to is troubling enough. 2) Some scenes are a little longer than they should be, almost to the point of being boring.

Mansky deserves every possible praise for this piece. To make this movie despite DPRK's restrictions necessitated a lot of courage. If they were caught smuggling the footage out of North Korea, the harshest sentence wouldn't have missed them.

This film is a testament to the horrible conditions the North Korean people must live in and portrays a perfect behind the scenes look to the inner workings of the North Korean propaganda machine. The people in the DPRK's government coming up with this idea mustn't have really been the sharpest tools in the shed, inviting a foreign respected director to shoot stupid propaganda piece I could've shot.

I'm proud that the Czech Republic had its hand in financing the film and thus helping to open the eyes of the world to the mental abuse of every single North Korean citizen taking place every single day. Bravo to the three crew members and their courage!

This documentary is very important. It helps to show the manipulation that must go on daily in North Korea. The constant reminders to "be more joyful" or to act "with patriotism" demonstrate this. It is well worth watching, if for no other reason that to see how Orwellian the world can become if allowed.

But by the end of the film, I felt sympathy for everyone involved. The children, the parents, and even the handlers.

While the children and parents are being directed by the handlers, the handlers are following the directions of those above them, and so on. These handlers are simply people who want to do their jobs and avoid punishment, the same as everyone else. You can see it, especially in one scene towards the end, when they are tucking Zin-mi into bed. The North Korean director looks as tired as anyone else, and as downtrodden. Everyone has a role to play, it seems.

The film is conflicting because you have to wonder what could happen to these people for their failure to censor this film adequately. Or for their failure to act appropriately patriotic in some of the takes that the censors didn't want us to see. We have to hope that the honesty of this film didn't lead to anyone coming to harm.