I know a lot of you TLers are documentary lovers and I would consider myself one as well. A friend linked me to a documentary series about North Korea and I have to say, it's a must watch.
It's a 3 part series where these guys from VBS manage to get into North Korea by bribing a chinese consulate and they have the most absolutely bizarre experience.
I've read a bit about North Korea, but actually seeing these guys experience in the country adds a whole new perspective. I especially felt sad for the "tea girl" working at a tea shop when she probably gets about 1-2 customers every 6 months.
On February 16 2010 14:40 lazz wrote: yeah seen this before its mildly entertaining but the tea girl scene is grossly sensationalised im sure she does other shit too
Well, it's the filmers take on her life, it might not necessarily be true.
Not really the point though, doesn't make North Korea any less fucked up. It's actually just really sad.
I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing it. I loved how the North Korean government thought they could fool them, but it's so blatant the whole trip was a charade.
Jesus, North korea is crazy. I knew it was kinda off, but not this off. The whole mass gymnastics thing really stuck out for me out of all of the events, that was bloody crazy.
Wow. I've been waiting to see something like this; north korea fascinates me. By the way, those guys either greatly exaggerated the guard's threats about filming or they are extremely lucky to have made it out of there.
Also, I wonder if every tourist is treated in the same manner as they were?
And how does bribing Chinese foreign affair workers earn you this trip to north korea?
Thanks for reminding me to watch this. I wanted to watch this a couple of times before this but always forgot about it. It's a pretty good documentary and quite enlightening although really really scary.
I'd seen it before and I think it really highlights the surreal differences between NK's ideal projected image, its actual projected image, and what it really is like. I found it fascinating and would recommend to anyone to watch it.
Yeah. I wouldn't recommend it as a serious documentary (with a lot of numbers/facts) and it is biased, but it does a perfect job at just showing what North Korea is like from the PoV of a westerner, first hand.
North Korea is like one giant ghost town and I find that very very very disturbing : /
BBC had a really good documentary about the mass games.
IMO, the most ridiculous parts of the N. Korean collective conscience is their preoccupation with the US (power goes out, it's the American aggressor's fault!) and the complete lack of China in any type of acknowledgement or understanding. The country is basically on life support from Beijing, both politically and economically (most of the population survives on aid food), yet none of them seem to realize it. I don't think the government even admits that the Chinese had a significant role in the Korean War. It was the N. Koreans who did it all with their collective will, after imperialist America invaded them.
I watched this a few weeks back right after watching the one on Liberia, and I really couldn't decide which one was more depressing. One one hand North Koreans have power and toilets and stability (or well, it seems that way, but I know that everything they showed the documentary makers was a complete charade and satellite photos show that the capital is the only city with lights on at night). On the other hand, the population has 0 freedom and has no idea wtf is going on in the outsider world, basically kept in a physical and mental prison. North Korea truly is a dystopia reminiscent of science fiction.
On February 17 2010 03:09 Ideas wrote: I watched this a few weeks back right after watching the one on Liberia, and I really couldn't decide which one was more depressing. One one hand North Koreans have power and toilets and stability (or well, it seems that way, but I know that everything they showed the documentary makers was a complete charade and satellite photos show that the capital is the only city with lights on at night). On the other hand, the population has 0 freedom and has no idea wtf is going on in the outsider world, basically kept in a physical and mental prison. North Korea truly is a dystopia reminiscent of science fiction.
On February 17 2010 03:09 Ideas wrote: One one hand North Koreans have power and toilets and stability
But really, they don't. The people living in Pyongyang live 1000x better than anywhere else in the country, and even there they're totally dependent on donations from Russia and China. They'd be out of food and probably wouldn't have anything beyond radio technology if it weren't for those two countries. Their train system basically consists of old E. German trains from the 50s, 60s and 70s and old Chinese railway cars.
I remember seeing one where they managed to get away from their tour guide for a bit, or broke into the country or something, and basically filmed like all the villages and stuff where people actually live. Apparently people are so poor that cannibalism is rampant. It's just goofy to see how much of a show they put on to impress tourists. "Choreographed" as the fat guy with long hair said.
I think it's an attraction.. that teashop.. i really dont think she lives there, she probably only comes there when there are "tourists". NK is a wierd enough place for that to happen.. WHY? because look at the restaurant situation.
The documentaries are pretty interesting, but all of them show how poor and bad the country is. Are there any documentaries that shows the better side of North Korea, like people in major cities and their culture, etc.?
On March 10 2010 17:04 textbook wrote: The documentaries are pretty interesting, but all of them show how poor and bad the country is. Are there any documentaries that shows the better side of North Korea, like people in major cities and their culture, etc.?
Did you not watch the part about the arts school and the huge art performances? That was really amazing. You'll never see that anywhere else. Shows the power of dictatorship can bring about awe inspiring and strangely beautiful things.
Bumping for awareness. Just watching this myself; this is fascinating. It's like a time machine or something, it doesn't feel like that kind of thing actually exists today.
my gosh, i always knew North Korea was weird, but really? I mean... is there ANYWHERE in North Korea where there is... civilization and people? The most we got to see was the subway..
I resurrect this thread in light of another documentary done by AlJazeera that was uploaded to youtube just recently. Its called "101 East - Learning Liberty" and is about defectors from North Korea who are now living in the South (I'm only 5 minutes in).
I thought that it doesn't need its own thread but might still be interesting for people to see.
edit: feel free to ignore this blog and post in this thread instead. I didn't find it earlier because searching for "documentary north korea" only returned this blog. I didn't notice that it was a blog and then wasn't satisfied with it, so I searched for "north korea" instead and found the thread in the general forum.