Documentary

History

Beyond Utopia

Ideal Partners

XRM Media

RandomGood Foundation

Human Rights Foundation

19340 Productions

The deNovo Initiative

United States of America

English

한국어/조선말

Barbara Demick

Kim Sung-eun

Lee Hyeon-seo

Lee So-yeon

Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-il

Kim Il-sung

Kim Jong-nam

Jang Song-thaek

Ri Sol-ju

Douglas MacArthur

Geralyn White Dreyfous

Madeleine Gavin

Jana Edelbaum

Rachel Cohen

Sue Mi Terry

Nina Sing Fialkow

David Fialkow

Adam Taylor

Sue Turley

Taylor Page

Jeremy S. Bloom

Tony Volante

Michael Y. Chow

Cristina Ljungberg

Victoria Steventon

Esther Vess

Dawn Bonder

Sharon Chang

Kim Hyun-seok

Bill Sweeney

Hannah Song

Blaine Vess

Eliza Paley

Marci Wiseman

Robert Hein

Daniel Timmons

Megan Gelstein

Thor Halvorssen

Alexia Blaze

CinemaSerf

Ably stitched together using hand-held, mobile phone and other discreetly shot footage, this documentary tells of people desperate to flee the poverty and oppression they face living in North Korea. It principally follows one particular family who must travel, at great peril to themselves, their guides and "brokers" across the Yalu river into China before continuing through Vietnam, Laos and hopefully across the Mekong into the safety of Thailand. Along the way, though, we are also introduced to other people with equally horrendous stories to tell of family stuck in a nation where malnutrition is rife, clean water is scarce and you are even expected to provide your own poo to the government for use as fertiliser! You must regularly dust your obligatorily hung photos of the "Dear Leader" else you're in for a severe beating... Indeed, for much of this film of all that's dystopian about life there, you could be forgiven for thinking it was all a figment in the mind of some fiction writer - except, I doubt they could make it up! There's a strong testament to the perseverance and resilience of the travellers - young and old - as they struggle with the fear and the jungle to make good their escape. What we see here is that, clearly, this is no walk in the park and it seems to me that many more don't make it than do - and that those who did were shocked by the false messages being conveyed to the outside world by their erstwhile leaders. The intimate nature of the photography and the simple evocative narrative work well here, too, and by midway through I genuinely felt invested in the survival and prosperity of these fundamentally decent people who were just "born in the wrong country"

Brent Marchant

In today’s world, it’s almost unfathomable that there are places that exist on this planet that operate on the principles of unbridled cruelty, deliberate deception and mass brainwashing, with even the slightest of infractions capable of leading to banishment to remote gulags, brutal beatings and even savage public executions. However, such are the conditions of everyday life in North Korea, a paranoid, ruthless regime that doesn’t hesitate to inflict such indignities on its population and deprive residents of knowledge of anything beyond its borders. In a United Nations human rights report, the unthinkable tactics employed here have been described as being on par with those that were used in Nazi Germany. So it’s no wonder there are many who want to escape this harsh reality – that is, at least among those who are able to see beyond the artifice of the false utopian picture that officials have painted of their sorrowful nation. Getting out is far from easy, however, a harrowing venture that often requires defectors to flee northward to China and then maneuver through the challenging terrain of several neighboring Asian countries rather than simply crossing into nearby democratic South Korea, a sanctuary walled off by a de facto combat zone boobytrapped with countless land mines. Seeing what refugees must endure is the aim of documentarian Madeleine Gavin’s latest offering, a compilation of defector stories, including those who have succeeded in escaping and those attempting to do so. The latter are compellingly filmed with firsthand, on-the-ground footage, with no reenactments, showing in detail the ordeals they must go through to make their flights to freedom, sometimes successful, sometimes not. In the process, the film also provides audiences with a concise yet comprehensive history of how North Korea reached this point while revealing some little-known troubling secrets about everyday life in this mysterious land, many of which most outsiders have probably never heard of, let alone seen. Because of this, some of the picture’s imagery may be considered quite disturbing, especially for sensitive viewers, so those who are easily upset by such troubling visuals should take note. Nevertheless, this BAFTA Award-nominated release is an important piece of filmmaking that those outside this inscrutable enclave should know about – and hope that the world can help to overcome.

Beyond Utopia - Official UK Trailer

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Beyond Utopia

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Barbara Demick

Kim Sung-eun

Lee Hyeon-seo

Lee So-yeon

Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-il

Kim Il-sung

Kim Jong-nam

Jang Song-thaek

Ri Sol-ju

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