By letting camera roll, film gives rare view of North Korea
NEW YORK — The conditions placed on director Vitaly Mansky for shooting a film in North Korea were severe.
For what was ostensibly to be a “documentary,” North Korea would supply the script. The state would choose the subjects, too, as well as the location of all scenes. He would be accompanied at all times by several state officials who would control the production. And North Korea would have final say on any footage that was used.
Yet even in these impossible circumstances, Mansky managed to make a film that gives a haunting and rare look into North Korean life and the stranglehold the country’s totalitarian regime has on its people. Once it became clear how restricted he and his crew would be, Mansky resolved to let the camera run before and after a scene, capturing the government handlers’ manipulation of daily life: propaganda in action.
“On the second or third day when we were sure that we didn’t have the slightest chance to get through to the real life, we decided the only chance we had to film was to film the ‘take’ in full,” said Mansky, speaking in Russian through a translator. “I think that I saw only three per cent of the reality in North Korea, and only .03 per cent that I was able to film.”