The Propaganda Game

In recent years, a few documentary makers have entered the otherwise closed country of North Korea--some of which covertly filmed the land and its people. All of the films like these that I've seen have been rather critical of the repressive North Korean regime and its human rights violations, but this new film is a bit different. While it features some interviews with folks who are very critical of North Korea, it also allows the North Korean propaganda machine ample time to present its well-scripted case that their land is a sort of nirvana and that they must maintain their military might and readiness to protect itself from capitalism and democratization. It's a bit of a confusing film, mostly because you see happy and well-fed North Koreans. But, it must be remembered that the Spanish film crew was led around with government officials and they simply couldn't go where they wanted. In particular, the strange ex- Spaniard and North Korean government official Alejandro Cao de Benós takes the crew about the country and there is no freedom of movement for the filmmakers. So, when they ask about concentration camps and starvation, you never really get to see much of the country other than a couple brief and scripted trip to the countryside and insistence from Benós that such places don't exist. Instead, you see almost exclusively views of the capital, Pyongyang and with loyal North Koreans who seem like model citizens. Overall, the effect is very strange. On one hand, the country looks nice and clean and BIG....but on the other, much of it also seems fake (such as the odd church service they attended). Worth seeing but I am really not that sure what the message is or what most folks will take from the film other than confusion. Because of this, I would recommend you see other films to get a more complete view of the state of the country and its people, such as "A State of Mind", "Crossing the Line" as well as "Seoul Train".

Let's put this out of the way - everyone knows that an organised tour of the DPRK is one massive facade. For a filmmaker to gain entry and keep that much footage, the film absolutely had to showcase happy citizens, sprawling buildings and new technology. How could you expect anything else?

What makes this film brilliant is what he did with the footage.

Aptly named "The Propaganda Game", director Álvaro Longoria takes us with him on tour of North Korea's capital Pyongyang. What I really enjoyed about this film is its rawness - You get to see everything from Longoria's eyes and decide for yourself what is real and what is not. It felt like a very personal experience. The deception of the State and its effects on its people are nothing short of terrifying. How could they act so naturally if everything is staged? Could it be real? Are they really so brainwashed? Are these people suffering? How?

I think some people who have seen it are confused, judging from some other reviews. I urge you to see this film without searching for concrete answers. Longoria presents many opposing arguments but there really is no telling the extent of North Korea's deception or on the flip side, the warping of information in Western media (I mean, The Guardian is pretty ridiculous.) I suspect Longoria himself does not know what to make of it. You simply can't find that kind of information on North Korea; experts themselves do not have the full truth nor do they all agree with each other. Such is social science. There is simply too little information, and the film captures that wonderfully. Speculating would be unwise.

The film leaves you rather unsettled, but I believe that was the intended effect. How could we be comfortable when a system as oppressive as the DPRK's is still surviving to this day? Its message, if there must be one, is that the people of North Korea are suffering - and that instead of looking at them as ignorant fools living in a joke of a nation, we should be sympathising with them and condemning such cruelty.

It is a film that focuses on the people, and is a much needed take on the subject amongst all the hoo-ha surrounding North Korea.

This documentary is unlike any other documentary on the subject of North-Korea. Most documentaries have a negative undertone from the start of the beginning, but Alvaro Longoria is much more neutral in his "quest to seek out the truth". As one would expect of the communistic country, he is not to travel freely and is always accompanied by guides and state officers, but, unlike other documentaries, a lot of 'normal' North-Koreans (assuming that they aren't all actors) were interviewed in front of a camera. This gives us an insight in what goes through the minds of the North-Korean people and makes it clear that it is truly devoted to its leaders and convinced of their divinity. I have no doubt that there were staged situations, but it just cannot be possible that everything was. Even though the documentary is 90 minutes long, there are still many questions unanswered, for example about prison camps or the black market, but at least Longoria didn't make a suggestive documentary like the VICE documentary on North-Korea, in which they claim it is almost impossible to get in the country and make it look as if they are the only ones there.

In this clever documentary, Spanish filmmaker Alvaro Longoria gets rare access as a foreigner to enter North Korea and document his travels there, the notoriously secretive and isolated (both self-imposed and by the rest of the world) communist regime. Longoria's goal in visiting North Korea is to try to see first-hand for himself, and by talking directly with North Koreans, if there is any truth to the propaganda about the nation coming from NK itself and also from outside (i.e., what little information that we do get about the country, mostly horrible accounts regarding human rights violations, famine, executions of anyone seen as dissenters, etc.). One of the most interesting and remarkable aspects of the doc is Alejandro Cao de Benos, a Spanish man who is the sole foreigner working for the North Korean government, and basically acts as tour guide for Longoria and as a loyal spokesman of the North Korean regime. He appears to be showing a very carefully constructed, staged tour of North Korea, with everyone smiling and singing the praises of their fearless leader Kim Jong-un. There is something off-putting about Alejandro, and one of the many talking heads in the doc hints at Alejandro receiving generous financial compensation for his services. I would like to have known a bit more about how a man from Spain became so involved in becoming spokesman for the DPRK; all we seem to get is that from a young age Alejandro was interested in communist philosophies but was dissatisfied with Spanish communist parties and its leaders.

Most of the people that Longoria gets access to are part of the government; it seemed rare that he got to speak in-depth and candidly with any everyday, "average" North Koreans. But even then, one gets the sense that these people are both too utterly brainwashed, and simply in fear, under those seemingly forced smiles, to speak freely about the regime. One striking moment showing the regime's attempts at covering up their oppression is when Longoria visits what appears to be Christian church, during a mass and everything, but later it's claimed that this church is the only one of its kind in the country and is a "fake" - it's just for show, and Christianity is not allowed to be practiced.

This film made for an often fascinating watch, even though I did not gain much new knowledge overall. Understandable, partially due to those that Longoria speaks to not being willing to give candid answers to the most pressing questions about the regime. North Korea still remains very much a mystery, and all I can say is that I really feel for those people.

By turns disturbing, depressing and mildly annoying. This might have been better if it focussed on 'the Spanish soldier' and his motives. There is ultimately little depth (possibly due to the fast paced cutting to talking heads) and most subjects are glossed over. With only lip service being paid to balance this film doesn't 'sit on the fence' it 'sits on the DMZ'.