Les Demoiselles de Pyongyang

This film is truly a weird product. Coming from the BBC, the makers are probably not that hungry and were paid in advance for their work. So it is not really a propaganda film done by someone hoping to make money from the North Korean leadership.

The images are good. Yet the off voice is doing its best to gloss things over. Making this a mild propaganda movie.

What makes things really weird is two reviews tell something. Is it THE TRUTH? I don't believe there is a truth. And two pages of reviews seem to be written in reply to the two reviews. Even the likes, which IMDb calls "was this review helpful..." reflect that. The two raising quite a few issues are buried down and the let's call them answers are well liked, yet empty. Only one review says something about endangering the people still living in North Korea. The others are just "this is the best".

So is this film a piece of propaganda? It doesn't seem to have started like that. But it ended up as a piece of support for the dear leader and his impotent son called general simply because it sounds manly.

Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

I just saw this movie and really enjoyed it.

To those who are criticizing the makers of the film for not revealing the horrific "truth" about North Korea, it's worth pointing out that politicizing the film would have resulted in 1) the film crew's Korean minders being thrown in jail (they are responsible for making sure that the film doesn't reflect negatively on the state), not to mention the extended families of the minders, 2) most probably both girls & their families also being jailed, and 3) pretty much any other Korean people who show up in the film also, being thrown in jail.

Jail in North Korea is very, very ugly and I imagine many people don't live long there.

Rather than have everyone they ever interviewed possibly tortured and killed, the film's creators wisely chose to criticize the North Korea state only in an oblique manner, simply by stating the truth and avoiding controversial topics. Had they not, aside from the consequences to their subjects, they would never have been allowed to set foot in the country again.

Yes, the girls and their families are the elite of the state. Frankly, I live better than that, and I'm not rich. If they're the elite, the country must be in rough shape.

I'm just glad we were able to see so much of what daily life is like (in Pyongyang). Extended footage like this from inside the country is very rare.

I don't like to politicize my reviews. I have found that in practically ever land there are amazingly good films--regardless of the political tensions between my country and theirs. For example, although things are a bit tense now with Iran, this nation has made some wonderful films--such as the films of Majid Majidi which manage to transcend nations and ideologies. So, if you are willing to be open-minded and look, you can find good everywhere in my opinion. However, this is a difficult proposition with North Korea. They don't seem to be making movies and there simply is almost no opportunity to look into their culture to see what the nation is like, as there simply is almost nothing going in or out of this isolated nation. However, back about a decade or so ago, a few small glimpses occurred and "A State of Mind" is one of them*. Like it or not, for now this is all we appear to have from which we can learn about this nation. And, because of that, I think it's well worth seeing.

"A State of Mind" is a film made by a British production company. They were invited to the nation to follow several girls as they prepared for the 'Mass Games'. These games are ENORMOUS pageants in which many days of mass parades and performances are done to honor their leader. Some of these HUGE spectacles required 80,000 people and millions of man- hours according to the film!! The devotion and energy of the participants is difficult to imagine in our Western cultures and I would never imagine folks I know joining in a massive celebration in which the individual is sublimated to the glory of the State. It's just so very foreign--and this is what makes the film hard to stop watching. It is almost like looking onto an alien culture--and this is NOT meant as a criticism at all.

What I liked best is that the narrators didn't over-narrate or opine about the nation. Instead, they mostly just showed the people and let them talk. Now I might have liked to have heard about the restrictions placed on the filmmakers--such as where they could and couldn't visit and questions they could or could not ask. But, this is really not all that important--what IS important is that it gives you a glimpse of what is going on in North Korea. See it and learn.

By the way, the reason I didn't score this one a bit higher is that I do think that perhaps TOO MUCH of the parading was shown. It became tiresome to watch the girls practicing again and again and again and again for months. However, even this was interesting in a way--imagine how this was for these thousands and thousands of kids who did this! Wow....

*Another documentary filmed in North Korea by Western filmmakers was National Geographic's "Inside North Korea"--about a group of doctors who came to the country to perform free eye surgery for many blind North Koreans. It is fascinating--perhaps more so than "A State of Mind" as the now sighted folks did not thank their doctors when their bandages were removed but immediately ran to a poster of their leader, Kim Il Sung and began crying hysterically--thanking HIM for the restoration of their sight.

Do not expect to see a shocking reality about the life in North Korea. This movie is not about it. Some may perceive it as propaganda. I am pretty sure, that every scene was pre-arranged and approved by the state. It is nevertheless very interesting to see and listen how people think and live in a country we know so little about.

To me there is a huge paradox in the mass games in which the state's ideology "the subordination of the individual's desires to the needs of the collective" directly contrast "to continue the State's policy of self-reliance and independence." So on one side the state is teaching about cooperation, on the other hand it refuses to cooperate internationally.. I think this movie gives a lot to think about various concepts..

Since the only comments that have been posted on this film are negative, I wanted to put something positive. First off I am fascinated with countries and the ways of life other then what Im used too. This film let an insider see what its like in a country that only exists with in itself without all of the trends, and the typical attitudes by the people you will find in the USA. I can understand their hatred and frustration towards "the land of the free" and it was just magical to me to see what these people are about and what they truly stand for and what they believe. My argument has always been the US wouldn't like it if other nations invaded them and tried to control their way of life so why do they think they can do it to other nations. Whose Washington to say North Koreas wrong?? When it all comes down too it united states citizens are just as brainwashed as any other nation about what is right or wrong but the film is very good and it gives you a look at a country that is basically a secret to the western world.