Dear Pyongyang (2006)
Dear Pyongyang is a documentary film by Zainichi Korean director Yang Yong-hi (Korean: 양영희, Hanja: 梁英姬) about her own family. It was shot in Osaka Japan (Yang's hometown) and Pyongyang, North Korea, In the 1970s, Yang's father, an ardent communist and leader of the pro-North movement in Japan, sent his three sons from Japan to North Korea under a repatriation campaign sponsored by ethnic activist organisation and de facto North Korean embassy Chongryon; as the only daughter, Yang herself remained in Japan. However, as the economic situation in the North deteriorated, the brothers became increasingly dependent for survival on the care packages sent by their parents. The film shows Yang's visits to her brothers in Pyongyang, as well as conversations with her father about his ideological faith and his regrets over breaking up his family.
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Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
A South Korean immigrates to Japan and dedicates his life to unifying a Communist Korea. In 1971, he sends his three teenage sons to North Korea to be raised under the ideology of Kim Il Sung.The documentary follows his daughter, Yang Yong-hi, who does not share this undying loyalty and devotion to Kim Il Sung, as she travels to North Korea in an attempt to understand why her father is so loyal to it's ideology. We see interviews between her and her father, in which he laughs and jokes with her in a very loving way. His decision to send his sons to North Korea was a terrible one. This is emphasised further when you see the difference between her childhood and that of her brothers, she had freedom whereas her brothers lives were strictly controlled, and still are to the present day.The documentary shows honest footage of Pyongyang, the viewer gets to see a small glimpse of the lives of the people for what it really is, rather difficult and dreary. Watching things about North Korea will always make me grateful I was born in the South.The documentary is very 'home movie' style, which may put some people off, but in my opinion it makes it much more personal to watch. Overall this is a wonderful and incredibly sad documentary of the effects of opposing political ideologies on a family.