ksandness The European and Russian filmmakers were invited by the North Korean government to make a documentary that glorified their country, but the filmmakers managed to subvert the intent of the film by keeping the cameras running while the government handlers were giving instructions to the participants. Other reviewers have discussed the ways in which the government handlers coached the participants and created fake backgrounds for the family.But it is the unstaged scenes that really give an indication of the totalitarian nature of the country. I have ridden subways in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, London, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Seoul, and I have never seen, nor could I have imagined, a scene like the one after Zin-mi's initiation into the Children's Union. (That's a surreal event in itself, especially the unison applause that all stops at the same time.) That is, literally hundreds of parents and children are at the subway station, returning from what is supposed to be a momentous occasion, and none of the parents or children say a word. They wait silently for the train, and they ride it silently, looking rather depressed.Or take the arrival at work. Everyone silently stands in line, and they are expected to bow to a billboard of the Kim family before turning at a right angle and entering the building. After dancers in colorful costumes rehearse outside, they silently board buses. Nobody seems to talk in public or show anything but a blank facial expression. Even in more intimate scenes, even among the children, people seem to be looking for cues as to what is permitted or appropriate.This is not "Communism." I was in China in 1990 and in Cuba in 2011, and in both countries, people talk and show emotions in public.It is telling that the North Koreans saw all the footage (except what the filmmakers held back) and still approved it. Are they so into their own mindset that they don't know that foreigners would be creeped out by a society in which people act like robots in public?

vadimkhar-47330 The movie shows how rehearsed and show-offish everything in DPRK is, which is quite rehearsed by itself. I watch all documentaries about North Korea, read books by some escapees and have no illusions about Kim's regime. However, imagine you have stability, equality, booming economy, but without ever-watching big brother and Kim-idolatry. I think, there's something there we should strive for. So, I guess the movie is OK, but it offers shallow perspective on what that country truly represents. That's an early bird - our objective, I believe, is to watch closely and think how to make it work better and more wholesome in our society. After all, socialism and consequently communism can truly be the future of our societies.

nbp-3 A beautiful example of capitalist propaganda and false post-soviet Russia. The film is about anything, with an attempt to distort the reality of the situation.A feeling that the film was shot by order of the ugly capitalist society, which still can not understand that the consumption - is the path of degenerates, but the patriotism - the way of real people.I have lived and worked in North Korea for twelve years, and the people there are wonderful and amazing in its resistance against the aggression of America and Japan - countries that have not achieved anything in their lives, but killed a lot of good in the world.It becomes ashamed of the director, the sponsors and the entire film crew, who could not feel the life of an alien country.I do not recommend this anticommunist propaganda to anyone in this world.

olivialin-96433 To be honest, this film shows exactly the same as I expect about North Korea, but as a Chinese who born at 1993, I feel more complex rather than sympathy.When I was at 7, I was also very proud of join children's union, children can talk about join this union for half years, no matter of what exactly this union means. No one knows what you will be responsible for this union, it seems empty and funny now, but for then, I just proud of it and "always ready" as well. Then the factory is also so real, basically all of my friends in my childhood were live in the factory. Some factories got their own primary school for children who born in that area. It is easier and safer for children to play around factory area, it seems like just flash back to my childhood.Then the recite thing in the very end of the movie is exactly same as myself experience too. However when I become an adult I am really thankful for that time when I was forced to recite those much thing, because nowadays when I see beautiful things those painful poems and lyrics just come out of my mind, gives me the best way of describing beauties.From my prospective, this mode maybe fit for North Korea. If people cannot see the outside world for this moment, then they will not become angry, jealous or pessimistic about their future.At the beginning of the movie I really thought that if China can develop this quick in this 15 years, maybe North Korea can do the same thing too.Although it is looks sad for a moment.