North Korea's Political Dynasty: A Review of Kimjongilia

Introduction: Documentary Overview

The History Channel produces and broadcasts a provocative and informative special about modern political history in North Korea. The focus is upon the leader, the dynasty, and the legacy of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The documentary examines the current leader as well as the leadership of his father of the same name. Documentaries — particularly those about history — face the arduous challenge of maintaining viewers' attention while striking a cooperative balance between being educational and serving as entertainment. This short documentary by the History Channel achieves that balance successfully.

As a historical documentary, a significant portion of the content necessarily consists of interviews. A documentary full of "talking heads" — a term used in the film and media industries to describe on-screen subjects who are simply talking — is boring and loses the audience almost immediately. Variety keeps documentaries interesting, no matter how compelling the subject matter, as is the case with Kimjongilia. The producers and research team weave together interviews that are in themselves exceptionally compelling. The interviews vary in how they are shot (cinematography) — in some cases to protect the identities of those interviewed, and in other cases simply to offer aesthetic variety.

Interview Subjects and Their Diverse Backgrounds

The interviews are compelling for several reasons. Firstly, each person interviewed comes from a very different social and class background. When people around the world learn of social atrocities committed in other countries, there is often a presumption — reinforced by media representations — that those who suffer in such situations are very poor, uneducated, and deprived of society's privileges. The endeavor to understand or investigate North Korean politics is undoubtedly arduous and, as Koh writes, ultimately constrained:

"Simply put, hard empirical data on the most pivotal aspects of North Korean politics — such as its decision-making processes, recruitment and mobility patterns of its political, bureaucratic, and military elites, the cognitive, affective, and evaluative orientations of both its elites and citizens — are nonexistent. Nor are they likely to be forthcoming in the near future… the stringent restrictions that have thus far been placed upon visitors have been very crippling and the impressions and insights that they have brought out of that hermit kingdom appear to have added very little to our cumulative wisdom — or illusions — about North Korea." (Koh, "Political Leadership in North Korea," p. 140)

As the on-screen text reads very early in Kimjongilia, North Korea is the most isolated country in the world. Very little information is generally available about such a place, and even less so because the government operates a series of concentration camps where people are imprisoned unreasonably for minor offenses — or for things that are no crime at all. There are cases shown in the documentary where people are arrested and imprisoned without having committed any crime, or at the very least, without being informed of the charges against them.

In the documentary, all of the people speaking out are North Korean, yet they come from vastly different backgrounds. There is a young woman who was a singer from a poor family who suffered horrible treatment from the North Korean government because her "voice sounded capitalist." There is a young concert pianist who came from a highly privileged family — among the most loyal to the leader — who experienced and awakened to the atrocities committed by his government and military under the direct leadership of Kim Il-sung and his son. Furthermore, there are young men who were taken to concentration camps as children, and one man who was born in such a camp, all of whom provide interview content for the documentary.

Historical Context and Cinematic Techniques

Each person offers vivid detail about their experience with the government and the circumstances under which they decided to flee North Korea; some also describe the events surrounding their escape. Due to the variety of the interviewees' backgrounds, the variety of cinematographic styles used in each interview, and the variety of horrors they experienced, the interview footage rarely feels like tedious talking heads. The effect is more that these people are speaking directly to the audience — any audience — as their primary reason for participating is to make known the crimes against humanity that exist in North Korea.

Notably, much of the explicitly stated anti-Kim Jong-il or anti-Kim Il-sung sentiment is expressed directly by those interviewed. The History Channel makes a substantial effort to present facts about the topic and its history. Several animated timelines explain events pertinent to both leaders' personal histories, as well as events related to the modern history of Korea — including the division of North and South Korea at the 38th parallel in the Demilitarized Zone as a result of the Korean War. The timelines cover the Japanese occupation of Korea around the turn of the twentieth century, the resistance to that occupation, the birth and education of Kim Jong-il, and events leading up to and following the Korean War.

Through the use of stock photography and stock footage of official North Korean ceremonies, the documentary stays vivid in the viewer's mind, exposing Western audiences to aspects of North Korea they likely never knew existed. A great deal of the narration and voiceover is provided by those interviewed, rather than by a formal History Channel representative. The photographs express a wide range of sentiment regarding North Korean leadership. There is footage of swarms of women of all ages weeping with great emotion upon hearing of the leader's death. There are photographs of children severely malnourished as a result of conditions in the concentration camps. Some of the most shocking footage shows the beloved-and-hated leader ostensibly working for the people — presumably staged for cameras and for propaganda purposes.

The use of North Korean propaganda — including images, moving images, posters, and more — adds a captivating dimension to the documentary. For many Western viewers, the vast majority of information about North Korea beyond the main topic (the excessive brutality of its leadership toward its own people) is entirely unknown. The documentary draws on multiple forms of media and on the lived experiences of North Koreans to tell a story of great tragedy that must be brought to light if the mass suffering in North Korea is ever to end.