Beyond Utopia * * *

Goodbye Kim!

Beyond Utopia is a documentary on people trying to escape the abject misery of living in North Korea.  It features two cases.  One, a family, and the other a young man who wishes to join his mother who made her escape ten years ago.

A brave champion in this documentary is a South Korean Pastor who escaped himself many years ago. Over the years he has enabled over a thousand defectors.  He has developed a string of "brokers" through China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand to shepherd them through. 

Do not consider these "brokers" to be heroic.  They are mercenaries and unless the money keeps flowing they are likely to sell these North Korean defectors to some bounty hunter.  

Much of the documentary is talking on mobile phones and shot by the brokers. It becomes very tense at times as you fear they will be caught. They make their way through icy conditions in China and later the hot jungle path in Laos. A family of Mum and Dad, two little girls and Grandma.  Some of the footage is appalling quality taken at night and shows us very little.  But dialogue can be heard and knowing their situation we remain deeply concerned and involved as we share their journey.

The other story, and the fate of the young man trying to escape, is tragic: especially when we learn of him being caught and taken back.  His mother knows her son will be tortured and then worked to death in a gulag and there is nothing she can do about it. Her anguish is terrible to witness.

It's a good documentary and there is no doubt that these people went through hell to get out.  But it did leave me questioning a couple of things. I do not know if the Caleb Mission sponsored this movie, but it is primarily about them and their work. It is not really a broad based documentary on defecting, showing other avenues and support services.

Beyond Utopia shows North Korea to be an horrendous country.  The only consolation for the citizens is that they don't really know how bad it is.  They actually think working hellish hours, living in filth and poverty, being constantly watched, and always hungry is pretty good compared to the rest of the world.  They are taught that the rest of the world - especially America - are insanely jealous of the beautiful "Utopia" Kim Jong Un has created.

This portrayal of North Korea could well be right, but the film inspired me to look at further material and although North Korea undoubtedly has an oppressive regime and lives in ignorance it might not be as unspeakably awful as portrayed in this film.   At least, I hope not! 

The film does not show much of the day to day life of most North Koreans so much as the hell you will go through if you step out of line. Like, embracing a religion or deciding to emigrate!