The Juche Idea

Filmmaker Jim Finn's satirical mockumentary sends up the notion of “juche,” or national self-sufficiency, first enunciated by North Korean dictator Kim Il-Sung and elaborated by his son and successor Kim Jong-Il, concentrating on the latter's application of juche to filmmaking. One of the central elements here is a fictional narrative, carefully shot to look like documentary footage, about a South Korean filmmaker (Jung Yoo Lee) “in residence” at a North Korean artist colony. Interviewed by a Bulgarian journalist, she explains how she's trying to produce poems and scripts that will be able to pass muster in sessions that are euphemistically defined as self-criticism (one of her projects is titled “Dentures of Imperialism”). Her story is interrupted by other segments ridiculing North Korean propaganda films (some incorporating found footage), excerpts from actual Korean movies (often accompanied by quotations from the teachings of Kim Jong-Il), and archival glimpses of the regime's parades and appearances by the dictator. The result is a deadpan critique of the ideology of juche, often very funny but with a serious point to make. Recommended. (F. Swietek)