texts film ‘My Way in Pyongyang’ by Rob Niemantsverdriet
VOICE OVER TEXTS
00:26 > 00:57
The bridge over Amnok river. The connection between North Korea en the rest of the world. It’s an Alice in Wonderland. You pop down a rabbit-hole and fall into a different country, a different world. Where nothing is what it seems...
What is real, what has been put on scene? And what has been put on scene for so long that it now has become real again? Looking around in this open-air museum of communism, wondering: what do you really see...
01:27 > 01:42
It’s a public holiday in North Korea. April 2012. The country celebrates the Day of the Sun, the Great Leader’s 100th anniversary. Kim il Sung, the founder of the nation, the Sun of Humanity.
01:50> 02:08
The Chinese train pulls us through Wonderland. The land is still bare, it looks grey and gloomy. A vague transition from winter to spring. Small groups of people everywhere, working. Quiet, dedicated, united, or so it seems...
02:14 > 02:56
North Korea, Kim’s worker’s paradise, a totalitarian state. There’s the state, and there’s the people. Leo Tolstoj used to say about his Russia: ‘In this world we can live an excellent life, if we can work and love, if we can work for the ones we love and who can love us.’
Is that something the North Koreans have in store? We want to see how people live there, life as it is. People as they are, authentic human beings, what do they think, what do they feel, what are their wishes? And above all: will we get a glimps of that, or will we remain guessing?
03:09 > 03:36
Shinjuju station, North Korea’s frontier station. Directions... they resound from the speaker. How to leave the station. How to behave in the street. And how to get on the train. Law and order. We’re in the nation of the Great Leader, the Sun of Humanity, Kim il Sung, who will be a hundred years old in 108 hours and 38 minutes.
04:13 > 04:52
From a towering hotel: the city, completely rebuild. In August ’52 the bombing was increased, the Americans dropped as many bombs as the number of people living there, 429.000 bombs, the city had to be flattened. 429.000; and just as many trauma’s. Pyongyang is the only city in the world that has been devastated completely by bombardments. And has risen from its ashes like a flower that refuses to break, traumatised but proud, with the strength of a people resolved never to be ruled over again.
05:18 > 05:33
The Great Leader Kim often has brilliant ideas. Such as: about a desk top. He gave instructions to turn over the study table at an angle of 12 degrees, which makes the student absorb much more information.
05:40 > 05:51
We’re in the Grand Peoples Study House, the ‘University of the People’. Here anybody can study books, music, languages and culture from countries all over the world.
05:55 > 06:08
One expects nothing, in North Korea. One expects anything. But what you’re really amazed about is that they should study music from every corner in the world. Did this music happen to stand there...?
06:38 > 07:03
From the Grand Peoples Study House we have a view over the big square, this world famous spuare. A few days before the Big Day thousands of people are training for the Day of the Sun. The day that the Sun of Humanity, Kim il Sung, will be a hundred years old. Will be, it is laid down in the constitution that he will be the Eternal President, even though he died years ago.
07:14 > 07:13
You don’t just leave the square. Sharp orders guarantee an immaculate progress of the show. A taut direction, thousands of people make synchronic movements like a school of fish. It’s a kind of National sport. Nothing is left to chance, not even the way to leave the square.
07:44 > 08:42
The film industry. The production of hundreds of films in the honour of Kim’s philosophy, the Juche Idea of the independent, self supporting nation. Here they still work at the makable society, to the service of Big Director Kim Jong il. Who was also a great enthousiast of Hollywood films, by the way, and especially of Liz Taylor.
He himself directed the film ‘Our Lifeline’, about an ordinary North Korean who tracks down a dubble agent and uncovers an American-Japanese conspiracy. Kim’s answer to Hollywood, propaganda against the unlimited capitalism, interspersed with socialist ideals like solidarity and a sense of community.
The film as a message of where the country has to go, and what the country has achieved. A film as a direction, a preview, a political weather forecast. The reality of daily life looks different...
09:17 > 09:57
Peace and quiet. Lots of tranquility in North Korea. Empty, quiet roads, just the odd car. Without oil from Russia it becomes more and more quiet on the road... There is room, to walk, to work. In the Western world room is almost a synonym for freedom. Freedom to go wherever you want to go, to be left alone, room to think. Thoughts are free; speaking out what you think is another matter in North Korea... Gone will be your peace... The stories about prison camps speak for themselves... now and then you smell the fear.
10:06 > 10:33
There, between those hills, lies American concrete, miles of it. A powerless wall between two ideologies, near the border between two halves of Korea. Here again: words, a stream of words. Explain, over and over again, convince... prove your point against Washington, the prime aggressor. Pyonyang shows its teeth. Calimero is angry.
10:58 > 11:18
Kaesong, the far south of Northern Korea. Most traffic noise is due to squealing brakes of bicycles... a harmony of clicking heels, bicycles, and the buzz of voices all over... The peace and quiet of a car-free Sunday - fragments of cheery music, they do have that…
12:20 > 13:09
Rooting in the mud. Bare fields, cattle nowhere to be seen. A collective farm, small houses for the farmers. The landscape mostly strewn with red caracters, slogans calling for an increase in production. The state provides for oil, seeds and fertilizer, the produce belongs to the state; it gives every North Korean a share of the food. Most of the time this isn’t enough; year after year the country makes an appeal to the United Nations for help.
In 2012 Kim Jong Un announced some reforms. From now on the farmers are allowed to keep, sell or exchange a part of the harvest, if it is good. In big brother China a reform like this led to a capitalist economy...
13:50 > 13:33
In Kim’s Utopia as well, children are curious by nature. Ideologically neutral, not yet aware of what is allowed and what isn’t...
Strangers... what are they doing here? Curious yes... but you shouldn’t overdo it, of course...
13:54 > 14:00
Curious children... ...and then all of a sudden: the doubt... won’t this get us in trouble?
14:43 > 14:53
The DMZ - a soldierfree strip of land... the demilitarized zone, crowded with soldies, strangely enough.
14:59 > 15:13
The blue barracks are stil there. Here, Koreans negociated with Koreans for years. But the family fight is still stuck. An ideological clash. The North Koreans hang on to their demands, like a pitbull.
15:18 > 15:47
The hall in which the suspension of hostilities was signed is empty. Two tables, two books, two signatures. It’s a communist museum, the last room on earth where Marx is kept alive, on a drip of words. The red book is closed, and you wonder if it ever will be opened again. Korea’s past isn’t over yet by far. North and South hardly communicate, the country seems to be locked in its history.
15:52 > 16:08
We’re looking at the signature of the Great Kim. In July ’94 he wanted to talk to the South. The Sun of Humanity died from a cardiac arrest a few hours later. All this becomes too much for our guide. His tears drip on neutral ground.
16:38 > 17:00
Today, just before the Day of the Sun, there’s not one American to be seen on the other side. A boxing ring with no opponent. It never came to a knock-out. It’s just a cease-fire, it has been like that for almost sixty years. The DMZ meanders across the Korean insula, like a curtain keeping two big ideologies away from each other.
17:31 > 17:45
Natural disasters have struck the country for the past few years. The papers say that, according to Pyongyang, that’s a natural way for nature to respond to the shocking death of the Great leader. Even nature suffers the loss.
18:03 > 18:35
Kim il Sung, the Invincible Commander with the Iron Will, fought the Japanese. There are 563 bronze statues, scattered over the country. A multiple Golden Calf. Kim guards over Kaesong as well. Is it allowed to make a picture of the statue? Certainly, the guide says. But the whole of the statue has to be on it. One foot or arm missing and the picture has to be deleted on the spot. Those are the rules.
18:49 > 18:58
Kapsida! The guides are calling. Kapsida, hurry up! We’re not allowed to be standing still too long. Certainly not for filming...
19:29 > 19:48
Every village is rehearsing, concerts in the honour of the Great Leader’s birthday. A student orchestra, the girls’ choir, a men’s choir. Everything is inspected to perfection. A country full of instructions, multiple perfectionism. Is your Kim pin straight!?
21:01 > 21:15
Ten soloists, all in gowns, surrounded by smart suits. Rehearsing for the big festival on the Day of the Sun. There will be festivities all over the country, in the honour of the Invincible General with the Golden Heart...
22:41 > 23:05
Do we recognize the voice of the well-known anchor woman? Reciting is drama in North Korea. Touched voices, full of dedication for the higher purpose. The world famous face of the state television, Ri Chun-Hee, takes the lead... overwhelmed by grief, resolute or heroic... Ri never studied journalism, she trained to be an actress...
23:55 > 24:36
Evening... the peace and quiet have returned to the square. The people walk or cycle home. But of course you don’t cycle past the statue of the Great Leader... there you get off your bicycle. Walk a few yards, and then you just cycle on. That’s what is called respect. If you don’t want to walk, you cycle around the square in a wide circle.
Neither do you fold a paper containing a photograph of Kim - which is any paper. A fold in Kim’s face shows no respect, so the guide warns us...
And when there’s a power failure, leaving the city in the dark, the spotlights will remain shining on the bronze Kim.
25:00 > 25:19
The next morning... the square wakes up. With a three-four time. A walz, a light opera. An appeal to get to work in good spirits. Produce has to be increased, for the village, for the country, and the party. ‘The field of the cooperative is my field!’
26:13 > 26:46
Once in a while you catch a glimpse of the time before the Kims. Authentic sculptures and buildings, centuries old sometimes, often from Buddhist origin. Succesfully restored, thanks to the generous support... of Kim’s. Are they still in use? Certainly, the guide says. On our way we also see a christian church and a mosk. ‘Everybody is free to profess his religion’, the guid says again. We count precisely one Buddhist monk; he’s all the life and soul we see of religion...
27:14 > 27:34
Korea is 1! No doubt about that. North as well as South want to be 1. Also the entrance to Pyongyang is clear about this. Korea is 1. Tableaus everywhere, in the street, in front of factories, the picture of the future, the ideal state.
27:40 > 27:56
The aggressor spied in territorial waters. Of course you shouldn’t do a thing like that. Pyongyang hijacked the American spy ship the Pueblo in January ’68. A trophy, triumphantly exhibited for the sparse tourists.
28:38 > 29:05
I did it my way... The Voice is back! Would you believe, here in Pyongyang. Frank Sinatra isn’t under a taboo. My Way, an ode to the self-will of the individual, in a country full of collectivism. A self-willed state, that should be more like Kim’s Juche philosophy. But this blushing face evidently enjoys it... or still, is it the dutiful repertoire for tourists?
29:50 > 30:32
The Big Day. The Day of the Sun, Kim il Sung’s 100th anniversary. The Eternal President, officially still in power, celebrates his birthday. The founder of the Juche ideology, which states that the collective will of the people is pressed together in the leader. Every deed of the Great Leader mirrors the needs of the state and the society. Don’t doubt that...
A festval in the park. A three-four time again. Looking at and being looked at. Is this the spot, the festival for the Koreans themselves? Are we crossing the set, or are we the set ourselves?
30:46 > 30:53
men everywhere... with a mobile phone... mobile phone codes, watching us, code 007...
31:40 > 31:42
This is where the birthday boy lies today.
31:47 > 31:55
Balmed, shoes polished, hair combed. He doesn’t receive any visitors today, hardly are we allowed to watch from this distance.
32:10 > 32:38
We are filming the military parade. A soldier in impressive cap ticks our shoulders... inspection. He wants to see our camera, see what we have filmed. We have to delete a number of shots.
What is it that we’re not allowed to see? This cheerful military show is on television all over the world, with the sanctioned footage of the state television. Or are we inadvertently filming state secrets, are these missiles loaded after all?
32:41 > 32:44
A confusing contrast... this charming smile.
32:47 > 32:49
Is this openness?...
32:50 > 32:51
Or shyness?
32:53 > 32:56
...and this man even thanks us, ka’amsamida!
33:01 > 33:10
Then suddenly a glimpse of fury... that man on the right... he is distrustful and sets a soldier at us...
33:49 > 34:03
Not a festive day without a visit to the flower show. A big hall full of... indeed... Kimjongilias and Kimilsungias. A begonia and an orchyd named after the two Kims.
34:10 > 34:51
Neither isn’t the missile lacking. The Tepondong was launched on Friday 13th... What all these people do not yet know, is that it came down again in less than a minute, and only caused no more than a small ruffle on the Exchange of Seoul. The idea was to play songs from the universe, to tribute to the glory of the Great Leader Kim.
Later that day the Korean state television came with the affirmation that the launch had failed... and that’s what is new, because the nation doesn’t very easily admit its failure in front of 23 million inhabitants. Will Kim Jong Un’s glasnost start here?
35:06 > 35:10
Fireworks in Pyongyang. One hundred years of Kim. The personality cult reaches its climax. A phenomena that we in the West are suspicious about.
Whatever the North Koreans thought about them, the first two Kims also offered certainty in their lives. This has gone now and mistrust of the outside world is great. No North Korea without trust in the leader... so the Kim dynasty is continued.
The spectacle starts at a quarter to eight. A few seconds before that all the lights in every building in Pyongyang are switched off in less then no time... The ultimate control.
Today is a joyful day. Today it turns out that a second Kim has been placed. Two bronze statues. Kim Jong il next to father Kim il Sung. Or even, the statue of the father has been replaced by a less stern version. Kim with glasses, more modern coat, more frivolous. Food for the Pyongyang watcher.
36:14 > 36:19
And this... this shows a face of the future, nowhere near bronze...
37:38 > 37:42
Kim il Sung Square, Pyongyang. The day after.
37:47 > 38:08
All people are equal, in a classless state. Some are a touch more dark. They work and plod on the land. Others have a light complexion, subtly protected by a parasol. In this ‘Kim Farm’ , as in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, all people are equal, and some are more equal than others.
38:29 > 39:03
Sangun - army first. With this adage Kim Jong il gave the military its elite status. Not imagination, not the economy, but soldiers rule the country. Learn young, learn fair, if you want to cuddle up against power you can never start too early, many a mother thinks.
Recently Kim Jong Un also put economists in high places. New understandings, even a constitutional reform.
But... how are you going to dress your child like an economist?
39:41 > 40:16
Badges. Chests full of badges, the people look proud and well-to-do.
But lately Kim Jong Un openly admitted what everybody knows: the North Korean economy isn’t really flourishing. After a long history of oppression Pyongyang has turned its back to the rest of the world, with poverty as a consequence. For years the country has been trying to be self supporting.
But, Kim Jong Un also expresses through the state media, it is important to raise the living standard of the people.
40:40 > 41:16
North Koreans are brave, revolutionary, they fought their freedom from foreign aggressors. Kim’s people’s army drove the Japanese out, and founded the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Since then they look forward confidently and militantly to a bright future.
But... the Korean is also a day tripper. An excursion to the bronze statues on the Mansudae Hill... they show their respect, and bow for both Kims.
Or even more fun: a wedding picture, under the approving look of the Great leader.
41:20 > 41:23
Or a happy family photo...
41:36 > 42:26
Against Pyongyang’s skyline there’s a colourful parade of people, dressed in their Sunday best. Traditional gowns, but also women in woman’s suits, smartly cut, men in more loose stilish costumes. Strikingly beautiful supple fabric, dark colours or fiery red. Women walking in fashionable platform-soled shoes...
For us fashion is a way to be different as an individual. What is it like in the empire of the Great Leader Kim? Is it possible to be an individual here? It doesn’t look like it. Everything turns around the collective, everybody dresses rather uniformly, stilish but uniformly. A people with a collective will. And everybody is included, that’s the other side of it...
42:28 > 42:33
But, very remarkable: even the women soldiers are parading in high heeled shoes.
43:03 > 43:39
The less one knows, the more one is going to suspect, Macchiavelli already said. There are lots of myths about North Korea. Pyongyang’s underground is said to have only a few stations. A show for foreigners, with extras by authority, as in a real life soap.
There’s a huge crowd, like in Paris, London or New York - the old Chinese carriages ride on a frequent schedule and are packed. With commuters, so it seems.
Some glass windows bear scratchings... it looks like graffiti. But that is improbable in Pyongyang.
43:54 > 44:00
How far does the underground go? We don’t know, we get off at the third stop...
45:23 > 45:41
However isolated the North Koreans live, they do want to be reckoned with in the world. Certainly they shouldn’t be looked down upon. That wouldn’t be right. So their Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang measures 59 yards, over three yards higher than the one in Paris.
45:50 > 46:05
Also quite something is the monument for the founding of the Labour Party. The hammer, the sickle. But a paint brush as well: the intellectual and the artist count in Kim’s workers’ paradise, big brother China can learn a lesson here.
46:13 > 46:26
Apparently this monument is a sensitive spot. All of a sudden we see these men again, inconspiculously NOT twittering... for there’re not on Twitter, their phones only work in an internal North Korean network.
47:03 > 47:20
The North Korean state circus... we’re not allowed to film. Why not? Our guide whispers: our circus is good, but maybe not yet perfect. If you film a mistake, the Western world will use this to make us look ridiculous.
47:27 > 47:33
The perfect show we watch takes our breath away. An artistic expression of the ultimate makability.
48:14 > 48:27
Traveling through North Korea - it ís possible. We experienced Kim’s ideal state, the sets Pyongyang allowed us to see. Slices of Life. But have we seen North Korean life as it is?
48:31 > 49:21
Traveling through a country where the past isn’t over yet by far. An amputated country, wishing above all to be one again, one Korea. But that must be one workers paradise. Pyongyang is in fear of the economic power of Hyundai and Samsung, LG, Kia, Daewoo, Ssanyong - South Korean firms, some of which use North Korean labour for their production - just over the border.
Foreign currency Pyongyang can’t resist. About 40.000 North Koreans earn an average of 160 dollars a month - one fifth of what a South Korean worker would have earned. A capitalist enclave to keep up the communist ideals.
49:30 > 49:51
A traumatised country, a traumatised people, isolated. But also proud and self-confident. We wanted to see how people live there, life as it is. People as they are, authentic human beings, what do they think, what do they feel, what are their wishes? They were unapproachable for us...
49:56 > 50:05
We are leaving Wonderland, pop down a rabbit-hole again and fall back into the other world. A world where everthing reasonably is what it looks like...
50:10 > 50:16
North Korea is an idea. A timeless country, locked in its history.
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SUBTITLES
02:38 > 02:43
‘Long live General Kinm Jong Il, Sun of the 21st century’
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QUOTE TITLES
50:18 > 50:37
“Literature must show people as they are.
People are always specific in their…
…thinking, feelings, will and actions
…and they really exist.”
- Kim Jong Il -
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START TITLE
00:18 > 00:22
My Way in Pyongyang
END TITLES
starting at 50:55
My Way in Pyongyang
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A film by
Rob Niemantsverdriet
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Rob Niemantsverdriet
camera & editing
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texts
Rob Niemantsverdriet
Henk Weltevreden
Hans van Dijk
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Special thanks to
Dr. Koen De Ceuster
Hans Rikken
Nils Knibbe
music
Park Yun-Cho
Shin Kwe-Dong
North Korea
april 2012
juche 101
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TEXT TRAILER
The river Amnok. The bridge to the open-air museum of communism.
A fascinating view into the daily life of a not everyday country. The land of the Great Leader, where nothing is what it seems... What is real, what has been put on scene, and what has been put on scene for so long that it has become real again, in Kim’s Utopia?
A timeless country, locked in its history. Travel through North Korea and constantly wonder what you see... A girl playing Frank Sinatra’s My Way on accordeon, an ode to the self-willed individual, finding your own way, in a country where the collective comes first. A festival in Pyongyang, where the Koreans show their respect and bow for the Great and Beloved Leader.
Kim Jong Un, the 3e Kim, brings reforms into force... a Pyongyang Glasnost? Or does he...?
April 2012. The country of the Great Leader, in the month of his centennial.