“Just as there are movies that entertain, there should be films that depict real life,” director Kim Jin-moo told Korea Joongang Daily. “People may find it disturbing, but I think those who witnessed the horror are often the ones that can lead the change.”
The films listed below provide an astonishing glimpse into the brutality of life in North Korea and the plight of North Korean refugees. Even if you think you know what's coming, these brim with suspense and surprise.
Crossing (2008), Kim Tae-gyun
Yong-soo, his tubercular wife and their young son live in dire poverty in the isolated country — where medicine is in perilously short supply and it's not unusual to die of tuberculosis. When his wife hovers between life and death, Yong-soo is determined to slip across the border into China in search of food and medicine, only to find himself on the run. His son, Joon also risks his life to trace his father.
48M (2012), Min Baek-doo
The title refers to 48-meter width of the Yalu River, the shortest route between North Korea and China. North Korean refugees cross over the river into China and make it to the South. Some escape from persecution; others seek out food and a prosperous life. Crossing the river is only the beginning of a perilous journey (refugees who flee to China are often sent back to one of North Korea's fearsome labor camps as punishment for defecting). Based on true accounts of the refugees, the film recounts their ordeals.
Apostle (2014), Kim Jin-moo
There is a scene — that is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 — where two soldiers storm a house, ferret out a bible and instantly arrest dissidents. The possession of a bible is viewed as a hostile act to the Kim regime and evangelism is banned and carried out at the risk of death or imprisonment in horrific labor camps — in which torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions and executions are common. The film portrays the suffering that North Korea's underground Christians endure and the brutality that exists in the country.
As Forbes writes, “For those who worry about the fate of unknown tens of thousands of secret Christians in North Korea, this is a powerful film with a believable story.”
https://youtu.be/9piEuptLOvA
I was going to watch The Crossing.
These 3 movies will be hard to watch man.
Those damn North Koreans! >:/