the extraordinary true story of a kidnapped filmmaker, his star actress, and a young dictator's rise to power
Paul Fischer: A Kim Jong-Il production (2015)
353 pages
English language
Published Sept. 5, 2015
"A nonfiction thriller packed with tension, passion, and politics, [this book] offers a rare glimpse into a secretive world, illuminating a fascinating chapter of North Korea's history that helps explain how it became the hermetically sealed, intensely stage-managed country it remains today"--Amazon.com.
Incredibly well-sourced and researched. Fischer's prose is engaging and keeps you reading quickly. Highly recommended for anyone interested in film history & North Korea.
This book is the well-researched true account of the abduction of Madam Choi and her ex-husband Shin Sang-Ok, South Korea's most famous actress and film director. Through the story of their abduction, imprisonment, and coerced work making films for North Korea, the author also paints a mesmerizing, fascinating, and horrifying picture of life in North Korea under the dictator Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. Kim Jong-Il turns his fascination with cinema into an iron hold over the state's propoganda machine and spends decades essentially brainwashing the population of North Korea into believing they live in a worker's paradise and that their leaders are essentially gods.
If you aren't particularly aware of any of the history of North Korea it's a very approachable and eye-opening book that will shed light into how a government can indoctrinate an entire country to an incredible extent even in modern times. Even if …
This book is the well-researched true account of the abduction of Madam Choi and her ex-husband Shin Sang-Ok, South Korea's most famous actress and film director. Through the story of their abduction, imprisonment, and coerced work making films for North Korea, the author also paints a mesmerizing, fascinating, and horrifying picture of life in North Korea under the dictator Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. Kim Jong-Il turns his fascination with cinema into an iron hold over the state's propoganda machine and spends decades essentially brainwashing the population of North Korea into believing they live in a worker's paradise and that their leaders are essentially gods.
If you aren't particularly aware of any of the history of North Korea it's a very approachable and eye-opening book that will shed light into how a government can indoctrinate an entire country to an incredible extent even in modern times. Even if you are somewhat familiar with North Korea history, it's still a gripping kidnapping story as Shin Sang-Ok makes multiple failed escape attempts, and how he and Madam Choi plan a final deception and desperate last attempt. On a broader level I think there are also some very strong lessons about how much we are all influenced by the media we are surrounded with, even as we like to think we are not.
You'll read or listen to this book shaking your head the entire time that such crazy things can actually happen, but they did, and do, and likely will again.
