Movielogr
Camp 14: Total Control Zone (2012)
Directed by Marc Wiese
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Overview
Shin Dong-Huyk was born on November 19, 1983 as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp. He was a child of two prisoners who had been married by order of the wardens. He spent his entire childhood and youth in Camp 14, in fact a death camp. He was forced to labor since he was six years old and suffered from hunger, beatings and torture, always at the mercy of the wardens. He knew nothing about the world outside the barbed-wire fences. At the age of 23, with the help of an older prisoner, he managed to escape. For months he traveled through North Korea and China and finally to South Korea, where he encountered a world completely strange to him.
Length 104 minutes
Actors
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/10/2013 | TV | Streaming | Video on Demand | 4 stars |
| (Average) 4 stars |
Viewing Notes
A unsettling and tragic documentary that exposes life in North Korean labour camps. The animated reenactments are beautiful and haunting while the stories told by former guards at the camps are chilling in their emotionless delivery.
The major (and only, really) problem here is the director’s obsession with lingering on the main subject- a man born and raised in one of these camps- when his emotion prevents him from continuing the interviews unbroken. After the 1st couple of moments (there are many) where the camera stares him down while he sits in silence (or, at least one time, asks that the interview be stopped) things begin to feel uncomfortable. It’s unnecessary as the subject matter itself is already heavy with emotion, we’re already completely sympathetic without being forced to watch him struggle with his own memories repeatedly.
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