Under The Sun

Documentary | 2016 | NR. 1hr 46min
CAST: Lee Zin-Mi, Yu-Yong, Hye-Yong DIRECTOR: Vitaliy Manskiy TUESDAY FILM SERIES

Despite continuous interference by government handlers, director Vitaly Mansky still manages to document life in Pyongyang, capital city of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in this fascinating portrait of one girl and her parents in the year that Zin-mi prepares to join the Korean Children's Union on the 'Day Of The Shining Star' (Kim Jong-Il's birthday). As the family receives instruction on how to be the ideal patriots, Mansky's watchful camera captures details his handlers might prefer left unseen, from comrades struggling to stay awake during an official event to Zin-mi's tears at a particularly grueling dance lesson.

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Reviews

There's journalistic filmmaking, and then there's what Vitaly Mansky does in Under The Sun: a feat of truth-telling so daring that watching it makes you feel like a co-conspirator.

Norman Wilner, Toronto Sun

I think the lessons of "Under the Sun" go far beyond the tragic and idiotic delusions of North Korea's nightmare state, and that those lessons have direct application in Mansky's country, and in ours.

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com