Most people, especially those in positions of political power and prominence, try to keep their mistakes and misdeeds hidden, especially those that would result in adverse or detrimental consequences. In order to conceal their misconducts and avoid public scandals, most government officials will either silence those who know the truth or blatantly lie and create a façade to hide the reality from the public and the media. These tactics, employed by both the North and South Korean governments, are seen in the 2014 film, The Interview, and the 2003 film, Silmido, respectively. In The Interview, an American talk show host and his producer are recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to expose the realities of North Korean society while …show more content…
Since its establishment in the late 20th century, North Korea has increasingly isolated itself from the global community. According to Schoppa, after two fatal storms struck the Korean peninsula and resulted in widespread famine, North Korea “initially turned down offers of help from the South Korean Red Cross and the UN’s World Food Program…North Korea said that it ‘did not need outside support.’” In The Interview, the film creators use the problem of continuous famine and hunger in North Korea when the fictional American television personality, Dave Skylark, is tricked early in the film into believing that the people of North Korea were fed and healthy. Later, he realizes that the surplus of “food” and the “grocery stores” he first saw were plastic representations of food and artificial backdrops that depicted the inside of a grocery store. Through this, the creators of The Interview are attempting to reveal how the North Korean government is trying to deceive their international …show more content…
Haggard and Lindsay claim, “In July [of 2014], Pyongyang had asked Washington to block the release of the film and had even lodged a protest to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.” After the U.S. government refused to be hindered by North Korea, a group, called the “Guardians of Peace,” began to send veiled threats to Sony Pictures Entertainment, which hinted at potential harm towards Sony employees and referenced the September, 11th World Trade Center attacks in 2001. After the FBI released a statement that attributed the cyber hacks and treats to North Korea, it becomes clear that the North Korean government went to extreme lengths to prevent the release of a film that would not only expose their neglect and maltreatment of their people, but also depict the brutal assassination of their supreme
Blaine Harden, former national correspondent and writer for the New York Times, delivers an agonizing and heartbreaking story of one man’s extremely conflicted life in a labor camp and an endeavor of escaping this place he grew up in. This man’s name is Shin Dong-hyuk. Together, Blaine Harden and Shin Dong-hyuk tell us the story of this man’s imprisonment and escape into South Korea and eventually, the United States, from North Korea. This biography that takes place from 1982-2011, reports to its readers on what is really going on in “one of the world’s darkest nations” (back cover of the book), that is run under a communist state and totalitarian dictatorship that was lead by Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and currently lead by Kim-Jong un. In Escape from Camp 14, Shin shows us the adaptation of his life and how one man can truly evolve from an animal, into a real human being.
The film Kokoda, directed by Alistair Grierson, portrays a fairly accurate representation of the hardships and battles fought in Kokoda in 1942. This is shown through its alikeness between the terrain, conditions, disease, mateship and courage. The budget and plot of the film do limit the capability to show some important details such as the Australian’s khaki uniforms and the intentions of the Japanese.
The movie, “The Perfect Dictatorship” (“La Dictadura Perfecta”), directed and produced by Luis Estrada and released in 2014, is a political, satirical comedy story of two reporters attempting to repair the image of a corrupt governor after he signs a deal with the boss of their television company, Television Mexicana. That’s one way we could describe the plot of the movie. Another would be that the movie depicts the inherent corruption of the Mexican government and the lengths to which they will go to retain (or regain) their reputation. Equally, we could see the movie as a demonstration of the corruption of the Mexican media and the ways in which the media influences and effects politics. In fact, the
When a troubled young boy learns he’s adopted, he seeks murderous revenge by going after the biological family that abandoned him.
Lee Mun Wah is a documentary filmmaker, educator, author, therapist, and diversity trainer. He is also the founder of Stirfry seminars and Consulting which is a diversity training company. On January 31, 2017, Lee Mun Wah came to Iowa State University to host an interactive session on diversity in the Sun Room located in the Memorial Union.
Ever since I watched ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’, I have absolutely adored Clint Eastwood. For more than 53 years now, Clint Eastwood has entertained us and mesmerized us with his acting, but that’s not where the old guy stopped. For the last 37 years, in his avatar as a director, he has given us some of the most enduring movies ever written. Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven, Letters from Iwo Jima – just a few of the many brilliant movies Clint has directed. Gran Torino, is perhaps, one of his best works as a director, as well as an actor. Gran Torino is a story of strange bedfellows coming together for even stranger reasons. It’s a story of bigotry, a story of hatred and a story of redemption. The character of Walter Kowalski, once again establishes Clint Eastwood as an American icon –this time as a beer chugging, racist, angry Korean War veteran who thinks the world he fought for is going to hell. The retired Detroit autoworker, Walter Kowalski, is cantankerous and forever has a scowl etched on his face. He finds it difficult to connect with either his sons or his grandchildren. The movie opens with Walter Kowalski standing by the coffin of his wife scowling and evidently furious with all the people present there as well as the ridiculously young priest. Walter’s anger stems from the fact that his two sons and their children did not seem to take the funeral seriously. The granddaughter is dressed snobbishly and even sends text messages during the funeral.
Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance, life in turmoil, life that calls for another way of living, and additionally, a perfect juxtaposition of our flawed society and where it came from. The poignant images evoke a certain feeling of empathy for ourselves and the human race as a whole. Throughout the film, the images tend to focus around the general idea of habit. In many of the scenes it seems fairly obvious that everyone's actions are habitual and almost choreographed. For example, in Part 7, the music and mood tend to change depending on the people it’s showing (orderly businessmen or joyful sightseers). Everyone’s actions seem memorized rather than goal-oriented. This idea seems to tie in with other ideas from the film such as motivation and
I chose to analyze Despicable Me, an animated film geared towards a younger audience, because I was interested in examining underlying theories and messages that this film would be relaying to its viewers. Often times, when watching animated films, children are not aware of these messages, as they are absorbed by the characters, special effects, and humor. But as we have learned throughout this semester, our brains are subconsciously primed by the various surroundings we are exposed to. Since we also studied the impacts of entertainment, such as television and video games, on children, I wanted to see how a popular children’s film might also affect them.
The main axis and backbone of Jung Yoon-suk’s “Non-Fiction Diary” is an event that occurred in 1994 and shocked the Korean nation. This event is the surface and capture of the Jijon Clan, which consisted of six serial killers who kidnapped, raped, ate and burned five people and even forced one of the women hostages to participate in the killing of her boyfriend. After Jijon Clan’s arrest,
North Korea didn't approve of sony's movie The Interview because it was about “a tv host and their producer manage to secure an interview with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea – only to find themselves hired by the CIA to assassinate him.” Of course, North Korea found that as a very big issue along with the disrespect. In fact the UN ambassador, Ja Song Nam, also thought it was nothing good coming from the movie as he said “ The United States authorities should take immediate and appropriate actions to ban the production and distribution of the aforementioned film; otherwise, it will be fully responsible for encouraging and sponsoring terrorism."
The film was “ Bolinao 52” was very heart-rending. I can’t imagine going through such a horrifying experience. The film showed what mental and physical endurance actually means. There were people who committed cannibalism just to survive. The refugees had nothing left but hope and a strong belief in faith. This film looks into the hope outlook during desperation. This film really demonstrated what it is like to an outsider wanting to come to the U.S. By watching this film I definitely developed more compassion and forgiveness.
The film Apocalypto directed by Mel Gibson is a depiction on how the Mayan and other mesoamerican tribes conflicted throughout time. The movie opens with Jaguar Paw the main protagonist who is on a hunt with his fellow tribesmen for food. Throughout this sequence they show teamwork and acrobatic skills showing off the dynamics of hunting. After they hunt they encounter a passing tribe whose village was just raided telling Jaguar that they are coming creating fear which is essentially the theme of the movie. Upon return we see a warm family like feel that everyone in the tribe has. Everyone knows and loves each other expressing the love between family, that night they feast and pray that fear does not exist and no one should be afraid. The next
People way too often struggle with the uncertainty of their pasts. When we are unhappy with the decision we made in our past it stays with us haunting our dreams, affecting our sense to be happy because we sometimes feel like we don’t deserve it. This idea is explored in the movie “Grand Torino” directed by Clint Eastwood, where we understand how Walt an old grumpy, racist, sour faced man finds out that In order to find redemption and be at peace you must make up your past mistakes with new memories. Through Walts experience, Clint Eastwood is suggesting that humans need to reconcile their memories of their pasts with a present experience by finding a purpose bigger than themselves.
The North Korean regime would have spies in China in order to capture those who were fleeing among the borders to find food or a job, people were easily targeted and brought back in order to force them labor camps. This experience made many of the defectors stop trying but at the same time it made other North Koreans to try harder to not get caught. Many saw that the only way to escape fully was by either giving themselves up to the Mongolian boarder police or find a way to get to South Korea which is not easy even until this day. The South Korean government seems to be very generous by giving these people welfare in order for them to establish themselves in this new and strange country. Something that was shocking is that once the defectors were in South Korea, whenever they would hear bad commentaries towards North Korea and the situations they lived in, they felt offended. There was still something ingrained in them that even after all the lies about their regime and leaders there was still a sense of identity with being fully North Korean. And many believed that the regime would soon collapse allowing them to go back with their families and friends. Demick’s narrative points out how in these six stories involving North Koreans defectors once in South Korea they would experience a massive cultural shock. Many pointed
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is a Steven Spielberg science fiction drama film, which conveys the story of a younger generation robot, David, who yearns for his human mother’s love. David’s character stimulates the mind-body question. What is the connection between our “minds” and our bodies?