Beyond Utopia

Such a devastating fate to be born in NK. Seeing even glimpses of what these humans have been going through for decades now is just heartbreaking. No one is eager to step in and help, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. People like this SK Pastor who literally risk their lives to save complete strangers, not once, not twice, but over and over again, are HEROES.

Having been born into communism myself, and lucky enough to live to see the regime fall I still remember the paralysing fear we felt upon hearing the street speakers blasting that the leader was dead, no one dared cheer or even move for fear it's some trick and we'd all be shot the second anyone made a sound. Yet it was no where near as bad as I imagine NK is, which like the Docu said, can only be akined to Nazi Germany.

Don't take your life and freedom for granted.

As an East German, I am always receptive to stories about escaping from a sealed-off country. But even if the escape from East Germany was also incredibly dangerous, the escape route from North Korea via countries such as China, Laos, and Thailand documented in 'Beyond Utopia' is an even more extreme odyssey. And in terms of hardship, the situation for the people in North Korea is way worse than what the majority of the population in East Germany had to endure.

This documentary is told primarily through original footage of a family's escape and rare video footage from North Korea. The focus is on a pastor who helps North Korean defectors in their dangerous escape. 'Beyond Utopia' is notable above all for its high level of suspense. You could say it has something of a political thriller about it. I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. This movie is definitely worth watching, especially since there are so few documentaries on this particular subject.

[Sheffield '23] The director manages to create a political thriller that has moments of almost unbearable tension, through the journey of a family that tries to defect from North Korea through China, Vietnam and Laos. The film offers a reflection perhaps less deep and complex than "Defectors" (Hyun Kyung Kim, 2023), but manages to show clandestine recordings of hermetic North Korea and reflect how the North Korean regime offers an image of utopian perfection to citizens who However, they seem destined to live in a prison where they can only escape by risking their lives.

It was good in the beginning, but it just got long winded.... lost most of my interest about 3/4 way through.....