It’s arguably one of the most dangerous countries in the world. It’s certainly the most secretive, making this remarkable documentary about North Korea and the exiles who attempt to flee its deadly grip both a fascinating and eye-opening exposé and a nail-biter of a real-life thriller.
This Sundance prize-winning film, made by Madeleine Gavin just before Covid-19 prompted a further tightening of the regime’s grip on its borders and citizens, is a breathlessly tense account of the covert rescue operations of Pastor Sung-eun Kim. A resolutely cheerful South Korean Christian minister and activist, Kim oversees an “underground railway” that spirits North Korean exiles away from the treacherous Chinese border country, through Vietnam and Laos and finally to safety in Thailand.
It’s a wildly risky endeavour: Kim broke his spine on one rescue trip and faces imprisonment if he’s caught in China. Gavin’s understandably jittery handheld cameras accompany one such journey – that of a family of five, including two young children and an octogenarian granny. It’s compelling, illuminating and impossibly stressful.
