We may be about finished with Lisa Ling’s National Geographic videos at my house (I am not sure there are even any more left) but this last one was a star. In “Inside North Korea” you get an inside look at the most isolated country in the world, and that look is both interesting and chilling.

Disc Details
“Inside North Korea” is a National Geographic video released in 2007. It is a single disc with a run time of approximately 52 minutes. There is a single special feature; a photo gallery entitled “Korea’s Dangerous Divide”.

Summary
In “Inside North Korea” Lisa Ling and her team pose as part of an international medical team claiming the cameras are for documentation and medical research. With this cover in place the team is able to look around North Korea, even with a team of handlers with them at all times. What they see is less than uplifting. The country is poor with many near starvation, and Kim Jong Il has ejected international aid workers. There is actually an entire generation of children that are tiny (abnormally, not just small like children) for no reason other than malnutrition. Medical care is atrocious. Hospitals are dirty, which doesn’t matter much because they don’t have medicine anyway. The people who live in this setting worship their leader as a god. Whether that worship is genuine or out of fear is hard to tell. It hardly seems to matter because it is mandatory. Infractions, whether you are guilty or not, can land your entire family in a concentration camp, for life. Trying to escape means that everyone you leave behind will suffer for your freedom, if you make it.

Impressions
North Korea makes the news a lot but it is tough to know much, if anything, about them. That is part of what makes “Inside North Korea” such a good video. It provides a chance to learn something important that isn’t all that easy to learn about. North Korea is a nuclear power now and despite being poor and backward it can no longer be ignored. Beyond being informative “Inside North Korea” is downright frightening. The international medical team was in North Korea performing eye surgeries, restoring sight to thousands of North Koreans. When the bandages were removed the people, whose sight had just been restored, walked up and loudly praised a picture of the glorious leader. This happened without fail. The praise was lengthy, effusive, and sometimes involved the promise of killing of Americans. Interviewing one family before the surgery was performed, with multiple handlers present, the blind woman says she wants to see again so she can look upon the glorious leader, all of this in a country where your entire family can be imprisoned if you complain about the lack of food, or its quality. I highly recommend “Inside North Korea” for its quality, its educational content, and its entertainment value.

Conclusion
I think “Inside North Korea” is an important video, but it is also an entertaining one. Lisa Ling does quality work once again. I was a little guilty in being so ignorant about major world events and “Inside North Korea” helps fill in some of those gaps. It also does it in such a way that makes you actually want to see it, not like suffering through a lecture because you need to know something. I can’t give “Inside North Korea” any less than five stars. It is an important subject that is treated comprehensively and with high quality.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD