A Kim Jong-Il Production

December 22, 2014
North Korea is a nightmarish movie theater without an exit in this gripping true-life thriller. Fischer, a documentary filmmaker, recounts the 1977–78 abductions of South Korea’s leading director, Shin Sang-Ok, and his ex-wife, the movie star Choi Eun-Hee. The two were abducted on the orders of North Korea’s movie-obsessed crown prince Kim Jong-Il, who wanted them to upgrade the government’s wooden propaganda films with pizzazz and higher production values. The story combines harrowing hardships—Choi endured house arrest and constant Kafkaesque “reeducation” exercises; Shin was starved and tortured in prison after escape attempts—with dizzying reversals of fortune as the couple are rehabilitated to make hit films under Kim’s sponsorship and later plot a nerve-racking flight to the West. In Fischer’s vivid close-up, Kim emerges as “the archetypal film producer” writ monstrous: charming and lordly, basking in parties with Joy Brigade starlets and groveling underlings, full of tasteless visions, and ruthless when crossed. (He ordered a mistress who two-timed him to be shot in front of thousands of spectators, including her husband.) Fischer’s entertaining narrative paints an arresting portrait of a North Korean “theater state,” forced to enact the demented script of a sociopathic tyrant. Photos.

Starred review from April 27, 2015
Actor Park, a cast member of the sketch comedy show In Living Color during the early 1990s, brings his considerable talent to the audio edition of Fischer’s book. Fischer recounts the kidnapping of the South Korean film director Shin Sang-Ok and actress Choi Eun-Hee, both powerful entertainment figures who were forced to make movies for North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il during eight years of captivity beginning in the late ’70s. Fischer sets the stage with extensive historical context covering both sides of the 38th parallel and then shifts into James Bond mode, with a roller-coaster ride of covert intrigue. Park, an American actor with Korean heritage, successfully navigates the minefield between presenting the over-the-top elements of the “hermit kingdom” dictatorship without descending into one-dimensional parody. He gives the individuals inside the isolated nation—ranging from prison guards and household servants to actors and studio bureaucrats—individual attention in his performance rather than simply playing stock villain caricatures. The result will keep listeners on the edge of their seats. A Flatiron hardcover.