A STATE OF MIND
Directed & Produced by: Daniel Gordon.
Director of Photography: Nick Bennett.
Edited by: Peter Haddon.
Music by: Barnaby Taylor.
Released by: Kino.
Language: English & Korean with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: UK/USA/France/North Korea. 93 min. Not Rated.

Shedding light on what some have dubbed the most mysterious country in the world, this documentary follows two young gymnasts training for the Mass Games, an enormous choreographed celebration performed for and in honor of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. This spectacle has it all - elaborate dances performed by over 80,000 gymnasts and a huge 12,000-person mosaic that changes from one glorious image to another, all to Communist-inspired music.

Director Daniel Gordon explains in his narration that the Mass Games are a demonstration of pure Communism; that is to say, the performers give up their individual desires for about six grueling months of anxiety and fierce training to put on this amazing show. The two girls, Kim Song Yun, 11, and Pak Hyon Sun, 13, practice dance moves on concrete in the bitter February cold. Pak complains the temperature dips below 20 degrees centigrade. They are given few breaks, and when they are, the girls spend time indulging in patriotic acts, like a pilgrimage to Mount Paekdu, the folkloric birthplace of both Korea and Kim Sung Il, Kim Jong Il's father.

What is perhaps the most chilling aspect of A State of Mind is North Korea's intense hatred of the Western world, particularly the United States. As Gordon points out, the Mass Games "immortalize hatred for the United States," filling it with anti-US propaganda. The antipathy extends well beyond the Games. Kim has a sister who is joining the army and her father wishes he had a son to fight for reunification. Kim says to the director, with a completely straight face, that she hates the Americans and will fight to the end for her leader.

Devotion and obsession with Kim Jong Il are the driving force of these two girls and apparently most of North Korea. (The most closed country in the world, it only has a few commercial outbound flights a year - to Beijing.) As revealed here, the "US imperialists" are the scapegoats for every hardship in their lives, from massive famines to a flickering light bulb. Fascinating, educational, and utterly horrifying, A State of Mind should not be overlooked. Michael Wong
August 10, 2005