"HBO and Negativ present" "With the support of the State Fund for the Development of Czech Cinematography" "A documentary film by Linda Jablonsk?" "Let me say a few words about tomorrow." "Tomorrow we're flying to Pyongyang." "An uncommon destination so we must prepare." "Tour Guidelines: it's strictly forbidden to bring cell phones," "GPS devices, lenses longer than150mm or camcorders." "And camcorders?" "I've talked to the consul." "Shouldn't be a problem anymore - but we can't be sure." "Taking photographs from trains or buses are strictly forbidden." "How about slivovitz brandy?" "Slivovitz is allowed." "Last year North Korean customs officers tried it and it was highly appreciated." "It's not possible to separate from the group." "Hotel rooms may be bugged." "That's for me!" "Flawless." "North Korea is a particular country." "This trip is not a common package tour." "We will be treated more as a delegation." "We're not ordinary tourists who pay and say what they want to do." "They know much better than us what we should do." "THREE DAYS BEFORE" "That's a 300mm lens." "I hope the bag doesn't fall." "I tried a metal detector." "It reacted so it's not possible to get it into the plane." "But out of the plane... maybe I stick it in the pocket and cover it with the sweatshirt." "That's the only chance." "There's no other chance to carry it through." "I won't be anxious." "Sure, everyone will be, but I only worry about not being able to take photos." "That I won't be able to photograph or film what I want is my worry..." "What surprised me is we can't go out alone without having our Korean guide go with us." "You can't imagine it." "Three guides are responsible for our group." "I'd like to introduce my colleagues." "Mrs. Kim, who'll be with us all the time, the best guide here in Korea, no doubts." "Then Mr. Bak, deputy of the local international travel agency." "Some of the assigned guides may understand Czech." "And Mr. O will be our guide as well." "Mr. O." "And then it's the driver, Je." "So that's where the traditional service economy relationship ends and we become a state delegation." "We have some music to help pass the time." "Possibly the most popular North Korean group:" "Pochombo Electronic Orchestra." "The songs are interesting." "It's about a two hour trip." "WELCOME TO NORTH KOREA!" "Hitchhiking is really a dumb thing to do here." "I'd try driving here." "I build roads so the engineering here interests me." "That's why I'm looking at it." "Everything interests me, the way they lay curbs, the grading..." "I'd recommend it so long as it's in this condition." "After the country opens, it won't be the same." "I'm impressed." "That's not a common sight." "The whole world could envy them these roads." "A bit better surface and it'd be amazing..." "Back home there's not enough space on the roads and here they've got far too much of it." "I thought it would be worse." "What?" "This place, the people." "We can keep filming." "It reminds me of the Soviet Union, what I've seen in films, on TV, etc..." "I'll try to film as much as I can." "You see almost no cars, maybe a few here in the capital." "They mainly bike." "Or walk." "It's interesting to recall those bleak days and to realize we have freedom because it seems to me we're losing it in some way." "Probably because nowadays we prize material things more." "I wonder if I'll be happy to get back to capitalism again after this tour." "Maybe we'll stay here, emigrate..." "Probably not." "This is the famous unfinished hotel." "If it was finished, it'd be the highest in the world." "Elevators would go along that slanting shaft to a system of rotating restaurants." "It should've been a five star hotel but they ran out of money." "In 1989." "I prefer the kind of tours ordinary people don't seek out." "If you tell somebody you're going somewhere above the Polar Circle, the Solovetsky Islands, like that, the usual reply is 'I wouldn't go there.'" "As soon as something like that opens, I go for it and I get this great feeling that I'm among the first to be there." "Because I know it's an isolated country and not many tourists go here." "I wanted to be one of the few who saw it." "It's an experience not many people have." "Not many from my region can say they've been to North Korea." "When I was in France, I was a communist, a Communist Youth Organization member." "Because of this, I'm still interested in communism and I'd like to see what a Stalinist country's like." "You look like a leader." "But the leader's this one here..." "Tour guides are the only North Koreans a tourist has contact with." "It's recommended to maintain friendly relations with the guides." "Personal questions are not recommended." "Our beloved leader Kim Il-sung" "You brought us so much joy..." "There's a choir here, out of the blue." "It's here by chance." "Our beloved leader Kim Il-sung" "You brought us so much joy" "And for all this" "Great Leader Kim Il-sung" "We are truly grateful" "These are May Day festival preparations." "You remain our protector" "Welcome to the Hot Springs Hotel." "Dinner's served in an hour, 8:30pm, in the restaurant opposite." "We'll try a Korean west coast speciality:" "hot mussels cooked in oil." "It's interesting to see a little market economy:" "the special has a 3 Euro per kilo surcharge on the mussels." "Great Leader Kim Il-sung" "We thank you for your affectionate and fatherly love" "So let's go to the rooms." "We heartily thank you, our dear father." "This is awesome!" "Those are our mud baths." "That's our luxury toilet, luxury bath" "and luxury room." "Is that right?" "Yep." "It's so beautiful here." "There's only one channel." "Everything's simpler here." "It was like watching a movie." "As we approached the hotel, I said to myself - gloomy." "I felt this feeling of horror." "It's grey, kind of poor, but that's the same in a lot of countries." "I expected it much more severe here." "The situation's far more relaxed, more at ease." "The customs check at the airport... how easily we got through all the camcorders." "And a cell phone would've been no problem to carry through in a bag." "I think nobody would've found it." "Maybe the screws aren't as tight as one might expect." "I spoke with this girl about what they like to eat, if this is their national dish." "And she answered me, so I don't get the feeling they suffer from famine." "They're lucky to have the sea here." "She probably doesn't suffer from famine but others might." "And why not her yet others?" "Karaoke?" "Karaoke." "It made me cry." "Really, I cried in my bed." "That was really unnerving, really unnerving." "There's a city over there." "That's where you can hear it all..." "children crying... probably dying of hunger and we're sleeping in a luxury hotel like real asses." "And the tourists are happy stuffing their faces, eating, drinking, total jerks, and a hundred meters away people have nothing." "They pick grass and we have a hell of a great time... that's obscene." "I don't understand how these people can stuff their faces..." "That's complete propaganda." "And why don't they feel like me, really bad like me?" "Yesterday, as if normal, they even complained there wasn't enough food." "You hear this?" "They're already working on that field." "I saw them there with tractors, at five, six, and we're here, high on the hog." "It's horrible." "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "Wake up!" "The first impression when you look at these people is one of haggard, staring faces." "Everyone is hurrying about, carrying something... nobody smiles." "It gives me chills." "You get depressed from these folks." "What we noticed yesterday..." "nothing's being built anywhere." "We didn't see a single building site with cement, sand, bricks." "It means this country lives off of what was here twenty, thirty years ago." "Or healthcare, I don't know how it works." "I haven't seen a single ambulance." "Or in the villages, the education, where do they go to school?" "I didn't see any schools there." "I don't know why I thought to look under the carpet." "There's a layer of paper, clearly for insulation." "But the paper is from used school notebooks." "Really?" "Yes, seriously, I've photographed it." "God." "I guess you wouldn't think to peep under it..." "We'll see." "We must look under the Korean surface." "They closed the sidewalk off for tourists on this side." "Not the other." "They don't want us in contact with the locals." "Locals walk on the other side." "I'd like to look around, of course, but I see it's..." "Where would you like to look around?" "Behind these houses are the old buildings where they really live." "This may look shabby but it still has some kind of order." "There, though, is the true reality." "But we aren't going to know because of those soldiers there." "So you try, please." "I don't have the guts." "Doesn't it attract you?" "It does but I don't want to cause any problems." "So why don't you walk the 20 meters down there and you'll see..." "Me neither." "I don't have the guts." "OK let's go." "I'll be pointing at something else and you'll film me and them too." "So we've got a nice bus, that's great." "We can see a lot." "We could see more." "But we're not allowed..." "TOUR guide kim" "Sure it's different from anywhere else in the world because you can't just walk off on your own." "There's this guide who won't let you go anywhere on your own." "They're decent." "They hide." "But take a few steps somewhere else, they'll stop you." "Or if you want to speak with someone they won't let you." "Please..." "We have a contingency plan." "A liter of slivovitz brandy for two days." "It's going to be interesting." "Are we fulfilling the plan or not?" "We're fulfilling it at about 106% ." "It's enough for both of us." "Drink, don't think." "Knock it back." "We're moving on." "I expected Jenda and me to be the youngest and the others to be old, experienced communists." "I'm surprised so many young people travel here." "We came to remember our past but I'm surprised this country also interests you." "Certainly there are many common aspects and I think it's because we've lived through something similar that we can better understand what's happening here." "In Vietnam, when I handed something out to kids, they all took it." "Here, we wanted to give them some sweets, and I even gave you some souvenirs to give them... and the kids just stared at it and didn't take it." "And I remember when I was little, their age, a bus of French tourists visited and offered us kids the same stuff and we were similarly trained, and none of us took it though we wanted to." "There wasn't even one kid who would take it." "That was around 1955." "Do you think someone's listening to us?" "I think so." "There're some strange cables." "Listen, if we're talking to each other, you can say whatever you want." "What can they do to you?" "They can grab you on the border with all you have..." "The border guards will be told, this one with this passport is special..." "Check what he has." "I think that's the case but maybe I'm being needlessly paranoid." "I take it that way as well." "You think so too?" "I agree with you, 100 percent." "It's paranoia." "Maybe we're paranoid." "They manage to discover everything." "Look, there!" "Really, it wasn't here, that thing." "Aha, so they are listening to us." "I'll say one thing." "I know they can hear us now." "When I used to go to Russia in communist times, the maids would want panty hose and stuff." "And they always came to the room." "We gave it to them, and they always did pst pst..." "It just moved a bit again." "Hold on." "It really moved?" "It did, a few centimeters." "Maybe there's a small camera there." "If I were sensible, I'd turn around and get the hell out of here but..." "It's too late already." "Yeah, it's too late." "I got close to a roadblock to take a photo and suddenly this man dressed all in black leaped out of a bush and blew an orange whistle..." "That was quite unpleasant." "They're playing games." "It's all orchestrated." "They're hiding everywhere the tourists go." "All's well prepared, no doubts." "There they are too, right at the end of the park." "Think about how many are wearing uniforms." "They seem many, far too many." "But think how many more are dressed as civilians." "I want to take a photo here with our friends." "Please take a photo of us together." "We could take one of the entire group." "Cheese!" "Can I put my arm around you?" "Friends." "Do it like this, ok?" "Everywhere." "Even there." "I'll walk around, my hands in my pockets." "So I'm starting to film." "Just for a bit, 20 seconds." "So we're at the great Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang." "That's enough." "OK?" "This is the Grand People's Study House, also a library." "Kim Il-sung." "Here they lend books." "Each floor has these loan desks." "This is the loan desk for foreign language titles." "Any book in Czech you can think of." "Electrotechnical Measurement," "Dolnacko Region:" "Treatment of Oleifera Plants from 1999." "Cool." "That's near us." "Let me have a look." "The Dolnacko Region and Hluk Ltd. published it." "That's only km from where I live!" "Can I take a picture of it?" "Come closer so that I'm in there." "There's less people today because tomorrow's a national holiday." "Lots of people are getting ready for a day off." "A traditional Czech folk song" "If the guide suggests that it's not proper to stay somewhere, it's necessary to respect that." "The guide is responsible on behalf of the tourist to answer to a higher authority." "This is an interesting institution, the Office of Questions and Answers of Social Sciences." "If a reader is confused about something, they come here to clear up what wasn't certain." "Does anybody have any questions?" "Here we'll discuss the American aggression." "Before we start, something interesting:" "this lady studied at a high-school in Prague for two years when she was sixteen." "The Great Leader Kim Il-sung said we cannot sit at the enemy's rear but must meet him face-to-face." "This American fighter was shot down by a female Korean soldier." "With light arms." "At school we were taught just the opposite, that the aggressors were them." "But I won't ask because it might stir up some awkwardness." "And historically it's also true." "They attacked, not the Americans." ""Peace to Children of All the World." A typical slogan." "So it's really a gathering to celebrate the People's Korea." "So with this help from other countries, the decisive blow to destroy the U.S. Army was dealt." "Do you know that the actual Czech government is very frightened about you?" "We want to build in Czech Republic a radar station against your missile." "In Pyongyang?" "No, in the Czech Republic." "I don't know anything about it." "But you and Iran, you are the Axis of Evil." "Now it's the new government." "I was there under communism." "That's a tram, hardly moving." "Rusty, full of holes..." "We can see energy saving bulbs in flats." "There's not enough electric power here." "They've got to conserve." "The only lighted city in North Korea is Pyongyang." "These three symbols are a sickle, a hammer and a paintbrush." "The paintbrush means intellectuals, like the compass on the East German flag." "Because they use calligraphy." "Something like a working intelligentsia." "Maybe it's some kind of metal construction." "Not from plastic, but it's like in Russia." "You knock on it and it reverberates." "They're huge, looming over cities, a thin tin sheet." "So we won't try knocking on it." "Not here in Korea." "It's not possible or else I would've tried it long ago." "It's too far to throw a coin at." "Quite high." "Would you like a coin?" "No thanks." "If it were dusty, then it'd be concrete." "You know, a cloud of dust." "Or plaster..." "No, it would've blown over." "We'll have to wait to find out what it's made of." "I always thought the biggest things like this were in Russia." "Now I know, the Mausoleum in Moscow, etc. are botch-ups compared to this." "As I said to you, or maybe somebody else, "More Catholic than the Pope."" "It's ugly and that fascinates me." "Whenever something's ugly, it fascinates me." "It must be seen at least once in life." "I mean it." "And why?" "It's so unique, like another planet." "How does seeing it enrich you?" "I don't know..." "I'm happy I live where I live." "Honestly." "Korean Democratic People's Television." "Just full of crap." "I wish you good morning." "Today's program is a trip to the demilitarized zone, the border with South Korea in Pchanmundjom." "We're going to the most protected border in the world and the most militarized." "North Korea is still in a state of war both in reality and legally because the Korean War never ended." "It's a very sensitive issue, no joking about it." "We can't pass through." "We can't pass." "It's not a total loss having such an unplanned stop." "Let's go to work." "Let's get to it." "Are you going to help?" "Sure." "We're going to take a photo." "Somebody must work." "Now we're involved in the production process." "This is adventure tourism." "That's not a problem in my opinion." "Done." "Bye!" "Good, isn't it?" "And one more round." "Well, I don't have so much of it." "I think we're arriving." "We're close to the border with South Korea." "Now line up like school kids." "But you don't need to hold hands." "Forward march!" "Line up in threes." "In threes." "Here it's necessary to follow the rules." "We're going to the line of confrontation." "We have to walk in formation, act properly." "Forward march!" "It's for our safety." "Forward march!" "Halt!" "Left face!" "This is President Kim Il-sung's Signature Monument." "You can take a photo of the monument and yourself with the lieutenant." "You know how to do it, right?" "I do." "The lieutenant and me." "I can put my arm around him." "Cheese." "I didn't expect them to turn this into a tourist attraction." "Film me a bit here, ok?" "Not sure if you can do it down there." "How do you want me to film you?" "Film me there." "I'll be walking." "You'll recognize me, yes?" "You know how?" "I do, yes." "Say the Peace Treaty was signed here." "The Peace Treaty was signed here." "Jirka signed the treaty here." "Maybe another take on the border." "If it's possible." "I'll ask." "This concrete line going right through these buildings is the border." "That big building south is the South Korean side." "This one here?" "The one ahead." "That's cruel." "That big building's already in South Korea." "And this white line's a border crossing..." "I mean borderline." "Say it right." "Around the table again." "You can sit anywhere." "So that's the borderline?" "I'm actually standing with one foot in North and one foot in South Korea." "Now I'm in South Korea." "You're in the north, I'm in the south." "Great." "Yes, thanks." "Shouldn't the one on the left stand closer to the door?" "It's asymmetrical." "They're behind the windows opposite." "They're looking at us..." "You got your 300mm lens into the most guarded border zone in the world." "Thanks to the goodness of North Korean officers..." "It's not so strict, is it?" "Thank God." "That's the first wind of change and it's going to continue." "It's going to be a long, arduous journey but it's already started." "North and South Korea aren't two separated parts of one peninsula." "All North Koreans wish to travel freely around." "But as the United States forced on us this tragic division, we can go no further." "Do you think the Czech people or the Czech government is an enemy for you?" "Why should we think of the Czechs this way?" "So the only enemy is the United States?" "I think I wouldn't be able to visit with so many Czechs in a friendly atmosphere if I had some negative feelings towards the Czechs or the Czech government." "Traditional Czech folk song" "So we're drinking to Korean reunification." "I'll drink for the lieutenant, he's on duty." "Pity!" "Let's have a look in the hall." "This is a Kim Jong-Il flower, a red begonia and a Kim Il-sung orchid." "It's a gift from Indonesian president Sukarno." "Is it for sale?" "You can buy a Kim Jong-Il flower and grow it in a window flower pot." "You can grow a Kim Jong-Il flower outdoors, a Kim Il-sung orchid only indoors." "It will grow back home too." "Pepa, take a photo of me." "I want them to be behind me." "Come here, please." "Here are seeds." "I've got two." "Two?" "6 dollars." "That's 5 Euros." "And he went with the Czech legions all the way to Vladivostok and then..." "Theirs?" "No, Czech!" "All you could want..." "Hello, may I disturb you?" "What's that?" "Commemorative pins, Czech." "I see." "I'll give them all to you." "Take them all." "Thank you very much." "The village of Mangyongdae, birthplace of Kim Il-sung." "The President was born to a poor family." "All property and farming land belonged to wealthy landlords then." "Please act more serious." "It's a significant place." "It was more complicated here before." "There were attendants walking around checking what everyone said." "Now it's much more lenient." "Buying ice cream was out of the question here." "I don't have one Euro coin anyway." "All I've got is twenty cents." "It's already started..." "Market economy." "Soon there'll be ads for Visine." "And we came here, with such fear..." "And, at the same time, everyone was looking forward to it, that they'll experience here the horror of totalitarianism." "And suddenly it's anti-climactic." "Nothing ever happens." "Aren't you frustrated that nothing happens?" "I'm rather delighted." "This isn't the place to speak of frustration." "People like a bit of an adrenaline boost." "That's why they say:" "So this is the chance, virtually the last country where there's totalitarianism... to remind ourselves." "And nothing..." "We will place a bouquet with a Kim Jong-Il flower." "That's a Kim Jong-Il flower." "A small, real Kim Jong-Il flower grown by this florist." "Now we'll take part in the tour's main formality, something even heads of state can't avoid, and neither can we." "So we have to bow there." "Even Jimmy Carter bowed and many others, so we must too." "That's a Kim Jong-Il flower, the red one." "It's little because it's a mini flower." "That's a mini Kim Jong-Il flower." "I'll bow." "Sure I'll bow." "I think it's stupid to act like an extremist." "The average citizen there values him and I don't care if they love him this or that way." "I will bow, no doubt." "I can't judge Kim Il-Sung as I've not lived in this country," "I know nothing about it." "So I don't mind it." "Definitely not, in no instance." "I have too much backbone to bow to a statue of some... no matter who it is." "Any show of disrespect to the Great Leader is punishable." "The punishment will fall primarily on the guide, not the tourist." "Yes, we'll have to." "It's obligatory." "You'll have to, too." "Because you have to." "And, what's more, with reverence and so on." "I'll do what I'm told." "I don't want to create any problems for the guides..." "So make two lines." "That was hell." "I don't want to experience anything like that again." "We were convinced by "him" to do what's done here." "And we really went to "him" and bowed." "Sure, we wouldn't come here... we wouldn't go on a tour like this in order to make our own revolution." "We wouldn't do it." "That's not the purpose." "Initially I didn't want to." "Why didn't you want to?" "There's already been enough of it, this bowing." "But you did bow." "Yeah, yeah." "Shall we take one more picture in front of him?" "Let's not embarrass ourselves anymore." "I'm going there as a representative of the Czech trade unions." "I think it was a nice show." "The children performed and sang nicely." "I venture to say it's an experience" "I'll remember a long time, maybe even life-long, or at least keep the good feeling..." "Really, man..." "I'm a little blown away by it now but I think it's something like that." "Absolutely weird!" "Whoever created this must be a complete freak." "I'd say they're absolutely perfect." "Perfect?" "Perfect in perversity." "Brainwashing." "It's completely..." "I can't express it." "It's completely..." "It's a shock." "A shock." "The kids have really done a great job, an incredible show." "I returned to a time 20 years ago." "It's kind of a remembrance too, I must admit." "We also grew up in this." "Were you also a communist youth pioneer?" "Yes, who wasn't?" "Whoever wasn't was an outcast at school." "Good evening, after a typical Pyongyang duck." "It's the last night so we can hit the bar." "Tomorrow we leave for Beijing." "Mister O, Mister O..." "A Korean national song" "The French national anthem" "I'm not married yet and already my lady beats me... (a Czech folk song)" "Something more cheerful!" "The anthem of the international workers' movement" "Now there'll be a Korean one..." "Nice." "And now a striptease!" "Bye then!" "A photo, please!" "If I were to sum it up," "I didn't expect such a horror." "3 DAYS LATER" "I expected it to be grim but not to such an extent." "It reminded me of the 50's, from photos I've seen." "I was overwhelmed by the horror." "And maybe the worst was the leaving." "It was terrifying and heart-touching at the same time." "When I saw Kim on the platform, that was the worst." "Because in her the horror was visible." "The desperation." "It was visible that she was sad." "It was visible that she wanted to say something." "Then on the train we were thinking that maybe if she hid under the seat, they wouldn't search there, that we could hide her somehow behind the suitcases." "But sure, that's only a kind of..." "And off we go." "And good-bye to you too, secret police boys." "We're moving!" "Yes." "Good bye!" "Bye, Marie." "Poor little creature." "Doomed to live on in this mess." "Nothing to envy." "Now we're entering the People's Republic of China, crossing the Yalu River." "I don't know the name of the city ahead." "I'm sorry." "Finally freedom." "That's mind blowing." "It looks interesting now." "That's China." "That's a place where they look at Korea through binoculars." "Finally a free country." "Are you looking forward to it?" "I am." "To what the most?" "The most?" "To the smog." "To advertisements!" "To Mc Donald's!" "We're drinking sodju." "Come drink sodju with us." "And we're going to drink!" "Do you want a shot too?" "Just a bit, a bit." "Enough!" "So to what?" "To freedom... to China." "To freedom." "To free China." "I think we could drink to Kim." "Cheers!" "To victory!" "To victory!" "Really nice." "Appearing in the film" "Sound Editing" "Editing" "Camera" "Producer" "Written and Directed by" "English subtitles Michal Krupík, John Riley"