Under The Sun

The depiction's in Vitaly Mansky's documentary Under the Sun are completely unbelievable... and that's the whole point. The Russian filmmaker worked diligently to strike a deal with the North Korean government to capture a script they had written and vetted that depicts a young North Korean girl joining the Children's Union. North Korean handlers are with him for every shot, every line of tweaked dialogue and every depiction of wonderful life in Pyongyang.

The catch is that Mansky leaves the camera rolling between takes, capturing the behind-the-scenes direction and manipulation of the cast. It's clearly propaganda (as you would expect) but with the veil lifted ever so slightly.

It's beautifully shot and equally parts fascinating and tragic. The real lives of these actual people are not what they depict and the brainwashing they undergo is a hard pill to swallow.

Read more on it in the LA Times, Variety and good ole Wikipedia. It's an absolutely worthwhile watch even if a little heart heavy on reflection of its contents.