A North Korea Watcher Watches “The Interview”

[DemocratSinceBirth]

For a North Korean watcher, seeing “The Interview” is like seeing an earnest endeavor reflected back through a freak-show mirror. But, behind the silliness and the smut, the penis and butthole jokes, the filmmakers get a lot right about North Korea.



In the opening scene, an angelic schoolgirl with rouged cheeks sings, “Die, America, die. … It would fill my tiny heart with joy” in front of the monument to the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang. The little ditty precedes a shot of a missile blasting off. Of course, North Korea’s missiles aren’t launched from the middle of Pyongyang, but, giving the filmmakers artistic license, the scene perfectly captures the anti-American propaganda in a country where kindergartens, according to the A.P., feature posters of schoolchildren bayonetting a bloodied U.S. soldier. Or, as I wrote in my own book, “Nothing to Envy,” where there is a song taught to schoolchildren called “Shoot the Yankee Bastards.”

After the opening, the plot begins to progress: Talk-show host Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) fly to Pyongyang for an exclusive interview with leader Kim Jong-un, who they have been assigned by the C.I.A. to kill.



http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/north-korea-watcher-watches-interview

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. is that a still from the movie???

I don't know, but I would think I would not be too fond of having the Kalashnikov pointed right in my face as I exit my aircraft...

sP

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Saw it New Year's Day. That woman is Seth Rogen's love interest.LOL.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. i can see that...

what's a good movie about assassinating a country's leader without a good love interest???

sP

[Brainstormy]

3. The opening scene

and the lyrics to the song sung by the school child is pretty funny but after that it's all down hill. but I can certainly see insults delivered to the North Koreans, but the movie really reeks. Lots of fifth grade humor. If you spend 15 bucks to buy it from iTunes, you're going to hate yourself.

[Wounded Bear]

4. I never intended to see this flick...

especially after it became my 'patriotic duty.'

[davidpdx]

6. There is some true aside from the raunchy humor

The regime supports an ideology of teaching people that they should kill Americans and that South Koreans are poor beggars. One of the main characters when questioned about famine said "you must be mistaken", yet clearly knew the regime lied. This is most likely true as the North Korean people are aware about life outside North Korea and how bad off they are.