Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

iNickR This is a documentary that sheds an unflattering light on the propaganda machine within the hermit kingdom known as North Korea. It's safe to wager that Russian filmmaker Vitaliy Manskiy didn't tell DPRK officials of his plans ahead of time.To the North Korean government, the premise of the documentary is to follow an ideal family as their 8-year-old daughter, Lee Zin-mi, prepares to join the Children's Union (run by the Workers' Party) on the Day of the Shining Star (that's a fancy term for the North's "founder", Kim Jong-il's birthday). It's a great idea for a propaganda film! Anything that spews respect and admiration for the Great Leader will go over well in North Korea. Not to mention the reassurance and comfort the citizens will feel knowing how great and wonderful and protective Big Brother is.What we end up seeing, however, is less propaganda and more how a propaganda film is made and that's not exactly favorable to the regime. The family patriarch, whose name we never do learn, is a print journalist, but that doesn't fit with the filmmaker's (government handlers') vision. For this "documentary", Zin-mi's father is an engineer in a garment factory. The reason for this sudden change of career becomes rather evident a little later during a ridiculously staged event. Mother works at a soy milk factory, an "essential job" that contributes to the excellent health of her family and friends. "Workshop" as the Handler likes to correct, "Not a factory." And it's not friend, it's Comrade because "it sounds better." It doesn't take too long to see where this film is going. Manskiy's handlers have scripted nearly every move the camera makes, and every word spoken.The handlers are master exploiters, and the exploited are terrified. You can see it in their expressions and in their actions. If this were a movie you'd be laughing at the horrible acting. But this isn't acting, it's real. Frighteningly real. It's what happens after the camera supposedly stops rolling that makes this documentary. Manskiy dutifully films the action his handlers have scripted, almost as if he acquiesced to his role of propaganda cameraman. Unbeknownst to his handlers though, it is them who will be the stars of this film because the camera continues to record long after they believe it to be off. The manipulator becomes the manipulated.TWO things you'll LIKE about "Under the Sun": 1) You'll learn a few things about North Korea, and you'll be thankful you don't live there. 2) There is no narrator per se, but there is some written text that appears on the screen every so often that further analyzes (albeit subjectively) a scene. There is English subtitles for spoken dialogue. It's important to listen (read) to what is being said. There's a particularly heart-wrenching scene where Manskiy, who is filming a crying girl, asks the handler to help her. The response is as disturbing as it is sad.TWO things you'll DISLIKE: 1) Although informative, this film doesn't quite show enough of the neglected underbelly of North Korea. You won't see the starving and emaciated we often hear about. You won't see the abuses or horrifying examples of what happens to those who don't clap loud enough or aren't as effusive as they should be when instructed. Just as well, anyway, because what we do play witness to is troubling enough. 2) Some scenes are a little longer than they should be, almost to the point of being boring.

Emana Under the sun is a scripted fiction documentary. 'The version of the film containing scenes approved by North Korea is 60 minutes long, while the "director's cut" featuring unapproved footage is 106 minutes.' North Korea looks like one of Wes Anderson's paper-cut dollhouses. Clean, symmetrical, minimalist, identical. Community above individuality. Walk or die. An order which is beyond fascinating. The other side of the coin of acclaimed documentary "Camp 14: Total control Zone" which shows -with the help of animation- what daily life is like for those who walked a little bit too on the left while the country walked straight. "Under the sun" fiction documentary shows the typical North-Korean family life. Note that the only family time seen spent together is the family rehearsal dinner and the family picture. Children live at school. Parents live on the factory grounds near their work. Hence children can spend more time studying and parents more time at their beloved jobs. During the film, a constant reminder is given by the filmmakers that this is a work of fiction, mise-en-scène of real life in the World's best country, North Korea. The actors are ordinary Korean citizens in-acting their real life roles. The perfectionism of the script and editing gives some subtle cynicism; the camera is rolling between shots for the documentary-feel of the director's cut, while the rest of the "rehearsed" film is pure propaganda. But isn't North Korea just that, one big theatre act? And for those who forget their lines, didn't clap as hard or with enough patriotism, it goes straight to Camp 14. "And the whole of Korea is happy, tramp tramp tramp".

Red-125 This European documentary about North Korea has a Czech title--V paprscích slunce--translated into English as Under the Sun (2015). (Google Translate says The Rays of the Sun, which I think works better.) It was written and directed by Vitaly Mansky, who is Ukrainian.The film was made in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which we call North Korea. Somehow, director Mansky got permission--or was asked--to film a "documentary" about a typical family in Pyongyang. The star is a young girl, Lee Zin-Mi.What the filmmakers tell us in text on the screen is that the "documentary" they were making was totally artificial. Their North Korean handlers rehearsed every scene, and had no qualms about total fabrication of plot. (As just one example, Lee Zin-Mi's father is not an engineer. However, for the "documentary," he is an engineer who consults with workers at a clothing factory to help them increase their production.)What the North Koreans didn't know--or didn't understand--was that director Mansky kept the camera rolling continually. We hear and see the North Koreans telling people what to say and do, and then we watch the scene when the people say it and do it. Sometimes we watch the scene twice, because the North Korean handlers don't like the way it turned out the first time. So, this really is a documentary, but it's a documentary about making a false documentary.What stands out in every scene is that the whole city revolves around endless praise for the late Kim Jong-il, who was the supreme leader of the North Korea from 1994 to 2011. Now, along with praise of Kim Jong-Il, we hear continuous praise of Kim Jong-un, his son.Kim Jong-un holds the titles of Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the National Defense Commission, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, and presidium member of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea. Kim was promoted to the rank of Marshal of North Korea in the Korean People's Army on 18 July 2012, consolidating his position as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. (All this from Wikipedia.)Poor Lee Zin-Mi has the same fate as all of her friends--a life where she participates in ceaseless devotion to Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-un. It's hard to tell whether she obtained any special rewards for starring in the documentary. Nothing is real, so nothing on screen can be trusted.Actually, that's not true. Twice Zin-Mi breaks into tears. No one comforts her--they basically suggest that she stop crying so they can continue filming. The documentary may be false, but the tears are real.We saw this movie at the excellent Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. On the small screen you'll miss some of the amazing pageantry that surrounds praise of Kim Jong-un. However, it will work well enough.

olivialin-96433 To be honest, this film shows exactly the same as I expect about North Korea, but as a Chinese who born at 1993, I feel more complex rather than sympathy.When I was at 7, I was also very proud of join children's union, children can talk about join this union for half years, no matter of what exactly this union means. No one knows what you will be responsible for this union, it seems empty and funny now, but for then, I just proud of it and "always ready" as well. Then the factory is also so real, basically all of my friends in my childhood were live in the factory. Some factories got their own primary school for children who born in that area. It is easier and safer for children to play around factory area, it seems like just flash back to my childhood.Then the recite thing in the very end of the movie is exactly same as myself experience too. However when I become an adult I am really thankful for that time when I was forced to recite those much thing, because nowadays when I see beautiful things those painful poems and lyrics just come out of my mind, gives me the best way of describing beauties.From my prospective, this mode maybe fit for North Korea. If people cannot see the outside world for this moment, then they will not become angry, jealous or pessimistic about their future.At the beginning of the movie I really thought that if China can develop this quick in this 15 years, maybe North Korea can do the same thing too.Although it is looks sad for a moment.