In 1986 South Korean director Shin Sang-ok and actress (and former wife) Choi Eun-hee defected to the United States. They had a story to tell. In 1978 Choi was kidnapped in Hong Kong and taken to North Korea where, later reunited with her ex-husband, and was asked by Kim Jong-il to help him make great movies. The dictator was growing tired of the same indigenous films, frustrated that everyone was "always crying" and had the "same ideological plots," and Shin, who had his ability to make films curtailed by the South Korean government, agreed. The couple didn't want for everything and have full creative control… but it was a cold comfort.
What follows is a dissection of rumour and hearsay culled from secret recordings of Shin and Choi had with Kim, which was the first time the West heard his voice. Shin and Choi hadn't defected, leaving their adopted children behind, as was the suspicion, – they were in fact kidnapped and were used as propaganda tools – they were allowed to travel, attend film festivals in Moscow (where a standing ovation for a Choi performance the actress admits to being her greatest glory) and Berlin, their work showcasing a progressive North Korean state. It was during a meeting with an Austrian producer in Vienna that the couple fled the hotel for the American Embassy.
While all this is fascinating stuff what's disappointing is that despite some terrific archive footage there isn't much exploration of life in North Korea or Kim Jong-il: the man, but there are a few nuggets to be found. Apparently Kim considered himself an artiste, less concerned with films that perpetuate the cult of his personality and more interested in just making great movies (his attempts to replicate the success of Titanic with Soul's Protest failed to garner a distributor outside of North Korea).
Using interviews with US intelligence officers, film critics and Choi herself (Shin died in 2006 after resurrecting his career somewhat by directing a Three Ninjas sequel) Adam and Canann approach Lovers/Despot like a thriller, slipping in clips from Shin's films to dummy for re-enactments of scenarios (although they do fall back on good old re-enactments for episodes like the escape to the embassy) but while these movie snippets are fun they do threaten to diminish the tension of the situation. The directors also hint that perhaps Shin, desperate for work and seriously in debt, helped orchestrate the kidnappings and that his five years in a secret North Korean prison was untrue. Hmmm.
Despite its shortcomings The Lovers and the Despot remains a fascinating documentary.