Children of the Secret State (2001) User Reviews

Must-see eye-opener - DISREGARD DANILA and MAXCOTTLE'S TOMFOOLERY

[jessie_shin · 10/10 · 14 July 2006]

We don't really know the true extent of the atrocities occurring in North Korea but this undercover footage shot secretly by a North Korean citizen certainly offers strong insight. This man is risking execution to expose the inhuman state that most of his countrymen are living in and I commend his courage and hopefully, this will open the eyes of prosperous Western powers to intervene.

Previous commenter Danila was apparently insulted by this documentary, although not sure why. She seems certain that it's manipulative propaganda - propaganda for what? Helping starving orphans? If so, why is that wrong? Does she believe that these are child actors so brilliant that they can fake gaunt faces, hair-turned-white from malnutrition, and weakness from hunger so great that they can barely speak? Unless she is an expatriate of DPRK or spawn of Kim Jong Il himself, Danila is in no position to dispute this documentary's authenticity. She keeps searching for additional "evidence" to support the footage but I'm not sure what misled her into thinking DPRK was not a highly secretive COMMUNIST state but more like SHARK ATTACK on Discovery Channel with a wealth of concrete documentation available.

As a UCLA grad with a B.A. in English, I'm surprisingly at a loss for words to appropriately describe her hateful commentary other than - RETARDED. She must also believe that the Holocaust never happened and it is naive, ignorant, close-minded people like Danila that are the most dangerous because they stand in the way of reform and relief. Danila has formed extremely strong opinions despite the fact that she is no expert on the subject matter. No one knows for sure what's going on in DPRK, certainly not Danila, but if it was all going so swimmingly well, why are they not broadcasting their success and well-being to the rest of the world as propaganda to prove that communism is superior to democracy? She obviously does not live in the DPRK so is in no position to challenge the documentary.

CHILDREN OF THE SECRET STATE demonstrates that the people of the DPRK are oppressed and poverty-stricken. If Danila doesn't want to help the people of the DPRK, she doesn't have to, but I beg her, don't hinder the efforts of others who may.

Why don't you live in North Korea if you think the place is so great Danila?

[mucahidb · 11 February 2007]

I've seen this shocking documentary and it was even more shocking for me to see the review of Danila. How much evidence do you want to see that North Korea has a really bad regime? I've written a scientific paper in Dutch about the situation in North Korea and of course I've read a lot of resources about this subject. They all conclude one thing: North Korean regime is really cruel to it's non-elite citizens. Saying that North Korea isn't really that bad, is like suggesting there is a worldwide com-plot of countries, scientist, NGO'S etc against North Korea. Well, why does the world want that? The documentary is really good and a real eye-opener. Yes of course other countries also have their problems, but we know these problems and started several projects to vanish them. In North Korea the future seems really depressing, because the country is in complete isolation.

Well Danila, I don't know if you are a naive communist, a indoctrinated (elite) citizen of North Korea or just the village idiot. If you think this movie is pure propaganda, why don't you move to North Korea (or just stay there)?

Danila Medvedev is completely wrong. Please remove your ignorant comment.

[hiroid · 10/10 · 22 November 2010]

hey Danila Medvedev. You are kidding, right?? I grew up in communist Romania (Before 1990) and let me tell you, what you see in this documentary is really not that far fetched. You may find it hard to believe but, yes they would build a whole "model" fake city and let the rest of the country starve. And good luck finding "evidence" and "supporting facts". Like everyone else has already said, North Korea has a an extremely secretive, mind manipulative, brain washing government. And I mean that to the extreme! By the way, have you ever been able to find a map of North Korea with detailed labels of Road names and cities? Just take a look on Google Maps or Bing or any other map service. The place is a BLACK HOLE on earth. Very little information comes out of there.

Seriously, I request that you remove your review, because it is embarrassing you more than make you look smart.

Propaganda, psyops, information warfare, that's what this film is about

[danila_1 · 3/10 · 13 October 2005]

This review present an analysis of some of the scenes of the film. My conclusion is that this film is an attempt at manipulating the viewer to believe that North Korea is a horrible place, its leader Kim Jonh Il is evil, his regime is brutal and the economic system has collapsed. But a careful and impartial viewing of the film with a critical eye and constant online double-checking demonstrates that there is very little in this film that should be believed. In this film no evidence was presented, although the authors tried extremely hard to make it seem as if such evidence was in fact shown. And I have no doubt that most viewers believed that it was. The film starts with the video of hungry child orphans (still, apparently looking healthy enough) that is going to shock everyone, especially combined with the matter-of-fact narrative. Claim that 3 million people died from hunger. Another claim that UNICEF estimated there are 200000 orphans in the country (BTW, don't trust all statistics about orphans, lies and manipulations are an ever present danger. It's awfully hard to find data on orphans in the US, but it appears to me from the data here that the number of children without parents as a percentage of general population is about the same in the US - about 1%. The population of the North Korea is 23 million, BTW, the population growth rate in 2005 was 0.9% (0.38% in South Korea), life expectancy 71.73 years (75.82 in SK) and infant mortality 24 deaths/1000 live births (7 in SK). While we are at it, the literacy rate is 99% (compared with 97.9% in SK) Everyone is shocked, that's expected, even I am. However, I start to think what they are trying to say, whether I am being manipulated and how this agrees with other things I know. OK, we move into the capital. The presenters are trying to make a ridiculous point by implication. They present the images as if the whole capital is essentially fake and everyone else lives in poverty and hunger in secret towns. Well, to begin with, that doesn't make any sense. Why would the North Korean government want that? Do they really care that much about impressing foreign journalists who manage to enter the country despite the apparent restrictions? That doesn't make sense (they actually restrict foreign journalists from visiting). Then every image is twisted as the presenters need. There is no one in the street in the middle of the day. Well, of course, there is no one - everyone is working. The hotel is empty, because it was designed and built in a different time, but it turned out to be a mistake and there aren't many foreign tourists today. There aren't many cars, because cars are too expensive, not very efficient and North Korea is short on fuel. All this somehow proves that North Korea is bad. The fact that they are well fed is somehow a proof of how evil and corrupt the regime is. Supposedly, one can't find such a stark contrast in the US, no way. Filming a dinner in an expensive Manhattan restaurant and some child suffering from hunger (there are millions of those in the US) doesn't enter the minds of the journalists. Then we hear some unsubstantiated claims that all well-fed children rehearsing for the parade are the children of the elite. How do they know it? Of course, the American viewer is unlikely to question the words of the journalists. Then the Children's Palace. Here even the fact that there are apparently some children who are not hungry presented as an evil deed of the Dear Leader. He is told to have "decided to favour these children". I wonder if the journalists have any ideas of why exactly did he make this decision. Does he have anything against those other, hungry children? Does he have an evil plan? The journalist is near the Chinese border. He is allowed to drive there in a car and he has to exaggerate the dangers. If they spend too much time in one place, they may be interrogated by the police. Well, try to spend too much time in one place next to the Mexican border. I bet you would be interrogated by the police as well. It's illegal to film at the border (like in many other countries), but the brave fighters for freedom managed to do it. Apparently, they filmed some border guards, who appear to be guarding the border. Clearly, that is some evil North Korean plot. Is it possible that they are looking for possible violators, who intend to cross the border illegally? Well, I am sure no civilized nation would ever do such a thing. Certainly not the United States... Well, pardon me my sarcasm, but insinuations are everything. It is possible to film perfectly legitimate activities, but if they are in North Korea, they suddenly become menacing, dark and evil. Such as border guards hiding in bunkers. Then we get a lie about refugees facing execution after being returned from China to North Korea. There is no evidence, just hearsay. Signs such as "Never help an illegal alien" are presented as something horribly wrong, even though (no sarcasm this time) most countries have some regulations against illegal aliens and helping illegal aliens is a misdemeanour in many countries as well (North Koreans are facing a fine, which, supposedly, is horrible). And so on and so forth. There is a 1000 word comment limit, so I'll stop here.