'A Kim Jong-Il Production' provides fascinating look into North Korea and its quest for filmmaking power

      

 North Korea is often seen by us as a dictator-controlled, devious and ruthless country. Somewhat silly, too. "The Interview" and Dennis Rodman's trips there probably didn't help that perception

          However, during Kim Jong-Il's reign, it was also a country that committed kidnappings like a kid sneaking candy into his pockets at a local grocery store. At least that's what Kim did with South Korea's most famous actress and filmmaker so he could fulfill his dream of producing movies that could possibly rival others in the world.
           Paul Fischer's book "A Kim Jong-Il Production/The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power" provides a fascinating look into North Korea and its late dictator Kim Jong-Il. Through actress Madame Choi and her ex-husband filmmaker Shin Sang-Ok, readers are taken on a journey in the late '70s and early '80s behind the scenes in North Korea. This includes its pursuit of worldwide respectability through film and other means, and its harsh and inhumane methods of "re-educating" people it kidnaps from other countries, most notably South Korea.
          Shin's story is particularly compelling: After his second attempted escape, he was forced into a prison in which he had to sit cross-legged staring straight forward and silent for 16 hours a day with only a 10-minute break during it. He did this for two and one-half years.
          Fischer's books also shows the sad existence of average North Koreans, who are forced to bow to their dictators' pictures for their daily food even when they are starving and working six days a week. Kim and their leaders, however, live in extravagance and party late into the night.
          It also ultimately tells the love story of Madame Choi and Shin Sang-Ok, divorced before they are kidnapped, but who must unite and trust each other in order to survive and ultimately escape from their captivity. A strange twist is when Kim announces at a party that they are to be remarried, which actually reunited them for the rest of their lives.
           Fischer, who is film producer himself, does an exceptional job in his book debut. It's a book that will fascinate anyone who's interested in North Korea or the film industry outside of the United States.
           
          
Biography on Paul Fischer:

PAUL FISCHER is a film producer who studied social sciences at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and film at the University of Southern California and the New York Film Academy. Paul's first feature film, the documentary "Radioman, " won the Grand Jury Prize at the Doc NYC festival and was released to critical and commercial acclaim. "A Kim Jong-Il Production" is his first book.