These are rare images, shot using small camcorders or mobile phones, in often very difficult conditions. Along the Yalu River, separating North Korea from China, or on Mount Changbai, shadows appear that we can sense are in danger. We must avoid the North Korean patrols but also, once on the other side, the Chinese border guards, without pity for these unfortunate neighbors, whose journey has only just begun.
Their final destination is Seoul, via a very long journey which must take them from China to Vietnam, then to Laos, before arriving in a safe, non-communist country, namely Thailand.
Images filmed by civilians trying to flee North Korea and by members of the escape network led from Seoul, capital of South Korea, by pastor Kim Seung-eun, central character in this documentary. A man who, through his vast network of reception and smugglers, would have enabled the escape of nearly a thousand North Koreans over the past ten years.
Hunger, torture, misery
In recent years, many images of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, have been shot by Western teams. Authorized by the authorities, they are supposed to prove to the world the modernity of a large city, a showcase for the regime.
Those of this Anglo-American documentary, less polished and more instructive, show another North Korea: that of hunger, torture, misery. From a country where the lack of water is a reality, and the collection of excrement to give to farmers is a habit.
Coupled with stolen footage of brutal interrogations, forced labor and starvation in remote villages, as well as chilling sketches by Kwon Hyo Jin depicting scenes of torture in labor camps, director Madeleine Gavin chose two examples to tell these stories of escape and exile.
Settled in Seoul after successfully fleeing North Korea, Soyeon tries, with the help of the pastor, to organize the escape of her 17-year-old son, who remains on the other side of the border. After successfully crossing to China, he will be the victim of betrayal and will not join his mother.
The story of the Roh family (the parents, their two young daughters and the 80-year-old grandmother) is both more spectacular and less tragic. Their incredible journey through China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, filmed up close, is breathtaking.
At almost every step, danger lurks. Between border guard patrols, hostile jungle, discreet hideouts, crossing the Mekong, permanent anxieties, we follow the family in their race towards freedom. Thanks to the pastor and his network, they will eventually all end up in Seoul to start a new life.
