North Korea is leaning heavily into its film industry as a means for bizarre propaganda, and its latest movie involves the country’s dictator narrowly avoiding his own killing
North Korea has released a new film which appears to show Kim Jong-un survive an attempted assassination. The movie is being used as a means of propaganda to stoke up tensions between Pyongyang and the West.
The Hermit Kingdom is known for its bizarre films that appear to constantly show North Koreans at war with enemy nations. This comes after previous leader Kim Jong-Il had heavily leaned into the entertainment industry to brainwash young North Koreans into hating nations like the US and the UK.
And now, Kim Jong-un has apparently given his backing to the latest propaganda venture to rile up hatred against Western nations.
However, it appears that not everyone has been loving what the regime is showing them. According to Daily NK, the new propaganda film is titled “Days and Nights of Confrontation”.
The movie centres around a suspected plot to kill the Supreme Leader of the country, Kim Jong-un — all before he is able to escape the clutches of the evil enemy and return home. The film was produced by the regime with the intention of stoking division.
Its goal is to also cause a rise in hatred of the West among the older generations, whilst still trying to appeal to a younger demographic as a film to sit down and watch. Nevertheless, it seems that the movie has received rather lukewarm reviews from everyday citizens.
Speaking to the local media outlet, one anonymous in the country’s North Hamgyong province said: “Everybody is talking about the new film ‘Days and Nights of Confrontation.’ But there’s a stark difference in how the older and younger generations are responding to the film.”
They explained that after the film was first aired on state television, it was quickly burned onto DVDs and USB sticks and published across the country. The insider said the push was so great that now, practically everyone in North Korea has seen the film.
Older viewers have reportedly had a negative reception to the film overall, with many saying the film evokes horrific memories of war. Many had claimed the film had reminded them of a tragic explosion at a train station in 2004; an event that had apparently inspired the film itself and had everyone in North Korea believing spies had caused the disaster.
In the accident, at Ryongchon, at least 54 people were believed to have been killed after flammable cargo caught fire. However, while Pyongyang argued that only a small number of people were killed, South Korean estimates put the number as high as 3,000.
Older viewers also blasted the use of swear words throughout the film, as well as the lead character Ri Tae-il, supposed based on Kim Jong-un himself. Younger viewers, on the other hand, have reportedly refused to dig deeper into the political aspect of the film and simply appreciated the entertainment value of the movie.
The source said that by sharing the film so much that everyone has seen it, the dictatorial regime is appearing to use films to bring the public together in its need to guard against threats. But with younger viewers simply loving the film for its entertainment, it could maybe suggest that not everyone in North Korea is committed to the cause.
“In North Korea, films are produced to serve as regime propaganda; while young people are aware of that, most of them don’t pay much attention to the film’s underlying message,” the insider concluded. “The government wants to reinforce young people’s ideological commitment, but most of them just focus on the entertainment value.”
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