A day in the life of an ordinary family… in North Korea, land of the beloved leader Kim Jong-il. Filmmaker Pieter Fleury gives us a glimpse into the world of Hong Sun Hui, a female textile worker. At the factory, everything is highly controlled and all the workers’ actions and results are meticulously entered in notebooks. Like puppets, the workers impassively carry out their tasks and finish their days singing hymns to the glory of Kim Jong-il.
In her kindergarten class, Hong’s daughter learns that “flowers need the sun and she needs the love of the Great Leader to grow.” When the family gathers at home in the evening, the propaganda continues to flow through the television. Unexpectedly, relief from the Orwellian control and clockwork regularity comes from the English classes that Hong’s brother is taking: they provide a moment of humour and open-mindedness.
The mechanisms of this perfect system of indoctrination and oppression are depicted through coldly precise images. The resulting film is a terrifying vision of a totalitarian state that recalls Mao’s China, on which it was largely based. Absurd, grotesque, but sadly true.
