The Red Chapel

There are quite a few documentaries about North Korea out there but Netflix has one Danish one which illustrates the nature of this totalitarian state better than any I have seen so far. As the Danish comedy troop director is slowly forced to become a propaganda tool for the regime, and all the plans and characters undergo unexpected arcs.

For those that are interested in North Korea and especially those that have seen other documentaries on it, try to find the time to watch The Red Chapel and share your thoughts in the comments.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

4 Replies to “The Red Chapel”

  1. The film seems to be available on Vimeo – I say ‘seems’ because it might require a ‘password’ if you’re in the US or some particular country (read director’s comment) but I can see/download the entire thing… many thanks, Eeyore, great find…

  2. So far I have watched 1 hour of it – still 30 minutes to go, but I cannot watch it on one go. This would be one of the most disturbing documentaries I have seen, it is so insidiously bizarre and makes me as uncomfortable as I would feel watching a car accident in slow motion. It’s soooo very Eat German also. And another strange thing, when I watch the indoctrination of islamists/muslims, I feel anger, fear, disgust and – strangely – hardly any compassion with the indoctrinated ones – (they are coming to kill me one day kind of feeling), but with these North Koreans, I feel something that strongly resembles empathy – and a lot of pity. This Madam – the guide – has such a depth of sadness just under the surface, and the performers (children and adults) seem brilliant – ….anyway I need a break from this documentary…going back to it later.

    Oh, and thank you Eeyore – you always find the strangest things…that make one if not think, so react at different levels.

  3. I watched it in it’s entirety and found the courage of the spastic teen remarkable! His coach/director was most fortunate to have the benefit of communicating in spastic-dialect of the Danish language so the North Korean ‘guide’ and her thugs could not comprehend this teens persistent mockery and refusal to conform and appreciate their ‘dear’ leader(s). I was most impressed with their consistency in communicating in English when they wanted to be understood and only in spastic-Danish when mocking them in their presence. The spastic teen was incredibly disturbed by what he witnessed and it was ‘edge of my seat’ watching him diss his hosts, worrying he would slip up and rant in English – albeit a spastic English which their ‘guide’ seemed to be able to comprehend frequently enough.

  4. How many of those other documentaries have the visitors IN the annual massive televised celebration of Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, and some historical event.?

    Spoiler alert – the two ‘handlers’, director Mads Brügger and ‘spastic’ Jacob Nossell are sandwiched between groups of 300 men saluting and marching – supposedly
    S. Koreans Jacob and Simon are delighted to be there. Who is using who is the lingering question.