Lucy Edwards, a woman who teaches English to North Korean defectors, recently wrote an interesting piece for Dazed on her 41-year-old student Kim Joo Il's reaction to the movie 'The Interview'. Kim is a North Korean defector who escaped the country after witnessing his fellow citizens die from nationwide starvation.
According to Edwards, Kim was thoroughly disappointed by the film. Although Kim thought the subject matter could've made it an "effective film," the movie was disappointing and was uninspiring, as he stated, "['The Interview'] cannot help us to understand North Korean people. Not in a serious way. And it will not have any impact on spurring western governments or the UN to take action either against the North Korean government or for the North Korean people."
Kim continues to say that he felt that the movie "demeans North Korean people" as he stated, "North Koreans are always portrayed as obedient robots. So with all the vulgar words, it's like there is a subtext which demeans Korean people. In this movie it looks like we are too stupid to realise [sp] our government is bad."
When asked about the recently reported plan to airdrop 100,000 copies of 'The Interview' in Korea, Kim replied that he didn't think there would be a positive effect. He expressed his doubt that North Koreans would appreciate the crude film.
You can read more about Edwards' and Kim's critique of the film here.
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