Friends of Kim Documentary on You Tube

[R_P_A_S]

Have any of you guys seen this? When i began to watch this dutch documentary I thought it was going to be very pro North Korea or at least non-biased, non political. As the film proceeded I noticed a shift. I think it's fair to say that the Alejandro character who is the president of the North Korea Friendship Associate is a complete head case.

I'm pretty well read on DPRK. I'm against the whole religious cult around the Kims and their ultra militarized society but at the same time I don't condemn the entire peoples.

That Alejandro guy is just a damn moron. What's his problem? yelling across the DMZ all kinds of obscenities to the ROK and US soldiers. I agree the U.S. has no right to have troops there but geeesh man! You can start a damn war and millions of working people will die because of your Stalinist wet dream. :thumbdown:

[rednordman]

Have any of you guys seen this? When i began to watch this dutch documentary I thought it was going to be very pro North Korea or at least non-biased, non political. As the film proceeded I noticed a shift. I think it's fair to say that the Alejandro character who is the president of the North Korea Friendship Associate is a complete head case.

I'm pretty well read on DPRK. I'm against the whole religious cult around the Kims and their ultra militarized society but at the same time I don't condemn the entire peoples.

That Alejandro guy is just a damn moron. What's his problem? yelling across the DMZ all kinds of obscenities to the ROK and US soldiers. I agree the U.S. has no right to have troops there but geeesh man! You can start a damn war and millions of working people will die because of your Stalinist wet dream. :thumbdown:I too have seen this documentory. Despite trying to give a bit of an 'insiders' look into North Korea, It was so dam slanderous, it bordered on ridiculous.

The real people who should be worried is the members of the KFA. All the documentory wanted to do was to make them fit the typical naive, idealistic, and dumb left-winger stereotype that the right-wing masterbates over.

Infact, in that sense it was so perfectly done, that one could be mistaken in thinking that they where actually acting, and where simply told what to say and how to behave by the directors themselves.

The best example of this was that english guy with the glasses (i forget his name now). The way he talked at the start, how he came across like he actually cared about a 'workers paradise', and how he believed that in NK they have complete freedom of speech and knowledge of the rest of the world, was frankly infantile.

What was even better, was how he all of a sudden changed and tried his best to show how absolutley everything was wrong in the country. The shock and dissapointment on his face was harsh, but actually rather amusing when he saw that it wasnt like heaven on earth (where is?).

Its at this point where it becomes obvious what the directors where trying to do. And I will give it too them in that sense. Because it was sort of clever. It uses the dissapointment, dissolution, and humiliation of the individual KFA members to set the general mood of the doc. This starts of on a high upbeat tone (we are entering the bastion of anti-imperialism), yet ends on a very cold and shamefull one (the realities of a country totally isolated from the rest of the prosperous world).

'How could we ever believe that communism is possible, fair and peacefull: We are just silly little kids for thinking this!' is the general message that gets projected from the KFA members to the viewer (imo).

The best part came at the end, with that asian tv journalist, who thought it was an ace idea to try and film blatant (yes-it was that bad) properganda on a collective farm. Suddenly after getting sussed by one of the members of the KFA, ends up getting thrown out the country. This is where that Alejandro (who really is a nutter) bursts in and destroys his room.

Typically the documentory tries to make him look like a twat for doing this, and fair enough, but one must actually look at how irressposible the journalist was for attempting to do something that could have got everyone tried and sent to a labour camp, or even killed, just for is own career advancement. What a fucking hero!!:rolleyes:

So yes, it vintage anti-communism. Obviously, as a communist, I see through this, while at the same time making no joke of the true hardships that the people of NK must face on a daily basis. Unlike the directors however - do not blame these hardships totally on NK. And certain not on a group of people who simply want to show a little interest and solidarity with the North, for whatever reason. After all, its not their fault that things are the way they are.

The same sort of documentory could be done by sending a load of libertarians to the poorest parts of Chile.

Or one where the bankers of London and Wall st, have to go and work at a factory for a year (having their bank accounts froze), while surviving on the same wage of all the other workers. I doubt we will ever see that though.

[Steve_j]

Quite an interesting film, thanks for sharing.

[Das war einmal]

Have any of you guys seen this? When i began to watch this dutch documentary I thought it was going to be very pro North Korea or at least non-biased, non political. As the film proceeded I noticed a shift. I think it's fair to say that the Alejandro character who is the president of the North Korea Friendship Associate is a complete head case.

I'm pretty well read on DPRK. I'm against the whole religious cult around the Kims and their ultra militarized society but at the same time I don't condemn the entire peoples.

That Alejandro guy is just a damn moron. What's his problem? yelling across the DMZ all kinds of obscenities to the ROK and US soldiers. I agree the U.S. has no right to have troops there but geeesh man! You can start a damn war and millions of working people will die because of your Stalinist wet dream. :thumbdown:


I doubt those soldiers felt offended in any way. Bizarre documentary by the way, I kind of had the feeling of watching a soap at a point...The Alejandro character is a fool no doubt about that

[MarxSchmarx]

That Alejandro guy is just a damn moron. What's his problem? yelling across the DMZ all kinds of obscenities to the ROK and US soldiers. I agree the U.S. has no right to have troops there but geeesh man! You can start a damn war and millions of working people will die because of your Stalinist wet dream. :thumbdown:

I saw this documentary and there were quite a number of youtube records of this fool. Yeah more praise of how Pyongyang is a worker's paradise...:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utgQH6ka_js

Pathetic throughout, but I love the stuff around 1:23 (even if you are not a Spanish speaker). This Catalonian aristocrat appears to pine for "la Patria, la Familia, y el Generalissimo " and missed the Fascist boat by about 40 years...

[Drace]

Wait, I am confused....Just what is this?

[MarxSchmarx]

Wait, I am confused....Just what is this?

A documentary on a group of westerners who visit north korea, and subsequent commentary about one member and leader of the group.

[rednordman]

A documentary on a group of westerners who visit north korea, and subsequent commentary about one member and leader of the group.Yep. To be fair, im a little surprised that the man in question hasnt had at least one thread about him on his own. A truely bizarre character.

[R_P_A_S]

What do people usually shout at the end of praising the leader? "mansay?" or something? how do you spell it and what does it mean?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Manse (만세) = "long live."

It literally means "ten thousand years," which is a phrase that is used throughout east Asia in the same way as "long live" or "viva." It originated as a way to wish long life to an emperor.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

If you're interested, you can view Alejandro Cao de Benos's blog here: http://www.alejandrocaodebenos.com/blog/ (in Spanish)