Name: Seoul Train
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2004-11-12
Duration: 54 min
Rating: 7.6

I watched this in between Crossing The Line and National Geographic Explorer: Inside South Korea. Now I'm viewing Camp 41: Total Control Zone about life in one camps. I want to know more about the places these poor people went. In every interview I think of the North Koreans forced back by China. 

I chose this film on another's recommendation in the users comments in Crossing and I'm not sorry I did. It is not, however, a film you want to go to sleep right after. Nothing is tied in a pretty bow. Just the opposite in fact. This film studies the North Koreans who escape across the border with China. China, fearing a refugee crisis, sends them back although the punishment is abusive at best, fatal very often as defecting is a capital offense in their home country.

As a consequence an Underground Railroad of sorts is run in China between it and Mongolia. This film follows two of the groups. One to Mongolia, another who attempts to defect via the Japanese consulate. Through the filmmaker we follow the results, as best we can. It's heart wrenching. I read on the message boards one IMDb member jointed Annesty International after viewing this and is active a number of years later. This is that kind of film. You will be changed in someway once you've seen it. Even if it is only to perk up your ears when North Korea is mentioned on the nightly news

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

The gripping documentary exposé into the life and death of North Koreans as they try to escape their homeland and China

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Seoul Train

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