7 Examples That Prove North Korea Takes Movies Way Too Seriously

6. Kim Jong-il Was Often Credited For "Improving" North Korean Movies

During his regime it was common for KCNA reports on North Korean films to praise Kim Jong-il€™s contributions to the movies. In most of these cases, Kim received credit for the success of the entire production. For example, an August 2006 KCNA article on the film A Schoolgirl€™s Diary noted that although Kim was busy with his "continuous inspection tour of frontline army units," he nonetheless worked on the film and "improved its script and guided its production to become a masterpiece of the times." The Minister of Culture also remarked that the movie "was the fine fruit borne under the wise leadership of Kim Jong il, a great master in art." The article makes no mention of the director, writer, or actors in the movie. Similarly, in April 2009 the KCNA credited Kim with the idea that the lead character of the film A White Gem (Part 1 and 2) would wear white "in the sense that the conscience and obligation of a revolutionary soldier following President Kim il Sung should be unblemished and pure." Again, no one else is recognised for contributing to the production. Even after Kim's death he was still being credited for his vast influence on North Korean cinema. According to a May 2014 KCNA retrospective on the 1969 North Korean film The Sea of Blood (based on an opera written by Kim's father, Kim il-Sung), Kim "initiated its filmization" and "gave detailed guidance to making the movie of The Sea Of Blood from the composition of its script to its direction and filming." If only all world leaders had time to "initiate filmization" of their nations' movies.