My Brothers and Sisters in the North

My Brothers and Sisters in the North ★★★

Seoultember #1:

A bit hard to watch, especially when you compare the first with the second generation of North Koreans and how they talk about certain topics in this documentary (i.e. the aunt telling the story of an heroic soldier sacrificing himself and the grandson not looking up once). Director Cho Sung-hyung asks interesting questions, but of course you get either very reluctant answers, or quick answers that are obviously so drummed into the heads of the people. Yet, the documentary leaves more than enough room for the audience to read between those lines.

Maybe that's why everything felt a bit unpersonal to me, which definitely wasn't intended and I won't blame anyone for it - especially since Cho comments on that herself in the off's voice, "there are still more questions than answers". It's hard to imagine how this situation of a divided country must feel like for North/South Koreans, but after watching this, you might get a bit of an idea at least.

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