Movies & more

Last night Karl and I watched a documentary we got from Netflix called "A State of Mind" (read that review...it's better than mine! haha). I basically added it to our Netflix queue because it was about gymnasts, and we all know how much I love gymnastics. The movie turned out to be a great surprise for both of us. First, it really didn't focus on "gymnastics" in the way I was expecting...this was group gymnastics, which is a large group of people doing choreographed movements simultaneously. It isn't really a competitive sport. Second, gymnastics wasn't the main feature of the film - this documentary took place in North Korea, a communist country that rarely lets outsiders have an inside look at it. Somehow a few British filmmakers were able to talk the North Korean government into letting them follow two of the young gymnasts for eight months as they prepared for the "Mass Games", which resembles an Olympic Opening Ceremonies - several different groups of performers come together to put on a huge and spectacular show for the government and citizens of North Korea. As someone who didn't know much about North Korea before this movie, it was completely eye-opening. I'll try to summarize some of the aspects of the movie that really stood out to me...

First, the country is extremely proud and protective of its communism. Countless times throughout the movie, the little girls (ages 13 and 11) would comment on how they were striving to be the "ultimate communist", and how their performance in front of "The General" (their country's leader, Kim Jong Il) would prove what great communists they were. It is so interesting because in the United States, "communist" has such a negative connotation, but these little girls wanted so badly to prove what great communists they were. When they would sing songs, the lyrics always included something about being a great communist.

This movie made me realize how truly blessed I am and how much I take for granted in my everyday life...there was an entire month when every family in the country was limited to just one chicken per person. The food was rationed and several people died from malnourishment. Additionally, housing was assigned to families by the government. A family of two parents, one child, and two grandparents lived in an apartment where the parents had a bed, the child had a bed, and the grandparents had to sleep on the floor of the dining room. Every house in North Korea has a radio in the kitchen that the residents cannot turn off - and it has government broadcasting and announcements all day long. I cannot imagine living in a land where the government has such direct control over you. The amazing thing, though, was that these people seemed perfectly happy. I guess if you don't know anything different, you wouldn't want for anything different. Another aspect that was surprising was that the gymnasts practiced on a concrete parking lot-looking area every day. No mats... Enough said. I don't think anyone in the U.S. could practice on a concrete surface for hours each day without quitting.

One thing I learned was that the North Koreans HATE, and I mean HATE, Americans. They continually referred to Americans as "the imperialist Americans", and whenever blackouts would occur (at least once a night), they said, "It's because of the devil Americans". The documentary showed school children in classes where the teacher was basically giving a lecture on hating the U.S. and how evil the U.S. is. Until 2006, I had never traveled outside of the United States, but I knew our world image was not favorable. Since then, I have been to three foreign countries and have realized firsthand how anti-American the world really is. In all of my foreign travels I have been consistently humbled because of the general dislike for the U.S., and it almost makes me embarrassed to tell people I'm from the United States, but I have never seen a country that had such a strong hatred for us. Not to get all political on you, but I see this as yet another good reason to elect Obama as our President...as I traveled to both New Zealand and Germany last year for international conferences, I heard people from those countries as well as Australia, South Africa, and Norway tell me that they are in favor of Obama or Hillary (who was still in the running at the time). I even had some people say that they think the rest of the world should be able to vote for the American President because we Americans obviously don't do a good job with our own elections (I must agree a little bit...). Obama has a favorable image worldwide, and we can't afford to make any more enemies out there.

Back to the movie - the one similarity that I saw between the U.S. and North Korea was the kids. It was actually pretty heart-warming to see that even though our countries might be completely opposite in most respects, children are still children wherever you go. The little girls would sometimes skip their practices or school (and later get in trouble for it) because they wanted to play, they didn't want to get up for school in the morning, they loved watching cartoons, and they were always excited to play together.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone. It is an eye-opening look into the lives of communists (some might venture to say they have been brainwashed since birth) and the girls' final performance at the Mass Games is bittersweet and you'll see why...hint, it has to do with their country's leader, The General (whom they also basically refer to as "God" in the movie...that was frightening to hear!).

This movie reminded me of a North Korean gymnast whom I saw compete in the 1991 World Gymnastics Championships in Indianapolis, Kim Gwang Suk. She was listed as being 16 years old, yet she was missing her front teeth. The North Koreans listed her age as 15 at competitions in three consecutive years, and they were banned from competing in the 1993 World Championships as a result. No one ever found out Kim Gwang Suk's real age. This reminded me a lot of the age controversy of the Chinese gymnasts at this year's Olympics. Here's a clip of Kin Gwang Suk's gold medal bar performance from the '91 Worlds:



NOW, on to one more movie I saw today! Karl and I walked down to a theater in Berkeley to see "Burn After Reading", a new Coen Brothers movie starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, and Tilda Swinton. We really did not know what to expect, and I'm glad we didn't. It was an interesting movie because of some very big twists that we weren't expecting in the storyline. I think this is one of those movies you can probably wait to come out on DVD...but if you're really in the mood to go to the movies, go for it. I would have to say Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand are probably the most entertaining in this movie!

Here are a few pictures we took of ourselves on the way back...just for your family members who haven't seen us in a while. ;)