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| Camp 14 Total Control Zone – Photo from TIFF Film Reference Library |
Camp 14 – Total Control Zone
Director: Marc Wiese
Year 2012 / 104 Minutes
Screening: February 27, 2013 at Toronto’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival
What if you were born into a coal mining labour camp where your entire life was defined by 5 simple rules:
1. Inmates aren’t allowed to escape, anyone trying will be shot immediately and if you see someone trying to escape and don’t report it, you will be shot immediately.
2. Stealing is forbidden, anyone caught stealing or hiding food will be shot immediately.
3. Inmates must obey the officer completely, those who disobey the leader will be shot immediately.
4. Outside of work, men and women cannot have contact privately. If physical contact happens they will be shot immediately.
5. Inmates must have the deepest remorse for their own mistakes, those who have an opinion or show no remorse will be shot immediately.
These are the bleak maxims of the North Korean labour camp that Shin Dong-hyuk must survive in this distressing new documentary, Camp 14 – Total Control Zone. And nothing, absolutely nothing can prepare you for his unimaginable story. The simple fact that there could be a world unlike the one he has known existing outside the electrified perimeter fencing was inconceivable to him.
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| Shin Dong-huyk at Toronto’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2013 |
Director Marc Wiese, who Skyped in from The Hague to open this years Human Rights Watch Film Festival, provided the technical insights needed to bring Shin’s story to life. By navigating through political sensitivities, Wiese was able to reinforce Shin narrative by shining a light on the depravity inflicted through the first person accounts of two ex camp officers from the Secret Police Service. And the connective tissue that underpins each story line with a visceral colour pallet of grey desperation is the 2D and 3D animation wizardry by Cartoonamoon, Azim, Marzo and Ali Soozandoh.
Even though the physical pain from Camp 14 has scared me, Shin said at the post screening Q&A, its the mental pain outside the camp in South Korea that I’m finding even harder to overcome. Camp 14 – Total Control Zone is not an easy documentary to watch, not because of what you see but what your mind begins to conjure when you hear Shin’s story. The fact that Shin is able to share his story is still hard to comprehend and his escape stands as a testament to the power of the human condition.
Review: 4.5/5 Camp 14 – Total Control Zone is a survivors story unlike any other.
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| Shin Dong-huyk at Toronto’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2013 |
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| Human Right Lawyer and Facilitator Jack (Eui Chul) Kim and Shin Dong-huyk at Toronto’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2013 |
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