By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Noted British filmmaker Daniel Gordon has crossed the 38th parallel up and down in the making of his North Korean trilogy, and has recently returned to South Korea for the release here of his third installment, "Crossing the Line" (2006).
The documentary tells the incredible tale of an American soldier-turned North Korean film star James Joseph Dresnok. He is one of four G.I'.s who defected to the North in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War. More than 40 years later, Gordon reveals the "happy North Korean life" of this "blue-eyed Pyongyang citizen" (the Korean title of the film).
A soldier of the anti-communist United States deserting his unit to pursue a new life in the anti-American and "evil Communist" country may seem like a highly sensitive political matter.
"It's funny the word `political' has been used ever since I arrived… But I never saw this film as being a political film", said the director in an interview with The Korea Times Tuesday at an art center in northern Seoul.
"I saw it as a human-interest film. I know it involves the military and it inevitably involves government (and) political things. But he (Dresnok) was young and his decision (to defect) wasn't ideological. I was in fact more interested in what life was like for these guys after they defected", said the 35-year-old.
Orphaned and abused as a child, and then betrayed by his wife, Dresnok was a troubled young man seeking escape from his miserable army life. After arriving in Pyongyang, he overcomes the initial culture shock and even rises to become a popular movie star of political propaganda films.
"He was always trying to escape, and he ended up somewhere he can never escape (from)", said Gordon. "There are of course political undertones. (The film) has the politics in the background -- he wouldn't have been in South Korea in the first place if it weren't for the politics".
Now happily married with children, Dresnok enjoys fishing and bowling while occasionally teaching English. "He made something of his life. If he hadn't gone there, he probably would have ended up in jail, and could never have sent his children to college", said the filmmaker.
Gordon is well-known for his documentaries "The Game of Their Lives", (2002), which documented the North Korean football team that rewrote history at the 1966 World Cup, and "A State of Mind" (2004), which traced the life of two girl gymnasts in Pyongyang.
The filmmaker explained that "The Game", for example, is not about football and that the sport serves as the backdrop of an amazing human achievement. "Likewise, `A State of Mind' is a film about two people. This film (`Crossing') is not political", he emphasized.
"It doesn't come down on anyone's side; it doesn't set out any agenda. It just tells the story of a guy who had this horrendous childhood, who ended up in South Korea in 1962 and made the decision that no one will probably every fully comprehend and had to live with the consequences.
"People were saying, were they (North Koreans) more sensitive because it was a political film, but they (the people asking) were more sensitive. It ended up being a different film from what we set out to do. But it's a documentary, the story will inevitably turn out to be different from how (it was) when we started first started making the film", he said.
Gordon had originally planned on interviewing two out of the four remaining defectors, but Charles Robert Jenkins unexpectedly left the country to reunite with his Japanese wife, which was a highly public affair. "Our exclusive story suddenly became big", said Gordon.
As Jenkins poured out a very negative story of an "oppressed" life in the Stalinist country, "Crossing" drew attention as it told Dresnok's completely opposite, thoroughly positive account of North Korean life.
Gordon had first heard about the American soldiers while he was making his football documentary in 2001. Initiating the making of "Crossing" was of course not easy.
"They said it was `impossible' -- which I always take to mean there's a chance", he said. He started filming in 2004. "To make the film about the (World Cup) games, they said it was impossible".
The filmmaker was able to pursue "Crossing" because he had built a foundation of trust with North Koreans over the course of shooting his first two pieces. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon and his team did not have, for example, people following their every move with a tight grip on the shooting activities and content of the film.
The North in fact "loved" his first two works, and "The Game" was screened on national television 10 times or so for everyone to see, he said. "People just appreciate it if you you're honest with them, and you develop a relationship from there".
As for North-South differences, Gordon says there aren't any. "It's the same. I observed the people in North Korea. Take away the way they dress, take away the Kim Il-sung badge. Lose that. The mannerism is exactly the same. The way they conduct themselves is exactly the same. The way people react to me is exactly the same as, whether it's North or South,
"Even though it's been 60 years of division where one side went off in one direction and the other side in another, actually underneath it all people remain the same… there are far more similarities than you actually think".
Yet Gordon himself had to overcome his own stereotypes about the country, "I'm fully aware of the human rights problem there. But it's not the job of my film, which is about a football team for example, to tell the story about human rights.
"It's up to you, the viewer, to decide what to think", he said. Like "A State of Mind", "Crossing" presents the world's biased image of the hermit nation hailing their "Great" and "Dear Leaders" in perfectly aligned parade lines while it delves deep into the lives of middle-classed citizens leading what appear to be "normal" lives and not starving to death.
The timing of "Crossing's" release continues to be marked by incredible coincidence. The film premiered here in the Pusan (Busan) International Film Festival (PIFF) last October, just when North Korea shocked the world with a nuclear weapon test. Now the documentary opens in theaters Aug. 23, with the bilateral talks between the two Korean leaders around the corner.
Gordon said his third film was well received by Dresnok and others in North Korea. "They loved it", he said, also mentioning his plans to visit the North next year to officially present the film for its official release.
"I might take my daughter with me", he said, adding how he received a lot of congratulatory cards from his North Korean friends when his first child, Sophie, was born four months ago.
"My life has changed now (because of my daughter)", the director said when asked if he might pursue another endeavor in the North Korea. "I probably won't be able to spend so much time away from home. I can't say definitively, but you never know what might happen".
The director also has two films under production, one on greyhound dog races in his hometown and another about Olympic gold medallist John Akii Bua in Uganda. Fans can look forward to viewing these films next year.
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