An Emissary of No Return
An Emissary of No Return | |
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Directed by | |
Written by | Shin Sang-ok[1] |
Based on | Bloody Conference by Kim Il Sung |
Starring |
|
Production company | Shin Film |
Distributed by | Joseon Yeonghwa |
Release date |
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Running time | 132 minutes[2] |
Country | North Korea |
Language | Korean |
Box office | |
Korean name | |
Chosŏn'gŭl | 돌아오지 않은 밀사 |
Revised Romanization | Doraoji annuen milsa[3] |
McCune–Reischauer | Toraoji anŭn milsa |
An Emissary of No Return (
The film focuses on the deeds of
An Emissary of No Return was shot on-location in several
Plot
This article needs an improved plot summary. (January 2018) |
The film begins with a North Korean man visiting The Hague in the 1980s to pay his respects at the grave of one of the secret emissaries,
The rest of the film focuses on Ri Jun during the 1907 conference.
Cast
- Kim Jun-sik as Ri Jun
- Ryang Hye-sung
- Kim Yun-hong
- Kim Chong-hwa
- Kim Ok-hui
- Hong-Sung-jong
- Choe Chang-su
- Mun Ye-bong
- Son Dae-won
- Hwang Min
- Kim Ming-hui
- Mun Ye-bong
- Miroslav Homola
- Jana Kasanová
- Miroslav Zounar
- Milan Riehs
Historical basis
An Emissary of No Return retells the story of a real historical event in 1907 known as the
In reality, the incident was "quick and quiet".[7] The emissaries worked behind the scenes, and one of them died of illness during the trip.[6] Korean nationalist historiography, however, presents the affair in "mythical proportions". Even many South Koreans continue to believe in the dramatic suicide of one of the emissaries, which in reality, did not take place.[6] An Emissary of No Return presents the dramatized story,[7] resulting in a "typical nationalist melodrama",[9] and, partly, a boring "lecture" on fictionalized history.[4]
Production
Background
Shin Sang-ok was abducted to North Korea on the orders of Kim Jong Il to make films for the country, whose own film industry had fallen out of times. Shin was initially uncooperative and was imprisoned for years. Then, after Kim Jong Il had him released, Shin decided to agree to his proposal.[10] Shin had two motives.[11] He could return to his career of film making that had become impossible abroad due to financial difficulties.[12] Shin also decided that by creating films for Kim, he would be trusted enough to travel abroad, where he could escape.[13] An Emissary of No Return would become the first film Shin made for Kim Jong Il.[7]
Kim Jong Il ordered Shin to set up a production company for his film projects in North Korea.[14] The company was called Shin Film,[15] adopting the name of Shin's old company he had run in South Korea.[16]
After discussing with Kim Jong Il, Shin had chosen the Hague Secret Emissary Affair as the theme of the film. Shin had, again, a dual motivation. He wanted to play it safe and create a film that was not too different from previous North Korean films,[7] but not overtly propagandist.[17] To achieve this, he suggested to Kim that he could adapt one of the plays allegedly written by Kim Il Sung during his guerrilla years on film. Shin settled on a particular play about the emissary incident,[7] Bloody Conference,[6] which he had also seen on stage.[18] Shin was drawn to it because the event it portrays had taken place abroad, in The Hague, in hopes that he could escape on the pretext of filming at the actual location.[7] On the other hand, Kim Jong Il was keen on international settings, hoping that they would elevate North Korean cinema to the international level.[6] Kim accepted the film idea, but did not allow Shin to travel to The Hague, despite telling him earlier that he was free to travel "anywhere" to film. "Anywhere", Kim had to clarify, meant anywhere within the Eastern Bloc.[7] It is not known whether Shin knew that the plot of Bloody Conference depicts nothing more than a historical myth, but that did not matter much to his ambitions. As Johannes Schönherr writes: "The myth was so much better... and Kim Il-sung had written a play about it. Kim Il-sung's every word was holy and not to be questioned in any way."[6]
After having discussed his film ideas with Kim Jong Il on 19 October 1983,
Filming
Shin first traveled to East Berlin for three days to scout for filming locations. He was accompanied by his wife, Choi Eun-hee, who was also abducted by Kim Jong Il.[7] Choi, an actress, had no role in the film, so she would help Shin as the co-director.[20] After Berlin, they traveled to Prague. They were minded by Kim's film tutor, Choe Ik-gyu during all their trips.[21] In directing, Shin would employ esthetic theories developed by Kim Jong Il.[22]
Filming began at the Barrandov Studios in Prague a few days after Shin had arrived there,[21] in November 1984.[23] One of its spacious studio halls was turned into a replica of The Hague's Ridderzaal. Although the Czech technical crew was very qualified, the Koreans lacked a common language with them, causing problems in the production.[24] Shots depicting The Hague were also filmed on the streets of Prague,[25] which "might look strange to audiences with knowledge of European architecture but it certainly didn't bother anyone in North Korea." Stock footage of the actual city was also used.[26] This was the first time that a North Korean film had footage shot outside of the country. The film also featured Western actors and extras for Western roles,[26] something that likewise had never been done before in North Korean cinema.[27] On Kim Jong Il's orders, all lines were dubbed into Korean.[27] The final scene was rushed and shot in only one and a half day with massive 400 extras.[28]
After filming had been completed in Prague, Shin returned to Pyongyang to film portions that take place in Korea. Then, he had to edit the film as quickly as possible so that he could make 15 April 1984 deadline.[25] After a brief trip to Budapest, where Shin confided to his old friend that he and Choi were making films for Kim Jong Il against their will, they worked on the film in North Korea throughout January and February.[29] The production was finished early, on 13 March 1984. A preview was scheduled for three days later at the Workers' Party of Korea headquarters.[27] Kim Jong Il was very pleased with the film. He called it "fantastic" and "just like a European movie".[27] He gave Shin and Choi two brand-new Mercedes-Benz as gifts.[30]
Shin petitioned Kim Jong Il that he could travel to
Release
An Emissary of No Return became a hit in North Korea and was the most significant release of the year.[31][32] Few North Koreans had seen anything like it. For those born after the division of Korea in 1945, "the opening shots of The Hague were literally their very first glimpse of the world outside". According to Paul Fischer, author of A Kim Jong-Il Production, the film thus "marked a turning point in North Korean culture: the very first time that even the citizens with the lowest songbun [social status] were able to see, however subtly, that the world outside the Workers' Paradise was not the hell Kim Il-Sung had told them it was."[31]
The film was, however, used for indoctrination. Screenings were made compulsory and were followed by group discussions in which cinema goers were supposed to relate the main character's suicide to their own lives.[31]
Following the positive domestic reception, the film was sent to the
An Emissary of No Return was subsequently also screened at the
The film was also released in Eastern Bloc countries, and saw limited distribution in Japan,[26] where it was also released in 1984.[40] It was released on DVD in North Korea by Mokran Video in 2015.[2]
See also
- Abduction of Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee
- Cinema of North Korea
- Culture of North Korea
- List of North Korean films
- Propaganda in North Korea
- Pulgasari
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7190-6008-3.
- ^ a b c "Toraoji anŭn milsa = The emissary unreturned". SearchWorks. Stanford University. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ Kim 2010, p. 30.
- ^ a b c d e Schönherr 2014, p. 167.
- OCLC 25082518.
- ^ a b c d e f g Schönherr 2011, p. 11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fischer 2016, p. 245.
- ^ Kim 2010, p. 333.
- ^ Robey, Tim (1 March 2015). "A Kim Jong-il Production by Paul Fischer, review: 'you could barely make it up'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ^ Schönherr 2011, p. 10.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 231.
- ^ Fischer 2016, pp. 124, 231.
- ^ Fischer 2016, pp. 230–231.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 241.
- ^ a b Fischer 2016, p. 242.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 22.
- ^ Schönherr 2014, p. 166.
- ^ Kim 2010, p. 38.
- ^ Fischer 2016, pp. 244, 248.
- ^ a b Fischer 2016, p. 248.
- ^ a b Fischer 2016, p. 246.
- ^ Nordine, Michael (10 January 2013). "Godzilla and Flowers: The Films of Kim Jong Il". Village Voice. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 283.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 247.
- ^ a b Fischer 2016, p. 250.
- ^ a b c d e Schönherr 2011, p. 12.
- ^ a b c d e f Fischer 2016, p. 254.
- ISBN 978-1-4683-0013-0.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 253.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 251.
- ^ a b c d Fischer 2016, p. 257.
- ISBN 978-0-85229-428-4.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 263.
- ^ a b c Fischer 2016, p. 264.
- ^ Schönherr 2014, pp. 167–168.
- ^ Schönherr 2014, p. 168.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 266.
- ISSN 0015-167X.
- ^ Fischer 2016, p. 265.
- OCLC 4507767.
Works cited
- Fischer, Paul (2016). A Kim Jong-Il Production: Kidnap, Torture, Murder... Making Movies North Korean-Style. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-97000-3.
- Kim Suk-Young (2010). Illusive Utopia: Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-02689-0.
- Schönherr, Johannes (2011). "The North Korean Films of Shin Sang-ok" (PDF). 社会システム研究 (22): 1–22. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- — (2014). "A Permanent State of War: A Short History of North Korean Cinema". In Edwards, Matthew (ed.). Film Out of Bounds: Essays and Interviews on Non-Mainstream Cinema Worldwide. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-0780-1.
External links
- Full film at DPRK Today (in Korean)
- An Emissary of No Return at IMDb