A State of Mind
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Opening with Pedro Almodóvar's Bad Education, the World Cinema Showcase typically marks the beginning of the film festival season with a teaser of offshore cold cuts that if anything, prime us early for the year's apex, the NZ International Film Festival. Scoping everything from the documentary, to restored classics, to the latest in Euro and Asian Cinema, the Lumière crew managed a firsthand look at a sample of films on offer, beginning with A State of Mind, in which as MARCUS STICKLEY finds out, is an eye-opener.
A State of Mind (2004)
Daniel Gordon | UK | 93 min | Featuring: Pak Hyon-Sun, Kim Song-Yon.
A State Of Mind explores the lives of two young girls as they train for what they consider the biggest event of their lives – performing for their ruler, Kim Jong Il, at the socialist spectacular that is North Korea's Mass Games.
It introduces the culture of a little known country with the poverty that its citizens endure with smiles and songs in front of the documentary maker's camera.
While Kim Jong Il, known in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as The General, never makes a personal appearance in the film, his presence is overwhelming. Pak Hyon-Sun (13) and Kim Song-Yon (11) devote themselves to synchronised gymnastic perfection for him.
"I long for the day when I perform for The General, so I tolerate the pain," says Pak. It is a sentiment echoed throughout A State Of Mind.
The film takes us to the homes of the girls' families. Both are two bedroom apartments in central Pyongyang, an area that is reserved for the most highly regarded citizens.
Each person is rationed one chicken and five eggs per month says the narrative as the camera wanders through the spartan spaces.
Pak lives with two grand parents who sleep on the living room floor, as well as her parents. Kim shares her small bedroom with two sisters.
Each household has a radio that can be turned down but never turned off, and Pak's family has been gifted a television from the state that only carries one channel airing propaganda films and news for six hours a day.
Nothing can shake Pak and Kim's conditioned belief in The General. Singing and the girls' performance brighten their families' meagre lives, with every lyric, movement, and note in tribute to North Korea's communist ideology – the Jusche Idea.
Individual personalities are not captured beyond Pak's serious determination and Kim's cheerful childishness – the countries enforced character drowns them.
This destruction of individuality can result in beauty.
The footage of the Mass Games is stunning. Up to 80,000 gymnasts perform routines in near synchrony against the back drop of the biggest picture in the world – 12,000 school children holding coloured cards, each a pixel in a constantly changing image.
All the incredible feats of individual balance, contortion and grace glimpsed in the girls' daily practice culminate in awe inspiring mass movement.
Through sport Director/Producer Daniel Gordon has found the perfect way to peek behind the world's last iron curtain. His debut production The Game of Their Lives told the story of North Korea's 1966 World Cup soccer team who produced one of the biggest upsets in football history when they knocked Italy out of the tournament.
This gained him the opportunity to filming the Mass Games and delve deeper into North Korean life.
A State of Mind is at once study in human conditioning, splendid gymnastic discipline and the fundamental principals of a society closed to the wider world. It exposes the sinister and the beautiful of everyday life in a country little known to the world.
–Marcus Stickley
The World Cinema Showcase begins in Wellington at the Paramount from March 17-30, then Christchurch at Rialto Cinemas from March 31 to April 13, followed by Dunedin at the Regent Theatre from April 7-20, and finally in Auckland at the Academy from April 14 to May 4. Hardcopy programmes, tickets and bookings are available at festival venues.
World Cinema Showcase previews continue on Page 2.
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