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      Camp 14: Total Control Zone

      2012 1h 44m Documentary Biography List
      100% 10 Reviews Tomatometer 91% 100+ Ratings Audience Score Shin Dong-Huyk was born in a North Korean re-education camp and suffered from hunger, beatings, and forced labor. He knew nothing about the world until he escaped when he was 23 and made his way to South Korea. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (18) audience reviews
      william d Harrowing documentary of life inside the North Korean gulag. I read the book and I still thought it was horrific. I would have liked to have seen additional interview footage with North Korean camp guards who defected. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Somehow, extraordinarily, and I don't believe deliberately, manages to drain the life out of what ought to be a fascinating subject. The banality of evil as banal documentary. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Poignant, gripping, and very captivating, this is an amazing story that shouldn't have to be! It is an eye-opener. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Was good until I found out that a big part of his story is made up. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member The combination of the intense subject matter and excellent film style makes for something truly great, sad, and inspirational all at once. It's really more like a character study within the base concept of the documentary itself, and the way it was edited with pauses really helps to illustrate the frustration of the victim as well as the two former guards for their acts. Also with no narration and only rare moments of brief prompting from the interviewer, this really helped to keep the focus where it needs to be: on the subject matter and off the creator or interviewer of the film. Serious kudos to them for keeping themselves out of it and letting the people talk at their own pace about things that must be more painful to discuss then I could possibly imagine. The artwork/animations lent themselves quite well, and I usually hate any kind of animation in serious docs. Also I think Shin left one kind of slavery to enter another in his view. Of course the former was far worse but the things he says about life in South Korea really makes me wonder if he could ever learn to live a normal life. A normal healthy childhood is crucial for everyone to have the best chance for this and it's too disturbing to even think that so many in this world never experience that. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Powerful and well told account of one man's life in and escape from a labour camp in North Korea. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Photos

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      Camp 14: Total Control Zone

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (10) Critics Reviews
      Charlotte O'Sullivan London Evening Standard Those who've read Escape from Camp 14 will know all about Shin Dong-huyk. Everyone else will be left slack-jawed by his account of prison-camp life in North Korea. Rated: 4/5 Oct 4, 2013 Full Review Anton Bitel Sight & Sound It is this very understatement, and the weight given to Shin's words over any accompanying sound or image, that prevent Wiese's film ever seeming exploitative, even though it is addressing unimaginable human depravity and degradation. Oct 4, 2013 Full Review Stephen Applebaum Guardian Using interviews and atmospheric animated sequences, Weise uncovers a world where brutality is the norm and conditioning blurs the line between victim and perpetrator. Rated: 4/5 Oct 3, 2013 Full Review Jordan M. Smith IONCINEMA.com Wiese's film is an astounding story of dehumanization and a horrifying reminder that bureaucratic evil is still very much alive and well. Feb 9, 2020 Full Review Joseph Walsh CineVue As difficult as it is to view all the accounts and footage used in Camp 14, it makes for truly sobering viewing that cuts to the quick. Rated: 4/5 Aug 23, 2018 Full Review MaryAnn Johanson Flick Filosopher The only person known to have escaped from a North Korean re-education camp reveals some 1984-level [stuff], except it's worse, because it's not fiction... Oct 9, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Shin Dong-Huyk was born in a North Korean re-education camp and suffered from hunger, beatings, and forced labor. He knew nothing about the world until he escaped when he was 23 and made his way to South Korea.
      Director
      Marc Wiese
      Production Co
      Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Engstfeld Filmproduktion, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Arte
      Genre
      Documentary, Biography
      Original Language
      Korean
      Runtime
      1h 44m