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Crossing the Line

Play trailer Poster for Crossing the Line 2006 1h 31m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
In this documentary, American Pfc. James Dresnok, on duty in Korea in 1962, walks across the border to the north and becomes one of four western defectors. Used as a propaganda tool by the communist government, Dresnok's motives are never political or made entirely clear. During a court martial by the U.S., Dresnok does little to defend his actions and remains in North Korea. Marrying a Romanian woman, then later a Korean with whom he has children, Dresnok finds an odd peace in his new country.

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Crossing the Line

Crossing the Line

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Critics Consensus

An engrossing look at the aftermath of largely forgotten events during the Cold War, Crossing the Line raises questions that will haunt the viewer after the credits roll.

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Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody New Yorker The vertiginous play of ideology and identity and the sheer strangeness of Dresnok's experience (as well as that of three other American defectors from the sixties) make this film absorbing; the glimpses of life in North Korea make it important. Oct 26, 2020 Full Review Los Angeles Times A tale of alienation and adaptation both miraculous and strange, but also abduction both psychological and physical. Rated: 3.5/5 Oct 12, 2007 Full Review Scott Tobias AV Club Crossing The Line lacks the force and power of a strong point of view, but like Gordon's other work about North Korea, it succeeds in revealing what it means for individuals to give themselves over to a collective. Rated: B Aug 10, 2007 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Bizarrely fascinating documentary. Rated: B+ Sep 3, 2009 Full Review Robert W. Butler Kansas City Star There are no absolute answers to these questions, but like a brain-tickling puzzle, Crossing the Line keeps us on our toes and digging for more information. Rated: 3/4 Nov 2, 2007 Full Review Scott Foundas L.A. Weekly Crossing the Line, like its subject, remains a fascinating and frustrating enigma -- a declassified government report still marred by redacted passages. Oct 11, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member I had no idea about any of this. Where is this in American history books. Captivating. Begin to end Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member Fairly interesting but not entirely surprising. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review thomas a "Crossing the Line" is a unique documentary about North Korea that focuses not on the usual staple of human rights abuses or political standoffs, but more on the Americans who had defected to the country, particularly James Joseph Dresnok. His undivided loyalty to the Kim regime is what sets him apart from other defectors, because other defectors did talk bad about the regime when nobody else is around. This is the only documentary that has an exclusive interview into Dresnok, the reasons he did the things he did, his daily life, and the ultimate irony that as one of the very few naturalised North Korean citizens, he gets better treatment and rations by the DPRK government in comparison to most North Koreans. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member A fascinating documentary on North Korea and the American soldiers who defected to North Korea. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A Portrait of a Man, Not a Land Wikipedia only lists reasons given by two of the four post-Korean War defectors to North Korea as to why they defected (a third article references this film, in which the man's reasons are characterized as "personal"), and contrary to what the North Korean government would have you believe, neither of them were ideological. Frankly, James Joseph Dresnok doesn't sound to me like the kind of citizen a country would go out of its way to acquire. He was a US Army Private First Class, stationed near the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. He was told he couldn't have leave, so he forged some papers to have a pass. The person who supposedly signed them asked about it, and of course knew he'd never signed a pass for Dresnok, since he'd denied one. Dresnok was to be court martialed, and rather than face it, he took off walking across the DMZ. Hardly a great revolutionary hero. Dresnok lives to this day in Pyongyang. He walked away from his unit in 1962. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, and seems to have joined the army because that's why someone in that time and place did. He got married, served two years in Germany, and came back to find that he wife was leaving him for someone else. He reenlisted, but it really appears that Army life wasn't for him. After the little kerfuffle with his CO, he just walked into North Korea, the second man to defect in nearly ten years. He spent most of his time with the first one, Larry Allen Abshier, and the two who came after, Jerry Parrish and Charles Robert Jenkins. They were put into the North Korean propaganda machine, including appearing in the twenty-hour saga [i]Unsung Heroes[/i]--as villains, of course. To this day, Dresnok is referred to by North Koreans as "Arthur," the character he played in the movie. He is now old and in poor health, but he says that nothing will ever make him leave his adopted country. I can only assume, though the film doesn't go into a lot of detail about it, that Dresnok, the others, and their families live and have lived better lives than the average North Korean citizen. Dresnok maintains throughout the film that North Korea is a kind of paradise. There's no mention of starvation or prison camps! Dresnok doesn't even seem aware of any particular antagonism the North Koreans would have against him as an American. He raised his children as Koreans--but his older son apparently doesn't want to marry a Korean woman, for all that. He is frankly disbelieving of the idea that people are kidnapped by the North Korean government, despite having known for many years that the wife of one of the other defectors had been kidnapped from Japan. (Claims that his own first wife, Doina Bumbea, was kidnapped from Romania are unconfirmed.) Whether he's brainwashed or just not very bright--or presenting a good front for the camera--is more complicated than can be resolved with the limited information available. A contradictory story was told by fellow defector Charles Robert Jenkins, and his allegations are covered some in the movie as well. Jenkins (by his own account drunk and depressed at the time he defected--and possibly not even a true defector but himself an abductee) is the only one of the four to have left North Korea and now lives with his wife in Japan. Among other things, he claims that Dresnok was a horrible bully who beat him up over thirty times and picked on Abshier. (Dresnok, not surprisingly, denies it.) He insists that both he and Dresnok had tattoos forcibly cut out of their skin; Dresnok says it was voluntary, which I'm not sure is that much better. He speaks of cruelty from their North Korean guards; the most Dresnok seems willing to acknowledge is that they were supervised and tested for loyalty. I'd have to read the book Jenkins wrote after he got out to be sure, but I suspect not even he knew the full extent of how unpleasant North Korea can be. Even if Dresnok wanted to leave North Korea, I am not sure there's anywhere for him to go. That's even leaving aside the fact that the US has shown no particular interest in pardoning the defectors for their desertion; Jenkins served time, albeit less than a month, in confinement when he finally left North Korea. Certainly a man who defected to North Korea, deserting from the military in the process, could not expect to be welcomed back to Richmond with open arms. I'm not sure Dresnok is a communist, but I'm not sure he cares much about any ideology at all. He is shown fishing, and one of the old men who fishes alongside him observes that he does not seem to like it very much. The idea seems to astonish him; he doesn't ever seem to have considered whether he likes fishing or not. It's an odd moment, but it also seems to sum up quite a lot about this man. He is proud that, as "Arthur," he doesn't need to buy a license like the others do. However, he doesn't seem to get pleasure out of it, either. All that matters is that he is special. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting documentary. Still can't decide if Dresnok is likeable or not. Wonder who is really telling the truth. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Crossing the Line

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis In this documentary, American Pfc. James Dresnok, on duty in Korea in 1962, walks across the border to the north and becomes one of four western defectors. Used as a propaganda tool by the communist government, Dresnok's motives are never political or made entirely clear. During a court martial by the U.S., Dresnok does little to defend his actions and remains in North Korea. Marrying a Romanian woman, then later a Korean with whom he has children, Dresnok finds an odd peace in his new country.
Director
Daniel Gordon
Producer
Daniel Gordon, Nicholas Bonner
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 25, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$9.3K
Runtime
1h 31m
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