Great film with some lack of introspection

When I first heard that we were going to watch a film about the Chosun-citizens of Japan I was quite excited. While I was in Korea I was spent a portion of a class studying these groups and how they work. At great length we discussed the Koreans and why they had not returned to South Korea, but for some reason I felt that the professor was avoiding to talk about the difference between North Korean and South Korean sentiments within the Chosun group. As a result I was pleasantly surprised that this film gave a real in-depth view of how this North Korean school and community in Japan came about and how it functions.

The film does a really good job at being able to document the life and life choices of this repressed and marginalized minority group in Japan. The filmmaker is able to get close to both the students, the teachers and the community around the school and it makes for a very rich story in terms emotional detail. Especially the story of the older woman who talks about how the school came about and the neglect and repression by the Japanese government was very moving.  

The one thing that kind of annoyed me is that the filmmaker chooses not to challenge or question some of the inherent controversies surrounding the school but leaves the audience with more questions than answers. Especially was this true with regards to the student’s trip to North Korea and the affiliation with North Korea. I do understand that the filmmaker is a former student at the school and that he did want to portray his school in the best light, but I think both the school and the film would have made a better case if the student also discussed some of the problems with the North Korean regime and showed some knowledge of the human rights violations that are happening in the country. As the children have this glorified picture of North Korea and it would have been interesting to hear their responses to it.

Nevertheless, this film is a great contribution to increasing the knowledge about the Chosun-citizens of Japan.