The Kites Flying in the Sky: Run, Baby, Run

The unexpected death of bus operator 337 leads a medal-winning marathon runner — who was for a time singularly obsessed with competing and winning — to abandon her sport and succumb to a rarely seen addiction: compulsive adopting. I don't know what else to call her insatiable desire to take in any child left behind who happens to cross her path. And so what begins as a gesture of respect for a nationalistic acquaintance who works in public transit transforms into a veritable obsession as the current long-distance runner becomes mother to the biggest brood in the neighborhood. You definitely know she is not your typical do-gooder since her charitable acts include marrying the widower of her secret hero and then indoctrinating every child who comes into their care to the point that all of them — and there are many, well over a dozen — become members of the North Korean military. I kept thinking about how some churches discourage birth control because they recognize newborns as the easiest way to build the flock. But our protagonist here one-ups those bible-thumpers. She's providing a home for the homeless thereby creating an immediate debt among her adoptees. Serving their country — in uniform, no less — is what's she's exacting from each and every one of them. And frankly, it feels a bit creepy.

Is she happy? Well, who is happy. Is she respected? It sure seems so by the way everyone at the local department store is so eager to donate some article of clothing to one of her sons when she comes there looking for an out-of-stock belt. Is she exhausted? Yes. Viewed from one angle, North Korean films of self-sacrifice such as co-directors Kim Hyon-chol's and Phyo Kwang's The Kites Flying in the Sky feel like clunky admonishments towards our narcissistic society. But viewed from another angle, they can feel like the ultimate form of narcissism too since everything is done to please the Great Leader. If an entire industry devoted to hossanahing a single human being is the epitome of self-centeredness then I don't know what is. So what's worse: A culture of narcissists or the ultimate narcissist? Right now the world is doomed with a combo pack.

Flower in Snow: She Works Hard for the North Korean Won

Although it's not a sci-fi movie in any intentional sense, Kim Hyon-chol's Flower in Snow really does give you the impression of portraying an alternate, parallel universe. And it's not simply a matter of the "crazy" politics of North Korea. It's more than that. For Flower in Snow depicts a gynocentric society, a town run by women, predominantly populated by women, a place where men are few and serve mainly as damp blankets or in rarer exceptions as self-sacrificing helpmeets. The self-deprecating protagonist is a young woman who's just been promoted to run the wool factory. What does she propose? Tear the old building down, scrap the old machinery and build a new one to house new equipment? (Subtext: Down with the partriarchy!) Who knocks down the old factory? Who harvests the wood for the new one? Who works the machines? Women, of course. Who builds the lime kiln that makes so much possible? Mainly our heroine, In Sun (Sin Yong-ni), of course.

In a way, Flower in Snow feels like a rebuttal to the notion that women couldn't run the world better than men, a celebration of a culture in which women are allowed to destroy and rebuild for a better future. The hero's mother (Kim Yong Suk), although she argues for marriage, is likewise committed to the cause. The hero's fiance, after being rejected, does not become a bitter suitor. Instead he returns as an apostle who recognizes the grander vision of his love. (The only good man is a martyr!) Throughout Flower in Snow reverses many a sexist cliche while retaining one: In Sun blushes easily! And while the gushy praise for the saintly qualities of The Leader and The General — men as they are — may be interpreted as subversive to my premise, I like to think of the two leaders as substitutes for the Virgin Mary. Their deeds are outside the realm of human scope. They're saints, and as such, sexless.