People think they know the story of the DPRK. We've seen the memes, the military parades, and the Team America puppets. But honestly, most western media just scratches the surface of the psychological obsession at the heart of the Kim dynasty. That’s why the Kim movie—specifically the 2024 documentary Kim’s Video and the broader cinematic legacy left by Kim Jong-il—is so weirdly fascinating. It isn't just a film about a dictator; it’s a film about how movies can be used as weapons of mass manipulation and personal ego.
Kim Jong-il was obsessed with cinema. Totally hooked. He reportedly had a personal library of over 20,000 films, ranging from Rambo to Friday the 13th. He didn't just watch them; he studied them like a general studying a battlefield. He believed that if he could master the art of the motion picture, he could master the hearts of his people. This wasn't some hobby. It was state policy.
The Pulgasari Incident: When the Kim Movie Got Weird
Most people don't realize the lengths Kim went to for his "art." In 1978, he literally orchestrated the kidnapping of South Korea’s most famous director, Shin Sang-ok, and his ex-wife, actress Choi Eun-hee. He wanted them to build a North Korean film industry from scratch. It’s one of the most insane true stories in history. For years, they were held captive, eventually forced to make movies for the regime.
The most famous result? Pulgasari.
It’s basically a North Korean Godzilla. The plot involves a giant metal-eating monster that helps peasants overthrow a corrupt king. It’s clunky, it’s bizarre, and it represents the peak of the Kim movie obsession. Kim Jong-il wanted to prove that his country could produce a blockbuster that rivaled anything coming out of Hollywood or Japan. He even hired the Japanese team behind Godzilla to handle the special effects, though they reportedly had no idea they were working for North Korea at the time.
Shin and Choi eventually escaped during a trip to Vienna in 1986, but the films remain. They are artifacts of a very specific, very dangerous kind of cinephilia. If you watch Pulgasari today, you aren't just watching a B-movie; you're watching the manifestation of a dictator's fever dream.
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Why Kim’s Video (2024) Changed the Narrative
If you’re looking for the most recent entry in this saga, you have to talk about Kim's Video. Released recently to critical acclaim at festivals like Sundance, this documentary dives into the lost archive of Yongman Kim.
Mr. Kim owned a legendary video rental store in New York City. He had a collection of 55,000 rare, bootleg, and underground films. When the store closed, the collection ended up in Salemi, Sicily, under bizarre circumstances involving local politics and neglect. The filmmakers behind the Kim movie documentary basically go on a heist mission to "rescue" the films.
It sounds like a plot from a movie, right?
The irony isn't lost on anyone. While one Kim (Jong-il) was kidnapping directors to make movies, another Kim (Yongman) was curating the world’s most important film archive, only for it to be "kidnapped" by a small Italian town. It highlights a universal truth: we are all obsessed with the image. Whether it’s a propaganda film in Pyongyang or a VHS tape of an obscure French noir in a basement in Queens, movies hold a power that politics can’t quite touch.
The Aesthetics of Juche Cinema
North Korean films follow a very strict philosophy called Juche. It’s all about self-reliance. In a Kim movie, the hero is never just an individual; they are a representative of the collective. There is always a moment of realization where the protagonist understands that their loyalty to the Great Leader is the only way to achieve happiness.
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- Characters are often flat but intensely emotional.
- The cinematography uses "The Speed of the Chollima," a fast-paced editing style meant to inspire workers.
- The villains are almost always caricatures of foreign imperialists or greedy landlords.
It’s easy to laugh at the hammy acting, but you’ve gotta understand the context. For the North Korean audience, these weren't just movies. They were the only windows into a world of storytelling. Kim Jong-il even wrote a treatise called On the Art of the Cinema. He took this stuff seriously. He argued that cinema was the most powerful tool for "human transformation."
The Modern Lens: Is the Kim Movie Still Relevant?
You might wonder why we still care about this in 2026. With TikTok, AI-generated videos, and streaming services, the idea of a dictator-controlled film industry feels like a relic of the 20th century. But look at how modern regimes use social media. It’s the same playbook, just different tech.
The Kim movie legacy shows us how easy it is to blur the line between reality and fiction. When Kim Jong-un appears on state TV, the production values are noticeably higher than they were twenty years ago. The slow-motion walks, the dramatic scores, the leather jackets—it’s all "cinema." They are still using the lessons Kim Jong-il learned from his 20,000-movie library.
How to Actually Watch These Films
Finding these movies isn't always easy. You can’t just hop on Netflix and search for North Korean Kaiju films.
- The Criterion Channel occasionally hosts "Kim’s Video" related content or documentaries on Shin Sang-ok.
- YouTube has several low-res uploads of Pulgasari and The Flower Girl.
- Film Festivals are your best bet for seeing the 2024 Kim's Video documentary, which is currently making rounds in boutique cinemas and digital rentals.
It's worth the effort. Watching a Kim movie—whether it's the documentary about the New York archive or the propaganda films from the North—gives you a perspective on the power of the moving image that you just can't get anywhere else. It’s a reminder that movies aren't just entertainment. They are how we define who we are, and sometimes, how we try to control who others are.
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What Most People Get Wrong About Kim’s Cinematic Influence
People think Kim Jong-il just liked movies because he was bored. That’s a mistake. He liked movies because he was a master of branding. Long before "personal branding" was a buzzword in Silicon Valley, Kim was crafting a narrative for himself that was larger than life. He understood that a leader isn't just a person; they are a character.
He used the Kim movie machine to turn himself into a mythical figure.
Take the film The Flower Girl. It’s considered one of the "Five Great Revolutionary Operas" adapted into film. It’s incredibly tragic, designed to make the audience weep. Why? Because if you can control someone's emotions, you can control their thoughts. The movie wasn't meant to be "good" in a Western sense. It was meant to be effective.
Actionable Next Steps for Film Buffs
If you want to dive deeper into this rabbit hole, don't just stop at reading articles.
- Read "A Kim Jong-Il Production" by Paul Fischer. It’s the definitive book on the kidnapping of Shin Sang-ok and the North Korean film industry. It reads like a thriller.
- Search for "The Lovers and the Despot." This is a 2016 documentary that features actual recordings of Kim Jong-il talking to the kidnapped director. Hearing his voice—rarely heard by the outside world—talking about film theory is chilling.
- Track down "Kim’s Video" (2024). If it’s playing at a local indie theater or available for VOD, watch it. It’s a love letter to the physical medium of film and a wild mystery story.
- Compare and Contrast. Watch a modern North Korean "blockbuster" (you can find clips on the DPRK’s official YouTube channels) and compare it to a 1980s Kim movie. You’ll see exactly how the propaganda has evolved into a slicker, more modern format.
The story of cinema and the Kim dynasty is far from over. As long as there is a screen and an audience, there will be people trying to use that space to rewrite history. Understanding how it was done in the past is the only way to recognize when it's happening right now.