If Daniel Gordon made films that didn't take place in North Korea, we'd probably never notice them. His often tedious, straightforward style seems to fit in with North Korea's propagandistic notions of what makes a good film. Gordon's films are watchable only because he has incredible access to one of the most closed societies in the world. People are fascinated by North Korea and will watch almost anything that comes out of there if only to learn more about what makes the place tick. "A State of Mind" is a mediocre film about what it means to be loyal to Kim Jong Il and Gordon merely tells it like it is which is commendable. But Gordon's use of voice-over and his very sedentary style of filming bog the film down. His almost-exclusive access to North Koreans' daily life will give him a niche for years to come or at least until the North Korean government collapses. One also wonders, however, if Gordon might one day be accused of being the Leni Riefenstahl of North Korean film-making. Riefenstahl was the infamous filmmaker who made propaganda films for Adolf Hitler. Her most famous one is titled, "Triumph of the Will" and, after WWII until she died just a few years ago, she was forced to deal with the legacy of having propped up a leader who is about the closest thing to the devil the world has ever seen. Gordon's closeknit ties to the North Korean regime and his attempts to portray North Korea as a normal country with people who are healthy and happy could land him in hot water someday especially since rumours now swirl about death camps in the so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and there is absolutely no doubt that labor camps for political prisoners already exist.
Review of A State of Mind
