Have you ever looked at a map of the Earth at night time? When you look at North Korea, it’s jarring. Unlike most countries where you can see city lights and such, North Korea is pitch black, showing the lack of general infrastructure and how poorly the population gets treated there in terms of resources. Some desperate people search for an escape from that bleak existence, a place beyond the “Utopia” of North Korea, which Madeleine Gavin’s documentary subjects are trying to find.
Beyond Utopia is the goal for a couple different people in this documentary both managed by civil rights crusader Pastor Seungeun Kim. We have the Roh Family, with 2 daughters, mom, dad, and grandma, making the treacherous new journey through China, then Vietnam, then Laos, then Thailand, where they’ll be free. We also have Soyeon Lee, a North Korean mother/defector living in South Korea hoping to spend some money to get her son out like she did years ago (and hasn’t seen him since). Pastor Kim and director Madeline Gavin navigate us through both stories in hopes everyone finds a happy ending.
“This film contains no recreations.” That one line immediately sets the stakes for Beyond Utopia. Having watched years of Frontline documentaries I was familiar with tales of North Korean defectors and hidden camera footage inside the impoverished country, including recreations of escapes across borders. But this documentary goes one step further, and literally puts a camera crew with the Roh Family and Soyeon. The highlight of the doc is the Roh’s odyssey, covertly filmed with the family as we see how an extraction from North Korea takes place. As you watch Granny forcing herself through the Laos mountain jungles or the poor girls muffling tears as they’re shushed to be quiet or they’ll be captured and returned, or Pastor Kim negotiating with greedy handlers asking for more money under threat of capture, you’re at the knife’s edge during a lot of their journey. Even during the scary moments though, there’s a level of hope inside the Roh family, as they start to see a new world of new opportunities for them grow closer and closer each day. This is juxtaposed much more drearily with Soyeon’s plight, one that is probably much more commonplace. One setback causes her to lose communication with her son, which makes the search for him much harder and more expensive, and, well, much more horrifying and emotionally wrenching as a constant reminder that this could happen at anytime to any of these scared people.
During these parallel stories, Madeline Gavin is also providing updated information about life inside North Korea so we know what all are heroes here are up against. Very public TED Talker Hyeonseo Lee fills in the gaps for audiences, explaining why all of these defectors left and what will happen if they get caught. Gavin backs this up with some of those hidden camera videos inside the country, showing the extreme poverty and staged political rallies, while also getting other courageous defectors to tell their horror stories about the culture of fear instilled in each and every NK citizen. Probably the most brutal fact to come up: if the country finds out you defected, then your entire family is subject to (potentially eternal) punishment. That pain is present on every speakers’ voice as they know their leaving is likely a death sentence for their loved ones. This pervasive mindset is most evident in the Roh family matriarch, who’s convinced that Kim Jong-Un hasn’t been lying about North Korea, and will eventually do right by his people, after all, he’s the great leader. I hope Gavin follows up with a sequel on how the months long deprogramming of defectors works.
But as of now, she’s made one of the great thrillers of 2023. Beyond Utopia is an updated reminder that those dark images of North Korea from space reflect the darkness in the leadership failures of the country, and the darkness their citizens all face because of how cutoff they are from the world at large. It’ll also hopefully help audiences put into perspective the luck of their own lives and existence, and be more appreciative of the freedoms we have a chance to enjoy that others never get the chance to experience. And candy bars. Don’t forget those, like the Roh daughters won’t ever forget.