Shin Dong-Huyk was born on November 19, 1983 as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp. He was a child of two prisoners who had been married by order of the wardens. He spent his entire childhood and youth in Camp 14, in fact a death camp. He was forced to labor since he was six years old and suffered from hunger, beatings and torture, always at the mercy of the wardens. He knew nothing about the world outside the barbed-wire fences. At the age of 23, with the help of an older prisoner, he managed to escape. For months he traveled through North Korea and China and finally to South Korea, where he encountered a world completely strange to him.
Direction
Wiese pairs testimony with stark animations — refusal to sensationalize suffering.
Writing
Shin's flat affect describing atrocities hits harder than any dramatic score could.
Director
Marc Wiese
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shin was the first person born in a North Korean prison camp to ever escape and tell his story. His body still carries burn scars from torture.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
US
