She’s only eight years old, but Zin-Mi knows a lot about her homeland. It is, she says, “the land of the rising sun” and “the most beautiful country.” Of course, North Korea is the only place Zin-Mi has ever seen, and the only place she’s ever likely to see.
Shot during two visits over a year, Under the Sun chronicles Zin-Mi’s preparations to become a member of the Children’s Union, a group in the tradition of the USSR’s Young Pioneers. The uniformed tykes wear red scarves, and present red flowers to dignitaries weighed down by medals that cover their jackets. The kids also listen to endless lessons, presented by both young schoolteachers and elderly war veterans, about how the Kim dynasty defeated Japanese imperialists and American “cowards.”
At first, Russian director Vitaly Mansky presents Zin-Mi and her equally earnest parents without comment. But then, during a family dinner, the filmmaker offers multiple takes of the scene. He shows the men who interrupt to coach the three players on their performances and tell them just what to say about the virtues of kimchi: It prevents cancer and enhances longevity, the handlers insist, and the girl and her parents dutifully repeat those claims.
Under the Sun is a documentary about the making of a “documentary” — a government-sanctioned propaganda film in which ordinary North Koreans play fictional roles. Mansky doesn’t explain what he originally agreed to do or exactly how he wound up making something quite different. But he does include an occasional on-screen note about some of the North Korean subterfuge.