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Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World

Libertarian Movies, Films & Documentaries

Danny From North Korea (2013)

Tagged: Escape from socialism, Pro-immigration

A 17-year-old North Korean boy makes a daring escape from his totalitarian country, and with the help of an American relief agency emigrates to America. [ Danny from North Korea credits: Dir: Adam Sjoberg/ 33 min/ Documentary/ Escape from socialism]

“The use of first-person story-telling makes you feel you are right there with Danny as he faces and survives one challenge after the next. Stories of escape from socialism almost never get told — all the more reason to watch this compelling short film.”

Meet Danny, a courageous teenager from North Korea who escaped across a highly-policed border into China in 2005.  North Korean refugees are commonly sent back by Chinese officials—to death or torture, but Danny managed to elude the authorities, and with the assistance of American aid society Liberty in North Korea, eventually reached the safety of the U.S. This touching documentary tells his story.

In the weak North Korean economy, Danny’s family was often near starvation. His mother and grandmother, who together raised him, made every sacrifice to keep him alive, but eventually his mother realized their only hope of survival was for her to escape across an ice-covered river into China and try to return with food. Incredibly, she did so successfully, but on a subsequent trip was not able to return, so young Danny decided to make the leap and followed her example.

In this film you learn something about what it’s like to live in North Korea—the brutality, the Orwellian control of words and thoughts, the starvation, and the maniacal communist leadership. And too you see (not very gruesome) reenactments of what happens to those caught trying to escape, the most likely outcome of any attempt.

Danny from North Korea is a professional production, with at times an artistic touch. The use of first-person story-telling makes you feel you are right there with Danny as he faces and survives one challenge after the next. Stories of escape from socialism almost never get told — all the more reason to watch this compelling short film. It is particularly recommended for teens.

How to See It

YouTube Video Search
Online Video Search

Links

IMDB
Liberty in North Korea (LINK), the agency that helped him escape
Wikipedia: North Korean Defectors
Book: Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia’s Underground Railroad

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About Miss Liberty

This site is a collection of films and documentaries of particular interest to libertarians (and those interested in libertarianism). It began as a book, Miss Liberty’s Guide to Film: Movies for the Libertarian Millennium, where many of the recommended films were first reviewed. The current collection has grown to now more than double the number in that original list, and it’s growing still.

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