The Juche Idea

Jim Finn's "The Juche Idea" is an uproarious and provocative deconstruction of North Korean propaganda and philosophy. Mixing together eye-popping archival footage with deadpan re-enactments, Finn has created a complex docu-fiction that is equally thought-provoking and entertaining. Translated as self-reliance, "Juche" (CHOO-chay) is a hybrid of Confucian and Stalinist thought that Kim Jong-il adapted from his father and applied to the entire culture. In the Juche Idea, a sympathetic South Korean film- maker visits a North Korean artist's colony to bring Juche ideas into the 21st century. She ends up producing hilariously stilted shorts, including a nonsensical sci-fi story and the enigmatic "Dentures of Imperialism" inspired by the true story of how a South Korean director was kidnapped in the 70s to invigorate the North's movie industry, the Juche Idea is both sardonic satire and historical excavation, an exuberant collage that reveals the absurdity at the heart of Kim- Jong-il's regime.