The Lovers and the Despot

Studio: Magnolia
Directed by Robert Cannan and Ross Adam

Sep 22, 2016 By Julia Bembenek Web Exclusive

A film star is kidnapped! A director disappears mysteriously! Reunited by an evil overlord who forces them to make films to suit his will and whims! The story told in The Lovers and the Despot would be at home in a 1950s pulp film, so the fact that it’s a documentary becomes even more intriguing. The film star is Choi Eun-Hee, and the director is Shin San-Ok. Together the two were luminaries in the 1960s South Korean film industry as well as husband and wife through the mid-70s. Though the two split up and their careers declined, North Korean leader and film nerd Kim Jong-Il was still watching. In 1978, he deployed agents to abduct Choi and Shin and take them to North Korea with the aim of bringing the national cinema to international attention. Entrapped, the two filmmakers had no choice but to comply, eventually finding a way to parlay the relative creative freedom the star-struck dictator allowed them into an escape plan.

It’s a riveting story, and one that has surfaced through multiple venues in recent years (most notably on a 2015 episode of This American Life.) Directors Rob Cannan and Ross Adam have the advantage of the cinematic medium here, however, and their use of clips from Choi and Shin’s films to augment the narration is an inspired idea. Not only do these clips lend a stylistic flair, they also serve to illustrate the impressive talents of Choi and Shin and make it evident why Kim Jong-Il was so interested in forcibly employing them. The long-form narrative also allows time for a more considered exploration of many aspects of the key events and players in this story, featuring interviews from political scholars, ex-intelligence agents, and Choi herself. Towards the end of the film, some momentum is lost as the denouement plays out in a relatively basic expository style relying on text cards, photographs, and talking head interviews, but overall The Lovers and the Despot presents a dynamic telling of a fascinating interlude in international politics and film history.

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