Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival
"Beyond Utopia" is a documentary that follows families as they attempt to escape oppression, revealing a world most of us have never seen. This one won the Audience Award for U. S. Documentary Competition and I managed to get tickets to this one at the last minute and this was surprisingly pretty great.
The concept is something we have heard before but the film does a good job and exploring the dystopia of North Korea and explores political aspects that are genuinely uncomfortable to watch. Throughout, the film has great presentation, the interviews from the participants were interesting to listen as they provide a good insight of their escapes and experiences with North Korea. The direction was pretty good as the film maintains a steadily tone and good structure.
There are scenes of video footage in North Korea prisons or camps that were really difficult to watch and makes the stomach feel pretty uncomfortable to witness. Never once felt bored when watching this film. I can see why it won the awards.
Rating: A+
