Posted By: Matthew David Williams
Posted On: January 3, 2016
My name is Matthew Williams. This past fall (2015) I watched Daniel Gordon’s A State of Mind for my NCTA seminar class at the University of Pittsburgh. Before I get into my review I should provide a little background about me so that the perspective from which I am reviewing this documentary is fully apparent - I am a ninth-grade World History I teacher at an all-girls Catholic high school in western Pennsylvania. At my school, World History I covers the contributions of global mankind from the Stone Age to approximately 1000 CE, with a major focus on the original river valley civilizations and some of the civilizations that sprang up near these origins, including Greece and Japan. Teaching at a single-ed private institution, I am fully aware my review and my ideas for how to utilize this material are somewhat different from many other educators. That said, hopefully my recommendations are still useful.
Gordon’s A State of Mind is a British documentary following two elite teenage gymnastic dancers as they prepare to perform in the Mass Games – North Korea’s state-sponsored celebration of socialist ideals and veneration of the deceased Kim Il Sun and his son, leader of North Korea at the time of filming, Kim Jong Il. Both the subjects are female; one is eleven years old and the other thirteen. Most of the action is set in the girls’ homes and schools in Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea.
Ultimately, the documentary strives to introduce ‘Westerners’ to the North Korean people and the hybrid communist/Asian values of the state. This is attempted primarily though interview with the girls and scenes of them interacting at home and at school, but also by cutting away from the girls to delve into Korea’s history since the Korean War and provide some imagery and explanation of past Mass Games. A State of Mind does a great job of explaining the North Korean communist philosophy. Its presentation of the people of North Korea and their daily lives, however, is highly limited and deceiving. In all, A State of Mind is a middle of the road and slightly outdated film that could be useful in the classroom if shown with care.
A State of Mind’s best asset is that it is a relevant and engaging source for introducing ideas like totalitarianism, communism, or, to a lesser degree, Asian philosophies to middle school or high school students – the characters are highly relatable, especially to females, since they are seen balancing school work with extracurriculars, arguing with parents, and generally experiencing the angst of growing up. It is also an excellent, challenging opportunity for students to discuss bias and perspective in film, since it is full of such issues. I strongly believe this is a discussion that must take place regardless of why you show the film or how much you choose to show.
What Gordon’s documentary benefits from most - its outwardly neutral coverage of North Korea and its people - is also one of its biggest detractors. At no point in the film does Gordon or any of his subjects make any negative statements or value judgments about North Korea. And, while this lack of criticism is admirable at first glance, one must keep a few things in mind. First, that Gordon’s film won two awards at the 2004 Pyongyang International Film Festival. And second, the focus of the film is two girls in an elite dance company living in relatively privileged sections of the capital city of an otherwise agrarian and impoverished nation. Consequently, a very biased, very unrepresentative picture of North Korea is being presented and this must be addressed in the classroom.
One final issue I had with the documentary, and this is more stylistic but still related to the films educative impact, is the closing sequence. The narrative of A State of Mind builds towards the ultimate performance by the two girls at the Mass Games. Once the games have arrived, however, Gordon decides to show only brief 3-4 second cut scenes of the girls instead of even one brief contiguous portion. What is more, the Korean music the girls are actually dancing to has been overdubbed for the film by very dated English techno/electronic music. The result is almost comical and greatly diminishes the possible effect of the film’s climax.