The Red Chapel

The Danish journalist Mads Brügger travels to North Korea with two Danish comedians who were adopted from South Korea. The official reason is cultural exchange: they will perform as a small theatre troupe. The real purpose is to film the regime from inside. One of the comedians, Jacob Nossell, has spastic paralysis, and Brügger uses his presence to bring out how the regime looks at disabled people. The film won best foreign documentary at Sundance in 2010. But its method was argued over, and the film has that argument inside itself: on camera, Nossell asks Brügger whether he has any moral scruples, and Brügger says he has none where North Korea is concerned. Brügger is steering not only his hosts but the two young men with him. Nossell growing steadily more uncomfortable becomes the conscience of the film.