Crossing the Line (2006 film)

Crossing the Line (Korean: 푸른 눈의 평양시민, A Blue-Eyed Pyongyang Citizen in North Korea) is a 2006 British documentary film by Daniel Gordon and Nicholas Bonner.

The film is about a former U.S. Army soldier, James J. Dresnok, who defected to North Korea on August 15, 1962. The film was directed and produced by British filmmakers Daniel Gordon and Nicholas Bonner, and was shown at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which was narrated by actor Christian Slater, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the festival.

The film was first screened in 2007 on the BBC. The film centred around Dresnok's history, highlighting his insecurity with America, particularly his desertion in 1962 to the DPRK. It also showed Dresnok in the present day, around Pyongyang (where he now lives), and interacting with his North Korean friends. Dresnok spoke exclusively to the filmmakers about his feelings about his childhood, his desertion from the United States Army, living in a country completely foreign and even hostile to his own, and his wife and children.

Dresnok is also shown with fellow defectors, including Charles Robert Jenkins, who actually returned to Japan to be with his wife, Hitomi Soga (a victim of kidnap by the North Koreans), while filming was taking place. During the height of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Jenkins faced extradition to the U.S. for charges of desertion. He could have been executed for the crime, but ultimately received only 30 days jail time. Dresnok felt hurt and angry at Jenkins, and rebuffed allegations of physical abuse leveled against Dresnok and the North Korean regime by Jenkins who had been quoted in the press as making such allegations.

Towards the end of the film, a North Korean doctor discloses to the BBC that Dresnok is in failing health, mainly due to heavy drinking and smoking.

See also

• List of documentary films about North Korea

External links

• Crossing the Line at the Internet Movie Database