I had no idea that any American defected to North Korea, and because most Americans know very little about North Korea, I jumped at the chance to see Crossing the Line. Crossing the Line is a documentary that primarily focuses on James Dresnok, the second American to defect to North Korea, who still lives there. Crossing the Line addresses defectors’ motivations for leaving US (extreme poverty, abuse and no real home life to return to) and staying in North Korea (defectors became celebrities and actors, and North Korea would not let them).
The unintentionally funny part of Crossing the Line is how upsetting it was for these American defectors to discover what it is like to be victims of racism. Even though Crossing the Line does not explicitly say that North Korea forbade them from marrying Korean women, the North Korean government did kidnap women from other countries to marry them.
Crossing the Line cleverly compares and contrasts Dresnok’s account with a defector who eventually left North Korea and wrote a tell-all book about how life in North Korea was actually awful. Of course, I must now read that book. Crossing the Line heavily suggests that Dresnok’s glowing accolades of North Korea are a function of brainwashing, self-defense against allegations of abuse and collusion, the fact that he is still living there, and that he must defend the only thing that he can rely on: rations and family.
I would highly recommend that anyone watch Crossing the Line to learn a little more about a life that we could not imagine.