Crossing the Line
Oct 16, 2006 | IMDB 7.2
94 min Watch NowDocumentary
In 1962, a U.S. soldier sent to guard the peace in South Korea deserted his unit, walked across the most heavily fortified area on earth and defected to the Cold War enemy, the communist state of North Korea. He became a star of the North Korean propaganda machine, but then disappeared from the face of the earth. Now, after 45 years, the story of James Dresnok, the last American defector in North Korea, is being told for the first time. Crossing the Line follows Dresnok as he recalls his childhood, desertion, and life in the DPRK.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Korea: The Never-Ending War
North Korea: Inside The Mind of a Dictator
A State of Mind
The Land of Frogs
The Front Line of Ideology
Homes Apart: Korea
The Faces of North Korea
Shadow Flowers
Kimjongilia
The Kidnapped Filmmakers of North Korea
An Inconvenient Border: Where China Meets North Korea
Hana, dul, sed
Assassins
A Postcard from Pyongyang
PAN MUN JOM, You have never seen
Inside North Korea
North Korea: A Day in the Life
Pyongyang in Four Seasons
The Fantastic
Cinema in the land of comrade Kim
SIMILAR MOVIES
Korea: The Never-Ending War
IMDB 7.8 | Apr , 2019
Shedding new light on a geopolitical hot spot, the film — written and produced by John Maggio and narrated by Korean-American actor John Cho — confronts the myth of the “Forgotten War,” documenting the post-1953 conflict and global consequences.North Korea: Inside The Mind of a Dictator
IMDB 6.1 | Jan , 2021
A journey through Kim Jong Un’s past and present to understand the man and the myth who holds North Korea’s uncertain future in his hands.A State of Mind
IMDB 7.9 | Aug , 2005
Two young North Korean gymnasts prepare for an unprecedented competition in this documentary that offers a rare look into the communist society and the daily lives of North Korean families. For more than eight months, film crews follow 13-year-old Pak Hyon Sun and 11-year-old Kim Song Yun and their families as the girls train for the Mass Games, a spectacular nationalist celebration.The Land of Frogs
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2023
The story revolves around an elderly farmer tending her fields on the border between the two Koreas. Living on the other side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), she struggles to reclaim the land that was taken from her by the local government. The aged protagonist has already experienced the heartache of losing her homeland to the ravages of war. A poignant memory from seventy years ago resurfaces - during the Korean War, American soldiers suddenly entered her village. The subsequent division of the Korean peninsula and the course of development took away everything she held dear.The Front Line of Ideology
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2024
One year after the Korean War, the conflict had reached a stalemate. The two opposing forces began to search for a way to end the grueling war of attrition, eventually settling on a modest village called ‘Pan Mun Jom’ near Gaeseong as the designated site for negotiations. Despite initial hopes for a quick resolution, the negotiating parties encountered obstacles that prevented an agreement. Disputes over the military demarcation line and the repatriation of prisoners of war thwarted their efforts. The film peels back the layers to reveal the untold story of Pan Mun Jom, shedding light on a history that has remained hidden until now.Homes Apart: Korea
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1991
They speak the same language, share a similar culture and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early 90s, as the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Cold War, Koreans remain separated between North and South, fearing the threat of mutual destruction. Beginning with one man's journey to reunite with his sister in North Korea, filmmakers Takagi and Choy reveal the personal, social and political dimensions of one of the last divided nations on earth. The film was also the first US project to get permission to film in both South & North Korea.The Faces of North Korea
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2025
This is a 25-minutes piece about the DPRK (North Korea), a country Vltchek visited and fell in love with. Vltchek goes against the hegemonic western propaganda that is perpetuated towards DPRK and their people, showing the beauty that resides in the country.Shadow Flowers
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2021
Ryun-hee Kim, a North Korean housewife, was forced to come to South Korea and became its citizen against her will. As her seven years of struggle to go back to her family in North Korea continues, the political absurdity hinders her journey back to her loved ones. The life of her family in the North goes on in emptiness, and she fears that she might become someone, like a shadow, who exists only in the fading memory of her family.Kimjongilia
IMDB 6.2 | Jan , 2009
The first film to fully expose the humanitarian crisis of North Korea, this stylish, deeply moving documentary is centered around astonishing interviews with survivors of North Korea's vast and largely hidden prison camps, and interspersed with archival footage of North Korean propoganda films and original art performances.The Kidnapped Filmmakers of North Korea
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2022
In 1978, two South Korean filmmakers--Director Shin Sang-ok and his star actress and ex-wife, Choi Eun-hee--were abducted and smuggled into North Korea in order to revolutionize the country's dying film industry.An Inconvenient Border: Where China Meets North Korea
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2017
Bob Woodruff’s daring 880-mile journey along the China-North Korea border examines the delicate relationship between the two countries and the United States.Hana, dul, sed
IMDB 4.8 | Oct , 2009
Assassins
IMDB 6.8 | Aug , 2021
True crime meets global spy thriller in this gripping account of the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of the North Korean leader. The film follows the trial of the two female assassins, probing the question: were the women trained killers or innocent pawns of North Korea?A Postcard from Pyongyang
IMDB 5.5 | Sep , 2019
"A Postcard from Pyongyang" is a journey into a deeply enigmatic and completely isolated country that keeps the world in suspense: North Korea. Friends Gregor Möller, Philip Kist and Anne Lewald visit in 2013 and 2017 and do what is strictly forbidden and for which they might have ended up in a forced labor camp: even though accompanied by state watchers, they secretly film their travels, accompanied by state watchdogs. We get an extraordinary insight into one of the most closed societies in the world and experience the 'beautiful new world' as the state propaganda machinery displays it.PAN MUN JOM, You have never seen
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2021
In July 1951, all the sides to the Korean War sought a ceasefire. For a ceasefire, the Allied and Communist forces began to hold talks at Naebongjang, located northeast of Kaesong. However, they only sharply opposed each other and didn't make progress in the negotiation. In October 1951, the two sides met again in the small village of Neolmun-ri below Gaeseong. They set up tents there to negotiate and named the place Panmunjom. The name Panmunjeom is a combination word of Panmun, meaning Neulmun-ri, and “Jom,” of an inn.Inside North Korea
IMDB 7.1 | Mar , 2006
Join National Geographic's Lisa Ling as she captures a rare look inside North Korea - something few Americans have ever been able to do. Posing as an undercover medical coordinator and closely guarded throughout her trip, Lisa moves inside the most isolated nation in the world, encountering a society completely dominated by government and dictatorship. Glimpse life inside North Korea as you've never seen before with personal accounts and powerful footage. Witness first-hand efforts by humanitarians and the challenges they face from the rogue regime.North Korea: A Day in the Life
IMDB 6.5 | Jan , 2004
If the cityscapes and patriotic anthems of this film seem a far cry from the bleak landscape of Seoul Train, that's no accident. Dutch filmmaker Pieter Fleury, with the full permission and cooperation of the North Korean government, created this propaganda film that gives us a glimpse of a day in the life of one of the world's most enigmatic societies. A Day in the Life, largely dictated by the North Korean film bureau, follows a typical North Korean family through their daily duties, largely dedicated to the pride in the North Korean nation of comrades and the glory of General Kim Jong Il. The film is meant to extol the success of modern North Korea. But does it? With straight footage and a total absence of narration, viewers may interpret Fleury's film in a slightly different manner than intendedPyongyang in Four Seasons
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1994
Pyongyang, a city full of happy people and flowers. A city of factories with smiling seamstresses and welders of locomotives. A city of power plants the illuminate department stores offering the fruits of the labour of its workers and peasants. Everybody spends their free time in sports palaces with synchronized swimming and white doves, or in the palace of cultures, where young pioneers play the accordion. Old men and women go on walks and young lovers rent boats by the river, above which arches a rainbow, a symbol of happiness and contentment.The Fantastic
IMDB 6 | Oct , 2021
In Maija Blåfield’s documentary, eight former North Koreans talk about what it was like to watch illegal films in a closed society. In addition to the 'waste videos', South Korean films were also smuggled into the country via China.Cinema in the land of comrade Kim
IMDB 10 | Oct , 2024
The love of Kim Jong Il, the former dictator of North Korea, for cinema and his adventures, including the kidnapping of a director.