"The absurd, harrowing, and true story" of South Korean cinema stars kidnapped by Kim Jong-Il and forced to make movies before their daring escape (Esquire.com). Before becoming the world's most notorious dictator, Kim Jong-Il ran North Korea's Ministry for Propaganda and its film studios. Underwhelmed by the talent pool available to him, he took drastic steps, ordering the kidnapping of Choi Eun-Hee (Madam Choi)—South Korea's most famous actress—and her ex-husband Shin Sang-Ok, the country's most famous filmmaker. When Madam Choi vanished, Shin went to Hong Kong to investigate—where he, too, was abducted. While Choi lived in isolated luxury, Choi was sent to a prison camp and "re-educated." When the couple was reunited, it was announced that they would remarry and act as the Dear Leader's film advisors. Together they made seven films, gaining Kim Jong-Il's trust in the process. While pretending to research a film in Vienna, they flee to the US embassy and are swept to safety. A nonfiction thriller packed with tension, passion, and politics, A Kim Jong-Il Production offers a rare glimpse into a secretive world, illuminating a fascinating chapter of North Korea's history that helps explain how it became the hermetically sealed, intensely stage-managed country it is today.

独裁者の歪んだ映画愛が現実を侵食し、国家を舞台に変えた「事実は小説より奇なり」を地で行く傑作です。著者は誘拐劇の枠を超え、体制の本質を演出された虚構として鮮やかに解剖します。芸術の創造性と洗脳という狂気の相克は、どのミステリーよりも強烈な緊張感を放っています。 極限下でスターたちが尊厳を懸けて挑む心理戦と脱出への渇望は、痛切なまでに熱烈です。これは、個人の意志が巨大な支配をいかに凌駕するかを問う魂の解放の物語。独裁者が作り上げた歪な世界の恐怖と、そこから抜け出そうとする人間の底力に、読者は間違いなく圧倒されるでしょう。