The director of this documentary on North Korea, Dan Gordon, came to Harvard to speak yesterday. Hands down, one of the best presentations I have seen here- including classes! It was fascinating to learn how he gained unprecedented access to this secluded country, and about the relationships he formed with North Koreans.
One of the most incredible things I have noticed, from this talk as well as another one given by the past tutor of Kim Il Sung’s family who visited Harvard in the fall, is that with practically no television and definitely no internet, these people have an incredible capacity to entertain each other: to tell stories, sing, dance, to be very present with each other. And they have wonderful senses of humor! They joke even about the most serious things. That’s one thing, maybe the only, that my anti-modernist sensibility dreams about- this capacity to be so human, and to make life worth it for one another.
