North Korean Movie: The Story of a Nurse
1971, 128 mins
North Korean Movie Plot
The plot follows many of the main conventions of North Korean movies in that it has as a central figure whom the viewer may assume is unsuitable for the job they are asked to do.
In this case, it is a woman working in a dangerous and heavy job during the Korean War who is emboldened by an encounter with a character who teaches her some life lessons with his dying actions and words.
Thus emboldened, she is able to carry out her tasks with renewed vigour and determination from which she benefits by achieving the goal of Party membership.
Just how much this means to the doomed heroine is revealed by her dying wish (after sacrificing herself selflessly to save an injured and thus helpless man) which is for her membership card and fees to be sent to the Party Central Committee, a dying wish which is also replicated in the Korean Revolutionary Opera A True Daughter of the Party and clearly shows the high value these characters place on loyalty and devotion to the Party and the cause to which they have just sacrificed their life in martyrdom.
The film poster artwork is wonderful, snippets of the film told via foreground and background scenes set around the central character. This is a poster designed for the non-aligned French and English speaking countries.
From the book, Korea Film – published in 2008 by Korea Film Export & Corporation
