Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
North Korea. The last communist country in the world. Unknown, hermetic and fascinating. Formerly known as “The Hermit Kingdom” for its attempts to remain isolated, North Korea is one of the largest sources of instability as regards world peace. It also has the most militarized border in the world, and the flow of impartial information, both going in and out, is practically non-existent. As the recent Sony-leaks has shown, it is the perfect setting for a propaganda war.
The Propaganda Game is a genuinely intriguing documentary that benefits enormously from its rare access to North Korea, allowing filmmaker Álvaro Longoria to capture footage of Pyongyang and interact with officials in ways few Western documentarians have managed. The film's central conceit — examining propaganda on both sides of the equation, including Western media's own narratives about the DPRK — gives it a thoughtful meta-layer that elevates it above typical North Korea shock-docs. Cinematography captures the surreal, staged quality of North Korean life effectively, though it doesn't push into truly artistic territory. The documentary lacks a strong narrative arc and its ending feels inconclusive, with no satisfying resolution or revelation to cap the inquiry. The film's novelty comes from its balanced skepticism and access rather than a radical formal approach. As a documentary, 'Acting' is rated on subject presentation and interview dynamics, which are competent but unremarkable — the Spanish diplomat Alejandro Cao de Benós is a fascinating subject but the film doesn't fully exploit his contradictions.