February catch - documentaries

In February, I finished (not read, as one of them I had begun a long time ago...) six books and watched six films, half of them documentaries. Definitely not a very productive month. The book situation would be satisfactory but unfortunately, five out of six were very easy-reading travel books. I will start the review project with documentaries.

National Geographic: Inside North Korea (2006) was appalling. One thing is to know those things, another matter is to experience them visually, if only through TV-screen. Or do we actually know those things? Does an average citizen of the western, well-being civilization know what is going on in these corners of the world? It is easier for me to relate to some extent because of the historical legacy my country carries, but what about Finns? Americans? French? Canadians? Norwegians? Brits? Hollanders?
The documentary shows a team of journalists sneaking into North Korea under the disguise of a medical project. They use hidden cameras and get to interview some local citizens.
People are totally brainwashed.
There are probably those, who oppose inside and play along because anything else would mean horrible things (to you and your family) (an example of a former military worker, a young man who managed to escape across the border and does not want to [or maybe is not able to] tell what happened to his family as a consequence of his escape), and even more horrific, there are probably those whose brains resemble to some bath sponges by now and for whom life in North Korea is the life. There is no other life, nothing to compare to.

Recommendation to watch: whenever you feel like whining over weather, taxes, bf/gf being a bitch, lack of good yoghurt in shop, et cetera.

A quite different portion of horror - Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary Super Size Me. I'm using an alternate poster here because the original one looks too yucky to publish in my otherwise aesthetically-pleasing blog :p It was a rewatch for me and definitely, things have changed since 2004. McDonald's is now adding energy values to its foods, for example (of course, claiming, that this move had nothing to do with the beforementioned film :p).
It's still fun seeing a healthy American with normal physical measurements struggling with junk food three times a day for 3+ weeks. I won't get into "junk food is bad for you", everyone knows that and majority of people still eat it. Not every day, of course, except that John Lennon lookalike from the documentary who ate two Big Mac's daily. For years. (But I don't think he ever took fries and drink with his meal, so that may explain how he is still alive and not in gigantic proportions. Then again, maybe he works at some physically demanding job? That was left unspecified, if I recall.)
For us here it was interesting to see the differences of sizes in different junk food meals. I'd estimate that our large-size meal here is probably considered small in USA. Everything is bigger in the other side of the ocean, eh.
Anyway, Super Size Me can be taken as a warning, for normal people who watch it. From larger scale, it's nice if someone takes a stick and prods those big-ass corporations to question the values they cultivate, right. It might not change much, but if a documentary is well (and by that I mean adequately and objectively) made, it is pretty certain that a bunch of people gets a whole lot smarter.

Recommendation to watch: Whenever you think of getting a fast meal consisting of at least two of the following components: a greasy burger; oversalted French fries; a carbonated drink that contains 1+ teaspoons of sugar (or any amount of artificial sweeteners). Or simply when you want to see what happened to Mr Spurlock by the end of those 3+ weeks. Or if you want to learn how to make your girlfriend unhappy by certain selection of food :)

Disko ja tuumasõda (Disco and Atomic War) (2009) is a film by Estonian film-makers and it tells the story of pop culture conquerring Soviet Union. That's it, to put it shortly.
In the edge of the collapse of the Soviet monster, North-Estonians (that's where Tallinners live) were blessed with their geographical location - through the gap in the Iron Curtain, they were able to see western television programmes thanks to closeness of free Finland. Dallas, Knight Rider - the pillars of the real world, which poor southern compatriots were missing out on.
The film shows what could be in North Korea, if people there would get a taste that it is possible to live differently.

Recommendation to watch: if you are interested in this specific era/area/topic. Or if you just want to see humorous, well-shot and clever documentary from a non-English speaking country :)