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Carole Mikita ReportingThe governments of America and North Korea glare at one another much as they did more than forty years ago when the last U.S. serviceman defected to that country. His life is the subject of a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
What these British filmmakers were able to accomplish is amazing. They traveled to North Korea four years ago to make a sports documentary about a soccer, or as they call it, 'football' team. With that success came access to Comrade Joe in their latest film titled "Crossing the Line".
In 1962, a US soldier sent to guard the peace in South Korea undertook an extraordinary journey. At the height of the Cold War he deserted his unit, walked across the most heavily-fortified area on earth and defected to an alien communist state, North Korea.
For decades neither country admitted his existence or the three other soldiers who followed him, but a British documentary team recently discovered the truth and approached the North Korean government.
Daniel Gordon, Dir., Prod., "Crossing the Line": "We were like, can we actually film them? And the Koreans said, ‘No, impossible.' And so we said, ‘No, that's probably possible.'"
They gained unprecedented access to former Private First Class James Joseph Dresnok of Virginia.
Nicholas Bonner: "He didn't really remember about the landing on the moon, didn't know about the Cuban missile crisis. And you've got sort of an old Virginian language coming through."
The North Koreans turned Dresnok into a movie star, playing 'the evil American' in propaganda films. The Brits say they developed a trust with him and a government most of the world can't even talk to.
Nicholas Bonner: "One chap turned around and said, ‘you've got to understand, nobody, not even us Koreans, are seeing what you're seeing here.' that's when we realized 'bloody hell' this is quite a story we've got."
Dresnok married a Romanian woman and James is one of their sons. He is a college student and he does not wish to be a soldier, rather a peacemaker.
James Dresnok: "I start to learn English to become a diplomat. I would like to make the world which has no war at all and no terror at all."
"Crossing the Line" has two more screenings, tomorrow night in Park City at the Holiday Village Cinema and Thursday evening in Salt Lake at the Broadway Centre.
