With typically deadpan poise, Vitaly Mansky takes an unprecedented peek behind the curtain of North Korean totalitarianism in this breathtaking exposé. Sneaking unapproved footage past their government minders, the filmmakers capture vanishingly rare evidence of a meticulously stage-managed society.

Using his own fractious family as a synecdoche for national divisions and allegiances, Vitaly Mansky rakes through deeply felt personal histories with an anthropologist’s sharp-eyed detachment. This haunting time capsule—showing a nation on the brink of emergency—only grows in relevance.