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The Director is the Commander
Looking for respite from her crumbling marriage and determined to stop a coal seam gas mine near her Sydney home, filmmaker Anna Broinowski finds wisdom and inspiration in the strangest of places: North Korea. Guided by the late Dear Leader Kim Jong Il's manifesto The Cinema and Directing, Broinowski, in a world first, travels to Pyongyang to collaborate with North Korea's top directors, composers and movie stars to make a powerful anti-fracking propaganda film.
The Director is the Commander centres around the bizarre twenty-one day shoot Broinowski did in North Korea to make her documentary, Aim High in Creation! She meets and befriends artists and apparatchiki, defectors and loyalists, and gains a new insight into the world's most secretive regime. Her adventures are set against a parallel exploration of propaganda in general: both in its ham-fisted North Korean form and its sophisticated but no less pervasive incarnation in the corporate West.
Funny, multi-layered and utterly compelling, The Director is the Commander is a gripping account of an extraordinary journey inside a nation we can usually only see from the outside.
The Director is the Commander centres around the bizarre twenty-one day shoot Broinowski did in North Korea to make her documentary, Aim High in Creation! She meets and befriends artists and apparatchiki, defectors and loyalists, and gains a new insight into the world's most secretive regime. Her adventures are set against a parallel exploration of propaganda in general: both in its ham-fisted North Korean form and its sophisticated but no less pervasive incarnation in the corporate West.
Funny, multi-layered and utterly compelling, The Director is the Commander is a gripping account of an extraordinary journey inside a nation we can usually only see from the outside.
- GenresNonfiction
324 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 4, 2016
A valuable glimpse of the human face of North Korea. I was expecting an inner-city Sydney, holier-than-thou, hubris-filled critique of the hermit kingdom, but instead got a warm, self-deprecating and sympathetic account. It's a reminder that real people live in North Korea, and many of those lives are not as depicted in Western media. The author becomes attached to her new acquaintances and fellow filmmakers. It is 'dotty' and touching.
August 4, 2025
I listened to a podcast with Anna Broinowiski in it and thought she sounded really funny so was intrigued to read her book. Such an interesting and humanising perspective into North Korea and I appreciated Anna's distinction between people and the regime they are forced to live in. Now on to find a copy of The Gardener to watch
April 12, 2018
Marvellous. A unique insight into North Korea via its filmmakers, told with humour and compassion and honesty.
September 30, 2015
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Looking for respite from her crumbling marriage and determined to stop a coal seam gas mine near her Sydney home, filmmaker Anna Broinowski finds wisdom and inspiration in the strangest of places: North Korea. Guided by the late Dear Leader Kim Jong Il's manifesto The Cinema and Directing, Broinowski, in a world first, travels to Pyongyang to collaborate with North Korea's top directors, composers and movie stars to make a powerful anti-fracking propaganda film.
The Director is the Commander centres around the bizarre twenty-one day shoot Broinowski did in North Korea to make her documentary, Aim High in Creation! She meets and befriends artists and apparatchiki, defectors and loyalists, and gains a new insight into the world's most secretive regime. Her adventures are set against a parallel exploration of propaganda in general: both in its ham-fisted North Korean form and its sophisticated but no less pervasive incarnation in the corporate West.
Funny, multi-layered and utterly compelling, The Director is the Commander is a gripping account of an extraordinary journey inside a nation we can usually only see from the outside looking in.
This was quite an interesting story. From the description it certainly sounded like a book I would love and, to be honest, I was pretty close to loving it.
The story centres on Anna's trip to North Korea to make a documentary to try and stop CSG exploration in her suburb in Sydney. I know, sounds like an odd place to go but on further reading, it makes absolute sense. Propaganda being one thing that North Korea has excelled at over the years, it was the perfect place to go to talk to film makers, artists, composers etc.
The story is at times disturbing, hilarious, serious and gripping - but, by the time you get to the end of the book, you are certainly more aware of what a strange and odd place North Korea is.
There is a lot in this book to make even the semi-interested person take note - and to really enjoy. Between moments of hilarity and shock, there is a tale that breaks down a lot of what we think we know about the regime in North Korea...and confirms a lot of it as well.
Well written and thoroughly enjoyable!
Paul
ARH
Looking for respite from her crumbling marriage and determined to stop a coal seam gas mine near her Sydney home, filmmaker Anna Broinowski finds wisdom and inspiration in the strangest of places: North Korea. Guided by the late Dear Leader Kim Jong Il's manifesto The Cinema and Directing, Broinowski, in a world first, travels to Pyongyang to collaborate with North Korea's top directors, composers and movie stars to make a powerful anti-fracking propaganda film.
The Director is the Commander centres around the bizarre twenty-one day shoot Broinowski did in North Korea to make her documentary, Aim High in Creation! She meets and befriends artists and apparatchiki, defectors and loyalists, and gains a new insight into the world's most secretive regime. Her adventures are set against a parallel exploration of propaganda in general: both in its ham-fisted North Korean form and its sophisticated but no less pervasive incarnation in the corporate West.
Funny, multi-layered and utterly compelling, The Director is the Commander is a gripping account of an extraordinary journey inside a nation we can usually only see from the outside looking in.
This was quite an interesting story. From the description it certainly sounded like a book I would love and, to be honest, I was pretty close to loving it.
The story centres on Anna's trip to North Korea to make a documentary to try and stop CSG exploration in her suburb in Sydney. I know, sounds like an odd place to go but on further reading, it makes absolute sense. Propaganda being one thing that North Korea has excelled at over the years, it was the perfect place to go to talk to film makers, artists, composers etc.
The story is at times disturbing, hilarious, serious and gripping - but, by the time you get to the end of the book, you are certainly more aware of what a strange and odd place North Korea is.
There is a lot in this book to make even the semi-interested person take note - and to really enjoy. Between moments of hilarity and shock, there is a tale that breaks down a lot of what we think we know about the regime in North Korea...and confirms a lot of it as well.
Well written and thoroughly enjoyable!
Paul
ARH
March 3, 2016
The Director is the Commander is a great read. Broinowski tells with compassion her story of going to North Korea to learn their propaganda movie techniques. She finds a warm and hospitable group of movie makers - completely the opposite of what Western propaganda told her to expect. A great read full of insights into how North Korea works.
December 30, 2016
I find anything about North Korea really fascinating but I liked how this book didn't belittle or insult the people trapped in this regime. Interesting read. Watch the documentary that accompanies this.
June 7, 2016
I wish I could still find the documentary on Netflix :(
Want to read
May 27, 2015Pod cast the interview with Richard Fidler on the ABC. 26-05-15
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews