Assassins film review – N Korea murder doc is an unbelievable hit
A controversial hit at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Assassins has had a bumpy road to the screen, but those who seek it out will discover an unbelievable tale.
Assassins follows the trial of Vietnamese citizen Đoàn Thị Hương and Indonesian Siti Aisyah, for the 2017 murder of Kim Jong-nam, the elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The CCTV evidence appears conclusive – the victim is smeared with a deadly chemical in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which quickly kills him.
Things begin to unravel, however, when the women are arrested and adamantly claim they believed they were performing in a prank show for TV. As their trial goes on, the idea that the accused have been duped into becoming assassins for the North Korean government becomes undeniable, and political pressure begins to alter the course of justice.
The story the film tells is immediately gripping, to the point where you wonder why Netflix haven’t already made this into a five-part True Crime series (The Prank Assassins perhaps?). The answer is that the streamer, and most film studios, avoided the documentary for fear of backlash over its subject matter.
The portrayal of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is that of a ruler of almost Shakespearean hubris, eliminating any potential threats to his power. As the story moves on and the evidence of the women’s innocence becomes clear, the main narrative is how potentially widespread and sophisticated the country’s influence can be.
We follow their respective defence lawyers, who look to have been handed a hopeless case before a seemingly crackpot theory begins to carry weight. We see their despair as those arguments are shut down, and various legal irregularities (such as police officers offering their own verdicts) as passed ahead of their own arguments. Soon, the picture grows larger than the courtroom, into a complex system of international relations, where people become pawns in a political chess game.
Most saddening of all is the defendants themselves, as it becomes clear they truly have no idea what is going on. Đoàn Thị Hương and Siti Aisyah appear to have participated under the most innocent of contexts, and even as the trial goes on are not aware of the figures allegedly pulling the strings, or how horrifically they have been used.
“If you ask me what justice is, I find it very difficult to answer that question” Siti’s lawyer muses as the case takes one final astonishing turn. In a way, that sums up what Assassins is about – the absence of justice when a much larger political game is being played. As with Ryan Fogel’s similarly embattled The Dissident, you leave this film with a sobering realisation of the strength governments have to silence opponents, as well as the frightening absence of consequences.
Assassins is available on Sky Documentaries from 21st March