Abduction |
by Anne Morse |
My son and I took the Metro to the E Street Cinema in Washington last Friday to see Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story, a documentary about the kidnapping of at least 13 Japanese youth by the North Korean government, who took them in order to teach their spies how to speak fluent Japanese. The film follows the story of the youngest abductee of all, 13-year-old Megumi, a pretty child who liked badminton and singing in the school choir, who vanished on her way home from school in 1977. Her parents and brothers have spent almost 30 years trying to find out what happened to Megumi and--once they discovered she had been stolen by North Korean spies--trying to get her (and now, their granddaughter) back to Japan. The film contains interviews with parents of several of the missing children and, most intriguingly, a former spy for North Korea who is now living elsewhere (in considerable danger of assassination, as he cheerfully admits). I won't spoil the ending for those who are thinking of attending (but be warned, the link above leads to articles that give some things away); however, you will leave the theater wondering (again) why, exactly, the world puts up with so much evil from one dirtball regime. The film--which has received numerous awards--will remain at the E Street Cinema through Thursday evening.
Comments