ABDUCTION: THE MEGUMI YOKOTA STORY. Championed by director Jane Campion, Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story, which opens at Cinema Village tomorrow, made a strong impression on me despite its technical deficiencies. Following up on the 1977 disappearance of Japanese girl Megumi Yokota (pictured), the documentary points a finger at the North Korean government for kidnapping citizens of Japan (among other countries)--and it points another finger at the Japanese government for its sluggishness in standing up for its own people.

It's sickening to know that North Korean leaders conducted and persisted in covering up these operations; it's almost as disturbing to witness what friends, family members, and other sympathetic souls must endure to get their own elected leaders to stand up for them...and then see how unsatisfying, unreliable, and sadistic the official North Korean and Japanese "response" turns out to be.

For those who knew and cared about the "missing" persons, losing their loved ones was horrible in itself, but their plight worsened as they spent years and years advocating for full disclosure and the possible return of the abductees. Soliciting signatures at airports and staking out politicians, these righteous people can come across like freaks--because they operate in a system that doesn't recognize their hellish situation and humanely help them out of it.

For more on the abductions, check out Slate and Wikipedia. For more insight into North Korea, considering seeing A State of Mind. Another recent movie with a similar theme--applied to Turkey and the Armenian genocide--is Screamers, scheduled to open in New York City on January 26; the movie will be a particular interest to fans of Armenian justice advocates System of a Down, featured throughout the film.



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