Review - In Order to Live

Original Title: In Order to Live: a North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
Series: -
Author: Yeonmi Park, Maryanne Vollers
Published: September 29th, 2015
Publisher: Penguin Press

I will start by saying that this was a hard book to rate. The five stars I gave it are not for the writing or the engaging aspects of it. It’s for the author’s courage to speak out, and expose the grim realities of a world that, for many of us, it’s too far away. Something that happens “to others”.

This story is not like Hyeonseo Lee’s. The Girl with Seven Names is a fantastic account of the hardships a North Korean defector has to go through as a consequence of deciding to leave the country. But Hyeonseo Lee, even though she went through a terrible journey to find freedom, was older than Yeonmi Park when she defected, she had a strong willpower and a rebel streak, and her wit, her resourcefulness and her contacts on the other side helped her to survive. Yeonmi Park, instead, was just a child when she left North Korea with her mother.

“Maybe deep, deep inside me I knew something was wrong. But we North Koreans can be experts at lying, even to ourselves.”

There was a moment in which I considered leaving this book unfinished. The account of Yeonmi’s experience in the terrible, soulless world of human trafficking, was becoming more than I could take. Women sold as a piece of property. Yeonmi’s mother raped twice in front of her. Yeonmi herself abused by her so called Chinese husband. The need to shut off her heart to survive. Her father’s illness after his arrest, and his death before reaching true freedom. Her missing sister, who left for China alone and they spent years without a word from her. The terrible choices she had to make, between she and other women being trafficked, or being returned to North Korea to a fate worse than death. The separation from her family. She saw and experienced things no one should. And much less a child. 

But it’s not enough that she was a child. She was a child from North Korea, no less. Innocence and ignorance are a bad combination, but in this case, no North Koreans are prepared for the world beyond their borders. And human traffickers take advantage of it.

There was so much in this book I wanted to quote. The narration is not meant to be gripping like a thriller book, but it is engaging, raw and honest, like saying “this is reality, and there’s no way around it”. She doesn’t get graphic, but it’s not necessary for us to understand what’s happening.

“There were so many desperate people on the streets crying for help that you had to shut off your heart or the pain would be too much. After a while you can’t care anymore. And that is what hell is like.”

I can’t picture a world in which everything is forbidden. No movies. No music. No phone calls. No education, only indoctrination. And for that, I’m lucky. My country may not be perfect, but it’s free, and sometimes we forget the true value of that. Having grown up with a mind of my own is invaluable. North Korea’s slavery system works through ignorance. Keeping their population utterly oblivious to the world beyond their borders is a part of their strategy to keep them subdued. The only possible love they can feel has to be for the Dear Leader.

“I had a warm, holy feeling being in Pyongyang, where the Great Leader once walked, and where his son, Kim Jong Il, now lived. Just knowing he breathed the same air made me feel so proud and special—which is exactly how I was supposed to feel.”

And yet, they manage to use love as a weapon. If you slip, if you say or do the wrong thing, not only you will be punished, but also your family. If you love them, you’ll do as you are told, and keep your mouth shut.

This has to be the plot for a dystopian novel. This can’t be real. I refuse to believe it.

In this country, people are indoctrinated and brainwashed from their early life, but reality takes over at some point. And that is when they make the decision to defect. Yeonmi says that everything needs to be taught, and she is right, but some things are just pure survival instinct. There’s a point in which North Koreans realize that something is wrong about everything they were taught since they were kids.  After all, love for the Dear Leader and hate towards the Japanese, Americans and South Koreans won’t fill their bellies. They will not light the fire that will prevent them and their families from freezing to death during the terrible North Korean winters. They will not give them the treatment or the medicines they need to avoid dying from diseases that the most of the countries have already eradicated.

But leaving is illegal. You are not the owner of your own fate. You have to settle for a life without future, and just survive. People are born, and immediately stripped of things they don’t even know or have yet. You grow up in complete darkness when it comes to your own worth, and your rights.

My heart weeps for North Korea.

I noticed that the first part of the book is narrated through the eyes of a child. A child who has seen a lot, yet some of her innocence remains. There’s mention of the regime but it’s not the main focus in Yeonmi’s description of life in her hometown. There is a focus on the people, on the bonds of friendship and family, and how people are what truly makes a country. Yes, there is an iron fist; yes, there is an authoritarian regime. But the first part of the book is focused on daily life, on the comings and goings of her neighbors in the different places she was in, like Hyesan, the frontier town that allowed her access to her first tastes of freedom, through smuggled goods from China. This first part is focused on how people, including her own father, worked and traded to survive, showing a life that the so called leaders of the country will never understand. It depicted Yeonmi’s family life, with their internal struggles and their relationship with each other, and with their neighbors. It showed the authentic North Korea.

The second part of the book is absolutely heartbreaking, and not for the faint of heart. It tells us about the terrible experiences she and her mother went through once they managed to cross into China, at the hands of human traffickers. They wouldn’t have imagined that what was coming was worse than their life in North Korea. Most female defectors have to endure this, brokers take advantage of their vulnerability and their need to survive, and buy and sell them as if they were cattle. Yeonmi herself was trafficked and took part on the business because of the man she was given to, and later in life, she says she considered herself beyond forgiveness, even God’s, because of the things she did to survive. But it was wrong from one of those missionaries in Qingdao to tell her so, after she confessed her work in the Chinese chatroom. Obviously these people don’t know the harrowing pain she and her mother went through, the despair they felt and their willingness to do whatever it takes to protect each other, and stay alive. God loves us no matter what, and if we truly want to be with Him, He accept us.

The trek through the Gobi Desert at night is worthy of a movie. Not only they had to endure the freezing temperatures and the danger of walking past wild animals, finding guidance in their compasses, and when they could not see them anymore, in the stars. They had to hide from any lights that could give away their position, because being arrested in China means going back to North Korea, and to a certain death. And this is why both Yeonmi and her mother started this part of their journey armed with knives, not for self-defense, but to put an end to their own lives in case they were caught. This is the kind of thing that you can only understand if you go through a similar experience. It’s complete and utter despair. And these are the lengths North Koreans defectors are willing to go just to be free and not go back to the hell they left behind.

If you don’t feel anything with this, your heart is stone.

Ultimately, Yeonmi and the other defectors who crossed to Mongolia through the Gobi Desert, are taken by Mongolian soldiers, and eventually go to Seoul with the help of the South Korean embassy. South Korea doesn’t return defectors; they act with understanding and care, and help them resettle, in a process that involves medical treatment, basic school education, learning to use new technologies and new language forms, and basically, unlearning all the pernicious habits and conceptions drilled into their heads through the overwhelming propaganda of the regime. This is all new for Yeonmi and her companions.

“I had no idea what a “hobby” was. When it was explained that it was something I did that made me happy, I couldn’t conceive of such a thing. My only goal was supposed to be making the regime happy. And why would anyone care about what “I” wanted to be when I grew up? There was no “I” in North Korea—only “we.””

Yet, when you have been a slave your entire life, freedom can be overwhelming, and even scary.

“It took me a long time to start thinking for myself and to understand why my own opinions mattered.”

A passport, a new house, and eating every day, are just the beginning. Suddenly your mind is yours, and you feel utterly lost, because now you have a new responsibility.

“I never knew freedom could be such a cruel and difficult thing. Until now, I had always thought that being free meant being able to wear jeans and watch whatever movies I wanted without worrying about being arrested. Now I realized that I had to think all the time—and it was exhausting. There were times when I wondered whether, if it wasn’t for the constant hunger, I would be better off in North Korea, where all my thinking and all my choices were taken care of for me.”

South Korea’s educational system is not easy. There’s a lot of content, insanely long hours of study, and a fierce competition to get to the best universities. But Yeonmi didn’t give up, and started reading all those books and novels she could have never found in North Korea, like, for example, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, an account, though fictional, of her country’s reality. Thinking for yourself brings new opportunities, and an entire world to discover, but also requires that you shake off all the lies that you bought your entire life. But living in South Korea, for a defector, means not only the need to settle to a new universe, it also means dealing with prejudice and not exactly a quick acceptance from South Koreans. Yet Yeonmi kept going, and through studying she did her best to be a better person, and most of all, to protect her mother, and find her sister.

There’s not much else I can say, except that just as Hyeonseo Lee, Yeonmi Park went through hell, but she didn’t turn her back to North Korea, and is now an activist for human rights. As for her sister Eunmi’s story, even though I think we all wanted to know what had happened to her after she crossed the border into China, it’s good that Yeonmi decided to let her story belong only to her. If Eunmi wants to tell it someday, it will be her decision alone, and that’s fine.

Yeonmi Park’s story is heartbreaking and terrible, but stories like hers are worth being written down and registered. North Korea is stuck in time, and sometimes, it’s hard to believe that this place, so brutal and ruthless, is real, and that there’s still people in the world stuck in a mostly rural country, who don’t know everyday technology, and live where the law of survival of the fittest prevails. It’s only through people like Yeonmi Park and Hyeonseo Lee (and many others, of course) that we can get to know about what really happens inside the most authoritarian regime in the world, but also, what it means to think for yourself, to make your own decisions, and not to buy every single lie that is thrown your way. Basically, to be free, and not taking it for granted. 

***

Thank you for reading! 

See you soon.

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Review - The Girl with Seven Names

Original Title: The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story
Series: -
Author: Hyeonseo Lee, David John (primary contributor)
Published: October 14th, 2014
Publisher: William Collins

I don’t know much about South Korea, but recently, I discovered, to my great joy, a YouTuber whose parents were South Korean immigrants in my country, Argentina. Her name is Liliana Song, and her channel is LiryOnni. Her entire content, naturally, is about South Korea, where she’s living now, after living her whole life in Argentina. She is a fantastic bridge between Spanish speaking people and South Korean content, like k-pop, k-dramas, and occasionally, history. I will leave her link here, if anyone wants to check her out, but you should know, it’s all in Spanish. So in case you speak or understand the language, I strongly recommend her. And if not you can always activate subtitles.

 - Liry Onni

It is thanks to her that I have learned about the Korean War after the end of World War II, called sometimes the Forgotten War, and the ensuing division that made the Korean Peninsula the way it is today, with the Demilitarized Zone next to the 38th parallel north. This is not exactly something you learn about in school, but it is incredibly interesting, the start of the separation into capitalist South Korea, and communist North Korea. And if we get down to the details, technically this war is not over. Only the armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, but there was no formal peace treaty. And so, the 38th parallel north became a line dividing two vastly different worlds.

I learned a lot through LiryOnni, and this lead me to wonder about South Korea’s maligned neighbour. Like a sibling they had turned their backs to. I started watching TedxTalks by North Korean defectors, and reading their stories. Hyeonseo Lee and Yeonmi Park were the first results. And one thing is knowing that a certain place is terrible, but another thing, completely different, is listening first person accounts of what it is like to live there. A life that is tied to an oppressive regime and overwhelming propaganda, where you can’t think or speak for yourself, and even basic human rights, like food and healthcare, are denied.

This is Hyeonseo Lee’s story. She was born in North Korea in 1980 to a loving family, with an stepfather in the military that led to a life of constant moving and settling in new cities, but never outside the country. Her memoir, from time to time, reads like a thriller novel. It is written to be engaging, of course, yet knowing this is real takes it to a whole other level. It’s a story of bravery and hardship, but her courage is also in the decision of telling the world about her experience. Her life in North Korea, and her subsequent escape to China, are deeply distinctive because of her survival instinct. It’s the story of a woman who suddenly found herself alone in an unknown world, and had to be cunning, resourceful and smart enough to fend for herself, and forge her own path, in a country in which she was not even supposed to be in the first place.

I cannot describe it all. From time to time I forgot this was nonfiction. Every word seemed to depict a world we can only imagine in a dystopian sci fi novel. You know, a work of fiction. And after a while, you wish it was. Because the things she explains… They simply can’t be real. 

This is the kind of story that makes me feel guilty for complaining about my own country’s situation. Because it reminds us that even though all nations have ups and downs, we still have freedom, and we can’t take it for granted. The Girl with Seven Names opens a window for us to see inside the most oppressive, secretive and hermetic state in the world, and shed some light on its true reality. Hyeonseo Lee doesn’t soften the blow, or sugar-coates the story. It’s an account of reality. About suffering, slavery, indoctrination, hunger and corruption. The North Korean system is ruthless, we all know that (or else you have been living under a rock). But it’s not the only one. The way refugees are treated in the neighbour countries like China and Laos for illegal border crossing, it’s the testament of a world that cries for help. 

The stories around the 90s famine are truly harrowing. I can’t even explain it. It shows how people were driven by their most basic instincts to find food, reduced to their most animalistic version. Desperation. Bribing. Eating grass, bugs… Anything they could find. There are things I can’t even describe. Read the book to find out more. I’ll warn you, it’s horrifying. But it was through this that the image of “the greatest nation on Earth” began to crumble for their population. How is it that we are so great that we don’t even have food?

Both Hyeonseo Lee and Yeonmi Park come from Hyesan, a border town right next to China, where, with the right bribe, border guards turn a blind eye to the illegal trading that takes place there, where only a river, frozen in winter, separates North Korea from China. Hyeonseo Lee’s mother was an expert in this. She fed her family through illegal trading and bribing, and her name was well known in Hyesan.

“Perhaps it would be even harder for them to understand that I still love my country and miss it very much. I miss its snowy mountains in winter, the smell of kerosene and burning coal. I miss my childhood there, the safety of my father’s embrace, and sleeping on the heated floor. I should be comfortable with my new life, but I’m still the girl from Hyesan who longs to eat noodles with her family at their favourite restaurant. I miss my bicycle and the view across the river into China.”

There is no mention of the regime here. It’s sensory memory, it’s what’s familiar and close to her, what she grew up with. The fond memories of childhood before being aware of the hell you are really in. The loving family that never left you, and in despite of the many problems and hardships they had to endure, remained tight knit.

Life in North Korea isn’t easy. But it’s simple. You are told what to think, how to dress, how to cut your hair, how your house should be, who to love and who to hate, and what it is right, and what is wrong. If you tread carefully, nothing will happen to you. If you know your place, you’ll be safe.

Yeonmi Park, in her TEDxTalk, asks the audience “If you don’t know you are a slave, if you don’t you are isolated or oppressed, how do you fight to be free?”

It’s slavery through ignorance. Keeping people in the dark sustains the regime. Because, how do you know it is dark, if you never saw what light looks like? It’s easy not to fight for freedom, when you are not even aware of your chains. 

“The images conjured for us of tanks rolling across the border and slaughtering our people in their homes moved us all to floods of tears. The South Koreans had made victims of us. I burned with thoughts of vengeance and righting injustice. All the children felt the same. We talked afterwards of what we would do to a South Korean if we ever saw one.”

Propaganda is everywhere, at all times. From the early school days, kids learn to hate South Korea, Japan and the United States. And even though the situation is changing a little through the introduction (illegal, of course) of international content (like k-pop, k-dramas, and Hollywood movies), and the small opening of the country to tourists (as long as they don’t have South Korean or American passports), there’s still a lot that remains unchanged.

If you can’t relate to Hyeonseo Lee’s story, consider yourself lucky. I myself was born free, with the possibility of education through school, but also through reading books for my own entertainment, listening to music and watching as many movies as I want. And it’s enough for me to feel a renewed love for my country. It’s not perfect, of course. None is. But here, I don’t know the hardships of war. Here, no one will publicly execute me for prioritizing my life over the president’s portrait, or send me and my family to a prison labor camp simply for using the Internet, watching an international movie or listening to foreign music. I won’t starve, because I have access to food, and I’m healthy enough to work for it. I don’t have to fear a nuclear war. I can leave the country whenever I want without recurring to corrupt brokers, fake IDs, bribing or illegal border crossing. I can access higher education and learn languages if I want to. And so much more.

And if the fact that it is North Korea’s reality isn’t the testimony of a rotten system, then I don’t know what it is.

Yet in this dark place, in which love, as Yeonmi Park says, has the one and only meaning of “love for the Dear Leader”, Hyeonseo Lee’s motivation was love. Love for her family, for the need we can all understand of having them by your side. As much as the government tries to stifle it, twisting it to turn it into their own version of what it should mean, love is ever present in the stories told by North Korean defectors. Love for their parents, their siblings, their aunts and uncles, their children… A love that we can all understand, in despite of living in a vastly different reality. A love that makes them assume terrible dangers to take their families to safety, willing to do anything to give them a chance to truly live. And that is something not even this regime could stifle. There’s still hope. 

 It reminds me a quote by Aphrodite, that I read in Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero.

“My point is that love is the most powerful motivator in the world. It spurs mortals to greatness. Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love.”

People are brainwashed in North Korea, and that’s just reality. But the fact that there are so many defectors tells that they are not stupid. Defecting is way more complicated now than it used to be, mostly after COVID-19; the border is even more watched than before. But people still find ways to leave and reach South Korea, where they want to go not only for safety, but because of their shared language. And now, you would think that crossing the border into China, as most North Korean defectors do, it’s all that’s needed for them to be free. Well. Wrong. It’s just the beginning of a journey that, like in this case, can take years, with countless dangers along the way, from prison and deportation, to human trafficking, and a death sentence in a prison camp, in which not only you will be punished, but also three generations of your family, for daring to defy the regime. This, of course, if you don’t drown or die of hypothermia while crossing the frozen Yalu River, or are discovered by the border patrols and shot to death. Chinese, Vietnamese, and Laotian authorities are perfectly aware that there are North Koreans among them. But also human traffickers are, and they can spot them quickly, offering them jobs and basically taking them as slaves, a terrible fate, especially for women. I don’t have to tell you why. You know what I mean.

Again, I wish I could be talking about a work of fiction.

If they are fortunate enough to get to South Korea, they won’t be sent back. They are taken to places like Hanawon, where they have access to food, medical attention, and training to start a new life. South Korea may not be perfect, as it is a place with a lot of competition, social pressure, and insanely long work hours. But it’s not the hell North Korea led their people to believe it is. And it’s a free country. Hyeonseo Lee’s story is a testament to this hardship. Of doing anything in your power to survive. Running. Lying. Deceiving. But also learning, and growing. Changing her name seven times was, in her case, the way she found to survive in a world in which she was unwelcome, hiding her true nationality in a country in which she was an illegal migrant and, if discovered, could be sent back to her country, to a horrible fate, if she couldn't pay for the silence on the matter. Each of her names mean something different. The girl who crossed the river at night to get to the lights in China. The girl who escaped her fate as a forced bride. The girl who learned Chinese as she could, without formal education, to open her own path in a world in which she was an intruder… Each of them is a piece in the puzzle of her identity, meaning something different, a distinct part of her life that, put together, show the whole picture of her journey, her struggle, her love and loss… Her life, basically. But also shows that we are not just us alone. Our identity is also shaped by the people around us and the moments we live with them.

That is why I say that even though her bravery is unmatched, there’s also a huge courage in the decision of sharing her story with the world, to expose the long, harrowing journey she went through, and the struggle to find her family and bring them through such dangers to freedom. Her story sheds a much necessary light on the world of not only North Koreans, but also on the way the world sees them. It’s an ideology devastated country. It’s a real life dystopia.

I think it is necessary for us to know about stories like Hyeonseo Lee’s. Because even her journey had silver linings. The kindness showed to her by a stranger in Laos who paid for her family’s fine to get them out of jail was not only life-saving, it was also unexpected. After a life of hearing that people from outside North Korea were not to be trusted, and a decade of lying about herself, learning the hard way that she could trust no one, this man, by the name Dick Stolp and from Australia, showed her that there’s still people who care for her country’s situation, and even though it strikes fear in everyone, there’s still people who want to help, even through small acts of kindness. There is compassion in this world, even when it’s hard to find. People like him, from time to time, restore my faith in humanity.

This book is a message for all of us, but also for the powerful men that lead the world. Because they don’t starve. They will not suffer deportation and imprisonment in a labor camp along with their families. They won’t have to see their families die after days of starvation. They will not be detained for illegal border crossing, making international phone calls, using the internet, or listening to music. As long as they keep power, they will never truly understand what their people go through. They play their games, and, as always, the people living under their thumb are the target of the consequences of their decisions. People who have to do whatever they can to survive, and are punished for it. It’s good that Hyeonseo Lee decided to tell us her story, not just because it’s remarkable, but also because it’s necessary to register it. Her experience is harrowing and terrible, painful, and intricate, but it has a happy ending. And even though she got to be free, she hasn’t turned her back to North Korea, and keeps working as an activist for human rights.

She has seen hell, and yet, it didn’t kill her kindness, her compassion, and her loving spirit. And for that, she deserves respect.

Thank you for reading. Be sure to check the videos and YouTube channels I put here.

***

See you next time! 

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Review - The Secrets of Dumbledore

 No. No. This not… This is not… how it was supposed… No.

Ok, guys, the time has come. After a long wait, I took my seat, and wrote this review, in which probably was my most expected movie in a long while. And it’s not just that I am disappointed. I feel cheated on. You’ll see why in a minute, but first, a few things.

To read my reviews on the previous movies, follow this links:
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- The Crimes of Grindelwald

And obviously, this CONTAINS SPOILERS, so stay at your own risk. I warned you.

Saying that this movie is all bad, wouldn’t be fair. It had some well done things, especially in terms of design, screenplay, costumes… There are lots of details everywhere that speaks of a committed team that was present in every little aspect, whether it was locations, the creatures’ animation, the special effects… everything. But sadly, the plot is not everything it could have been. The political aspect, though, is very realistic, and speaks of dirty tricks (magical or not) and deceptions, in a world where nothing and no one matter, in the competition for power. But, guys… this is the Wizarding World. I think a lot more can be done with all the resources it provides, than the political election that is the core of this film.

As I said earlier, I feel cheated on by this series. As I started this journey in the first movie, I was introduced to Newt Scamander, and this never before explored world of magizoology, and I fell in love. Everything was new, in an already familiar world. I met an absolutely UNIQUE, charming hero, and got to visit his amazing life and work. By all means, I was IN for this adventure, and eagerly waited for the next chapter that would only get me further and deeper into this world. But here… I see Newt was only a means to an end, used to lure me in, with both the promise of a hero and of an aspect of the Wizarding World I had never seen before, and in the end, it’s all about Dumbledore.

And that is not ok. If you told me there’s such a world inside a suitcase, I want to visit that world. If you introduce me to a character unlike anyone I’ve ever known, I want to go with him on his journey. And it’s not so smartly done that you can actually say “hey, this actually works!”. Newt Scamander had, all along, the potential to sustain the whole series as the protagonist, but in the end, the whole thing boils down to Dumbledore, that is, someone we already know, as well as how he will eventually end.

Guys, they have no less than the unique, amazing Eddie Redmayne –only one of the best actors alive–, playing the equally unique Newt Scamander, and they barely give him any relevant actions and decisions. That is not ok, no matter how you try to see it, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

Oh, and are you seriously giving me another Fantastic Beasts movie after three years, WITHOUT TINA? Are you kidding me?

Before I get angry, let’s go by parts.

One of the most notorious things about this movie, is that it has very few fantastic beasts for a movie in which they are a part of the title. For a guy who has a suitcase full of creatures, I thought we would see more of them. In the first one we saw them helping him, like the swooping evil, Frank the thunderbird, and Dougal the demiguise. We saw a huge amount of them, and even we could recognize the ones that were shown but not named. But in this one, we were lucky to get a bunch of manticores, the qilin, an almost burnt-out phoenix representing how Credence is on the inside, and a random cameo of the fwoopers running around Bhutan. Every time Newt can use their help, the day is saved by either Pickett, or one of the nifflers. And for someone who knows SO MANY creatures and walks around with them in his suitcase, it’s a little sad and disappointing.

Can’t the producers think of, literally, any other creature, or situation, that won’t involve Pickett picking locks, or a niffler going for shiny things? Because I know it’s possible, given the amount of beasts at Newt’s disposal.

Also, I thought Newt was banned from international travelling?

*awkward silence*

The thing is, I came here for Newt, and I barely saw him. I was sitting in the theater, and found myself thinking “by this point, in the first movie, a lot more had happened already”. There’s nothing wrong with plots about politics and broken hearts, but this is the Wizarding World! I came here for the magic and Newt’s cute weirdness as he becomes an unlikely hero. And beasts. Way more beasts. All I can think is that they somehow got bored with the concept of the magizoologist, or they couldn’t get any more ideas to keep him as the protagonist, so they turned into someone with an already complicated background, to make it even more complicated. And it’s not like they are giving us a lot of new details about the Dumbledores. Most of the things they say, are things we already know, or could figure out: that Ariana was an Obscurial –which I knew the moment the concept was explained–, how she ended up dead, that Albus was in love with Grindelwald, that he had feelings for him in return… Add to this that we already know how things will end: Albus will, in fact, defeat Grindelwald in 1945 (from which we can deduce that, at some point, he would be able to destroy the blood troth).

I admit, I didn’t see coming Credence as Aberforth’s son, but I was expecting to know who his mother was. After all, he spent the whole previous movie looking for her, finding her was his sole motivation, and instead, I was given the answer to a another, entirely different question. Oh, and how the hell can Credence send messages through mirrors? We are talking about a guy who can’t really control his magic. How did he know where to send the message to? Who to send it to?

Ok, moving on.

The general aesthetic of this film is dark, cold and grey, which is exactly the mood we are getting through the development of the plot. Things in the Wizarding World are changing, as war is coming. And speaking of changes, one of the most interesting ones was the introduction of Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald.

His acting really fits the character. In despite that Johnny Depp had some facial expressions that Mikkelsen just can’t reproduce, I feel that, if Mikkelsen had been the original Grindelwald, he would have owned the character by now. It’s interesting how this villain keeps going for power, without violence. Yes, he wants to take over and tries to fool everyone with the dead qilin (as an Inferius?), but he keeps going for manipulation instead of force. Like any self-respecting politician. Realistic, too: wouldn’t be the first one that, in real history, was a wanted criminal yesterday, and today is a candidate with a lot of loyal followers, neither the first one in committing fraud to win an election, with no fear of darkness, or even simple moral boundaries. Moreover, using the purest of creatures for his own purpose, something not many people would attempt to do. As we know, those who do that are wizards who aren’t afraid of consequences as long as they get what they want, just like when Voldemort killed unicorns for their blood.

Upon rewatching some scenes, I caught this quote, by Albus, and wrote it down:

“Only a few days ago he was a fugitive from justice. Now he’s an official candidate in the International Confederation of Wizards[…]”.

Boy, if we know about this, in Argentina.

Another well done thing, is this feeling of “you can trust no one” that is always present. At this point, and with this situation, any person out there could be a Grindelwald follower, or a traitor; the man knows he doesn’t need to force anyone to do his bidding. Those who follow him, do it because of their conviction, and belief in his words and ideals. He wants to be adored by the masses.

He's delighted by this, as he’s being supported not because of fear or respect, but sheer admiration. He’s a charismatic leader who promises to change the world, to turn it into a utopia. But he will actually destroy it. And any resemblance with politics in the real world, is purely coincidental. Right?

Right when he falls backwards in Bhutan, after being unmasked, he says “I was never your enemy”, and if you think about it, it’s kind of true. He has a purpose and for that he’s willing to do anything, no matter the obstacles on his way. He believes in his cause, after all it is “for the greater good”. My point is, even though he wants Dumbledore out of his way, he doesn’t really care for the rest of the gang. The only one who had some value for him was Queenie, because she’s the only one with a weakness he could exploit, and a power that could serve him well. None of the others would fall for his lies, but he doesn’t put any efforts in trying to get them out of his way.

And since we mention Queenie… What a disappointment.

She’s definitely different in this movie. She looks older, only wears black, or dark clothes, and basically doesn’t smile. You can tell that she went dark, and that she’s a trusted member of Grindelwald’s side. Yet… I NEVER thought we would see her coming back to this side so fast. True is that we don’t even know how long it has been since the events in Père-Lachaise, we can only guess, which, in my opinion, it’s not well done. In the previous movie, through dialogue, we learned that a year had passed since Newt had left New York. But in this one, the only indicator of how long it has been since Paris, is Credence’s hair length.

The thing with Queenie is… *defeated sigh*. Everything passed too quickly. It’s like she never switched sides. Just as it is happening with Newt, I feel Dark Queenie was a whole lot of wasted potential. After all, she was the absolutely last person you would imagine supporting Grindelwald, and the way he snagged her, was brilliant, using her wish to be free to love and be loved to get her to work for him. After she practically swore allegiance to Grindelwald, literally walking through a fire that burnt people to oblivion at the slightest hesitation, I was hoping they would explore her character further. I knew darkness was going to be the test Jacob’s love would have to endure, to see if they both kept loving each other after some horrible things that would happen while Queenie stayed on Grindelwald’s side, and I was ready for betrayals, lies… you know, the things you do when you go dark. Things Queenie, as pure and loving as she is, wouldn’t do in normal circumstances. But we only see her suffering, and regretting her decision, even with Grindelwald’s trust. Think about it! They would have made an unstoppable pair: Grindelwald as a seer, and Queenie as a Legilimens, would have given their enemies no chance to act, knowing their intentions before they could even act on them, and always being one step ahead of everyone else.

Don’t tell me this isn’t wasted potential. Don’t you dare.

Once, Sirius Black said that you need to see how a man treats his inferiors to see what he’s really like, and you can see that very well with some of the characters here. I remembered that, upon seeing Jacob and his scene with the qilin, in Aberforth’s tavern. My favorite thing about him is that beautiful, caring soul he has, visible when he plays with her and feeds her. He truly has a full heart, and you can tell how sweet and loving he is, especially in the way he treats Queenie. If he wasn’t a muggle, I bet the qilin would have chosen him, he truly has the spirit needed to be a good leader. He’s a simple man, happy with the simple things in life: baking and cooking, and being with those he loves. And I just want to hug him because of that. I still wonder about Jacob’s role in all these, but I did gasp and said “no!”, when he was tortured with the Cruciatus curse. I think both he and Queenie deserved the ending they got, finally being able to get married (by the way, that wedding dress, truly fits Queenie’s spirit). But what left me with questions is that they marry in Jacob’s bakery in New York, and precisely, all the mess started because, in America, you can’t marry a muggle if you are a witch or a wizard.

I want to talk about Eulalie Hicks, for a minute.

Known as Lally, she’s the new addition to the series. She’s a Hogwarts teacher, expert in Charms and defensive magic. I liked the way she’s introduced, as she is no less than any witch J. K. Rowling ever created: smart, brave, resourceful, a little sassy, and obviously, strong and skilled. It’s a good start, for a new character, as I liked her, and I want to know more. I honestly hadn’t notice that she was in the previous movie, talking to Nicholas Flamel through an old book. I thought she was a dead teacher from many, many years ago, and it was a similar situation to the scene in Order of the Phoenix in which Arthur Weasley is attacked by Nagini, and Dumbledore enlists the help of Everad, Dilys Derwent, and Phineas Nigellus, so they visit their other portraits in order to find him. Or perhaps, she was someone from the past to who Flamel went to for advice. I never thought she was alive and would come to play a part in the story. I just wish we could get some more insight into her life, to understand the part she has to play here. I just think, pairing her with Jacob may not have been the best idea. Their duet wasn’t even remotely as funny and entertaining as the Newt-Jacob one.

They both have a cartoonish quality that make them perfect for magical adventures together, something that Lally doesn’t have just yet. And she’s not Tina. I felt her part could have been Tina’s, to make her deeper and richer. After all, it’s not Fantastic Beasts without her nagging Newt. I felt her absence. I get that Tina was made head of her department in MACUSA, but since Queenie chose Grindelwald, I didn’t think she would peacefully go to work, instead of fighting to get her back, especially after we learned that she’s the type of person that defies the rules when she sees a possibility of doing the right thing. We don’t know, either, how she has been after she saw Queenie doing that, or if she and Newt kept corresponding after he clarified the misunderstanding and told her he wasn’t the one getting married.

And if you cut out my favorite character, there’s no way I can like the movie. Sorry.

The last five minutes were the best, I thought “this is what I’m here for”. That is the kind of scene I wanted to see after such a long wait, and what I got, well… Wasn’t enough. Especially when it comes to the wedding. Not showing it, was a mistake. Or are you going to deny that Newt, giving a best man’s speech, wouldn’t have been pure gold?

Also, I love the huge, beautiful smile that the mention of Tina’s name always brings to Newt’s face.

And for someone who lives for Newt’s expression every time he sees her, those couple of seconds aren’t (and never will be) nearly enough.

When they meet right before the wedding, they are both so adorably awkward, that they make me smile. They only have eyes for each other, and you can tell they missed each other. They are both so genuinely happy, it is heart-melting.

But again, I waited far too long to get only those few seconds, how they expect people to be ok with that?

I’m going to talk about Credence for a while.

I thought we would see more of him, considering that he walked through fire too. But in this movie, he is only the means to an end. And he notices that. Grindelwald has him to do the dirty work for him, and it is kind of brilliant, because, if Credence succeeds, he gets to be the favored one, but if he dies, it brings him no consequences. After all, Obscurials are not meant to live too long, right from the get-go, and Grindelwald knows he won’t have to deal with him for long, both if he succeeds, or fails. He’s disposable. Grindelwald has a ton of followers he could send to kill Dumbledore, but having such a destructive force at his disposal, he thinks it’s something not even the great Albus Dumbledore can fight. And if they kill each other, all the better for him, because Credence is just a tool. Once he’s done, he’s no longer useful for him. Like the phoenix the flies around the screen from time to time, Credence will eventually burn from the inside out. I see no happy ending for him, and he probably won’t have one. But before that happens, I need to know more. His mother, his aunt (because the woman trying to save him during the shipwreck wasn’t his mother, but his aunt), how he ended on that ill-fated ship in which Leta switched him for Corvus Lestrange… I’m just asking, if you are going to create so many mysteries, at least give me some answers before changing the subject and moving on to the next big thing.

We see Credence struggling between who he is and who he’s being asked to be. He isn’t a killer. He killed in the past, but through a power beyond his control. Now he can see that he’s been used and doesn’t really want to kill, especially considering that his target –in this case– doesn’t want him dead in return, or did anything to him in the past that could make him hate him. After all, his past victims, Henry Shaw and Mary Lou Barebone, triggered him by being mean to him, and overall, mistreating him, and he wasn’t in control of his magic, nor had any way to channel it. He was always trampled on. And so, the essence remains: Credence Barebone isn’t a villain. Evil isn’t born, it’s made, and finally, he understood that he was being used.

Another character that left me wondering in this movie, was Theseus Scamander. For one, I didn’t see him, in the least, grieving the death of the woman he was supposed to marry, nor we get any insight on why Leta chose him instead of Newt, after the deep bond they shared. Plus, Theseus is obviously taking a liking with Lally Hicks, that was really obvious. But I think that was very, very notorious in this movie: that Crimes of Grindelwald built up to things that here were, either solved, or absolutely forgotten, like Queenie going dark, Leta Lestrange’s story, and Nagini! Where the hell did Nagini go, after getting so much screen time? And Abernathy, that not only impersonated Grindelwald himself but walked through the fire to join him?

Also, the scene in which Theseus is captured by the German Ministry of Magic, and Newt has to rescue him, felt like comic relief, and literally, nothing more. I felt that could have been saved as a cliffhanger for the ending, leaving it open for the next instalment. Newt’s rescue leads nowhere, Theseus is hanging upside down, but no one tried to question him about why he was there the moment he was arrested, and later, no one seems to care that the Head of the British Auror office escaped their inescapable prison.

The whole purpose of the scene seemed to be adding the funny manticore dance Newt has to perform in order to save him, which felt like a desperate attempt to get back some of the things that made the first movie so good. To grasp back something they lost along the way.

In this movie, Newt continues to be himself, not a chosen one, and fighting because he has to, even though his heart is more in healing and saving than in war. But I see him different than in the other movies. He’s no longer so awkward with people. For one, he hugs Jacob first, when in the previous movie it was the other way around. Sadly, we don’t get to see him with his creatures so much, and both he and Jacob seem to have become the comic relief, and little else. Just like Newt’s assistant, Bunty Broadacre, who is hopelessly in love with Newt, in despite that he will never see her as more than that. But I liked that, even though she sees Newt carrying Tina’s picture, and understands that he will never love her back, she doesn’t show jealousy. Loving him means wanting his happiness, even if it’s not with her.

One thing about her, that for me made absolutely no sense. She took Newt’s case to be replicated and didn’t let the guy open it, which I get, of course, but, at that point, I thought, why is she not using this?

Also, why you would get a muggle involved, when you literally have the Gemino curse at your disposal, both used by Hermione in Deathly Hallows, to duplicate Slytherin’s locket, and cast over the Lestrange vault to duplicate the treasures and prevent robberies. Moreover, the very same charm is used later in the movie when Lally and Theseus are cornered in Bhutan, and an avalanche of duplicating pastries and paper swamps the Alliance members going after them.

Since the charm didn’t duplicate the piece of Voldemort’s soul inside the locket, we can understand that it won’t duplicate the creatures inside the case, so it is safe to use it. Why risking the status of secrecy by bringing it to a muggle, when you literally carry a wand and can use to create as many copies as you want?

My guess: comic relief. Nothing more justifies this absolutely lack of logic.

Also, I didn’t understand the purpose of giving Jacob the fake wand, and moreover, telling him that he “can’t think of anyone more deserving” to keep it. I get that Dumbledore sees he has a good heart and a kind soul, and that he could make a great wizard, but reality is that a stick shaped like a wand won’t really help him, especially after he’s sent to the front lines, no less than face-to-face with an enemy that is the greatest muggle mass murderer the Wizarding World has ever known. Not even experienced, trained wizards survived an encounter with Grindelwald, much less a muggle. That makes no sense to me, and smells like plot-hole.

Another character that does absolutely nothing for the plot, is this man:

Yusuf Kama goes to Nurmengard, and offers his loyalty to Grindelwald, to which he answers, he will have to prove it. But we never see him going through any kind of test, nor we see Grindelwald keeping him watched, or distrusting him, considering that his followers were forced to walk through fire to prove their allegiance. And it doesn’t take a genius to understand that he never really switched sides. I was not fooled for a second. It feels as if the producers created this character, and now they don’t know what to do with him anymore. He’s just kind of there.

And finally, the way they go to Bhutan, through the Bhutanese prayer wheel in the Room of Requirements *face palm* This made me angry, because, in Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore says, impossibly clearer, that he doesn’t know all of Hogwarts’ secrets, and that he accidentally stumbled with the Room recently, one night, by chance, as he looked for the restrooms. So, I don’t think he should know about it at this point of the story

Oh, and by the way, I absolutely love Jude Law’s choice of using his wand as if it was a paint brush, in this scene:

He said in an interview that he wanted to make as if Dumbledore was painting, and I think it suits him perfectly.

So, in conclusion, it was a movie that had both good and bad things. I didn’t like it, and I was hoping to love it. Somewhere along the way, Newt’s spirit, and the wonderful magizoloogy world, were lost. Obviously, I am grateful for being able to re-visit Hogwarts, and for the bits of John Williams’ music that we could hear, here and there, as well as the references to other things from the Wizarding World, like the Quidditch balls, the monster book, and the paper flying just like Harry’s Hogwarts letters. But I feel that the whole Dumbledore-Grindelwald thing could have stayed a side plot, instead of making me believe that Newt would be the hero of the story, and then moving him to the sideline, and barely giving him any screen time. Instead of going deeper into characters we already know, like Albus, I wanted insight into Newt and Theseus’ past, or Lally’s or the Goldstein sisters, or even Grindelwald himself, because, as I said, nothing was revealed about Albus that we didn’t already know. And, again, you can’t introduce me to someone like Newt and then make it all about Dumbledore. You can’t have such a character, and not use it. I’m sorry, but you can’t.

Honestly, I’m not very excited for the fourth movie. I waited too long, to get this thing that disappointed me, so excuse me if I’m not very eager for the next instalment of the story. And the saddest part is, I know J. K. Rowling is better than this.

***

Thank you so much for reading,
See you in my next post!

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Review - Matilda

Original Title: Matilda
Series: -
Author: Roald Dahl
Published: October 1st, 1988
Publisher: Puffin (2007 edition)

*THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*

First of all, guys, sorry for my long absence. It’s been a crazy couple of months. But I haven’t given up books, and today, I come back with this short but powerful classic, that I read in one sitting.

This is, in fact, my very first book by Roald Dahl. I grew up watching the 1996 movie adaptation, with Mara Wilson and Danny de Vito, and I’m sure more than one 90s kid out there –like me– wanted to have Matilda’s powers, more than anything in the world. If you are reading this, I feel you. Personally (and I’m sure I’m not the only one), I saw a lot of myself in her love for books, and the company they meant for her, that was such a lonely girl.

I admit I was expecting the book to be just like the movie, but upon reading it, I see that, for the adaptation, they kept the basic storyline, and took it a little further. For example, in the book there’s no scene with Matilda going to the Trunchbull’s house at night during a windstorm, and scaring her with the crazy clock, and Magnus Honey’s portrait, nor her adventure with Miss Honey, inside the Trunchbull’s house. Sadly, because I was really looking forward to those scenes.

Yet, it’s not a bad book, and I was actually surprised of how realistic it is, even for a book geared towards children.

I personally think Miss Honey is a strong, incredible female character. Through her sad story, losing her parents and being forced to live with her horrible aunt, she was brave enough to set her limits and leave behind the bad life she was living, with a person that abused her, both physically and mentally. She didn’t ask permission to do it, she just saw her chance of freedom, and took it. True, she lived with almost nothing, in the farmer’s cottage she rented, and even though she couldn’t even dispose of her own salary, nothing would make her go back to her aunt. I loved her for it, for her courage to say “I had enough” and do something about it, which makes her, in my opinion, the bravest person in this book. Her struggle is real, and I’m sure a lot of people can feel identified with her.

Also, and in despite of everything she went through, Miss Honey didn’t lose her sweetness and love for teaching. And that love and true encouragement are deeper than any kind of affection Matilda ever got from her grotesque, shallow parents, who never cared about her, her need of education, or the nurturing of her unique intellect. She’s clearly a neglected, misunderstood child, as there are a lot in the world. She’s a girl with extraordinary talents –magic powers aside–, virtually ignored by her parents, so engrossed in their own lives that cannot possibly see how special their daughter is. They are, in this case, the villains, portrayed in a cartoonish way that, in fact, is absolutely realistic. Matilda finds comfort in books, and reading becomes her everything, her passion, her escape. But my point is, no one can deny that those people truly exist, and that there are a lot of Matildas out there, in the different corners of the world, with self-absorbed families that do not listen nor care about their needs and talents. So, the fact that she gets a happy ending, with a new mother that truly appreciates everything she is, is a true message of hope, in which we are told that the circumstances of our birth do not determine our future, if we are brave enough to do what’s needed to change our lives.

The main villain, on the other hand, is absolutely cartoonish. Yet, the Trunchbull’s attitude isn’t completely fictional, as evil teachers definitely exist. Although, I doubt that, in real life, any other teacher could have survived the lawsuit that would have followed after grabbing a girl by her hair and throwing her over the fence, or even locking children in The Chokey (which I do not find funny at all). The Trunchbull is one of those villains that you just cannot wait to see paying for her evil, and in the movie, this is a lot funnier in terms of revenge from the school children that comes after Matilda terrifies her, writing as Magnus in the blackboard. They made her a lot more superstitious than in the book, and that is the weakness Matilda exploits to defeat her. Obviously, she has no redeeming qualities, and when she’s gone, she’s gone. No one hears about her again. But my point is, where are the parents in this book, that do not appear or do anything to prevent this monster from literally torturing their children? All the adults that could be here protecting their children, seem to be no more caring that Matilda’s own parents, virtually ignoring what happens in the school, and not doing anything about it. They are absolutely absent in this matter, which could be interpreted in more than one way.

Overall, I think it is a good book, with a great message, about seeing your own good qualities, and how wonderful you can be, even if those around you don’t listen, or don’t care. Basically, it says that you need to recognize your talent and attitude, and go for what you want and need, because no one will do it for you. And this is visible both with Matilda, and Miss Honey. In despite that one is a child and the other, a grown-up, it’s possible to understand that they come from similar backgrounds, from families that didn’t love them, in despite of the amazing people they were, or could be.

And also, I liked that even though Matilda’s powers fade with time, her personality isn’t tied to them, because when she uses her mental strength to study and get new knowledge, she can finally harness the full potential of her unusual mind. She may not be able to flip glasses anymore, but she’s no less smart or amazing because of that.

So, in short, it’s a good classic that deserves a read. It goes quickly, and it’s enjoyable for both kids and adults.

***

Thank you for reading, guys!
See you soon!

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