Beyond Utopia falls short of masterpiece status but it is a powerful and affecting piece of filmmaking – one that highlights not only the horrors of living inside North Korea but illustrates the dangers and difficulties of escaping.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 10, 2025

Unlike other documentaries with a political perspective that are focused on describing a regime, here, we put face and eyes on the experience. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jul 5, 2024

Beyond Utopia feels like humanitarian journalism in its purest form, contributing to a damning portrait of authoritarianism and inspiring human perseverance.

| Mar 15, 2024

The intimacy and immediacy with which Beyond Utopia unfolds never allows you to lose sight of just how real it all is.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 7, 2024

There is no narration and none of those dramatised recreations beloved of so many documentaries... Frankly, when the stories a documentary is telling are as nail-bitingly tense and heart-breakingly sad as the ones here, no such adornments are necessary.

| Jan 31, 2024

Their escape footage, filmed on the family’s phones, gave a sense of fear that was unsettlingly contagious, and made you think how smartphones now inform this kind of documentary. They can give an unfiltered and close-up immediacy...

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 31, 2024

I knew things were bad in North Korea, but I don’t think I realized how bad.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 19, 2024

It's therefore a tough movie to watch. But an important one to make certain you do. Because even if you too have come to the point of numbness for these crazy escapes, the necessity of bearing witness never goes away.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 19, 2024

This documentary, about people trying to escape from North Korea, depicts not only a harrowing journey, but the tragedy of those caught, and the astonishing extent to which people can be brainwashed by an authoritarian government.

| Original Score: A | Jan 16, 2024

Handheld footage of defectors making the dangerous journey to freedom elevates the documentary.

| Jan 11, 2024

Madeleine Gavin’s newest film, Beyond Utopia, is a gripping examination of North Korea’s disturbing reign of power.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 9, 2024

Words can’t do justice to the experiences the audience witness.

| Dec 28, 2023

… beyond incredible, and one of the most daring works of cinematic journalism in recent memory.

| Original Score: 18.5/20 | Dec 13, 2023

An emotional powerhouse of a documentary that had me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, and choking back tears.

| Dec 6, 2023

A documentary that embeds viewers with defectors from North Korea on their harrowing journey to freedom.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 5, 2023

Madeleine Gavin’s gripping documentary chronicles North Koreans risking their lives to escape their repressive country. It it is very hard to watch, but it is essential viewing.

| Nov 22, 2023

Beyond Utopia is an eye-opening documentary, providing a vivid depiction of life under a tyrannical regime and the relentless pursuit of the most fundamental human rights.

| Nov 21, 2023

The combination of personal stories and a well-done documentary on the oppressive regime are a striking pairing.

| Original Score: A- | Nov 9, 2023

As is made abundantly clear by Gavin, most Westerners only know what the Kim regime, currently led by Kim Jong Un, want us to know…In fact, human rights abuses in North Korea are so unparalleled, their only comparison is to Nazi Germany...

| Original Score: A | Nov 4, 2023

A distressing showcase of the journey North Korean defectors must put up with, from surviving the horrors within to navigating the dangers outside before they can truly find their freedoms.

| Nov 4, 2023