The vertiginous play of ideology and identity and the sheer strangeness of Dresnok's experience (as well as that of three other American defectors from the sixties) make this film absorbing; the glimpses of life in North Korea make it important.

| Oct 26, 2020

Bizarrely fascinating documentary.

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 3, 2009

There are no absolute answers to these questions, but like a brain-tickling puzzle, Crossing the Line keeps us on our toes and digging for more information.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 2, 2007

A tale of alienation and adaptation both miraculous and strange, but also abduction both psychological and physical.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 12, 2007

Crossing the Line, like its subject, remains a fascinating and frustrating enigma -- a declassified government report still marred by redacted passages.

| Oct 11, 2007

Crossing The Line lacks the force and power of a strong point of view, but like Gordon's other work about North Korea, it succeeds in revealing what it means for individuals to give themselves over to a collective.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 10, 2007

Fascinating.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 10, 2007

You'll be untangling Dresnok's knotty reality long after you leave the theater.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 10, 2007

[The] compelling story and the plentiful high-definition video images of North Korean daily life prove so fascinating that Crossing the Line is riveting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 10, 2007

Director Daniel Gordon hits a goldmine.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 9, 2007

Completely intriguing.

| Aug 9, 2007

Not exactly compelling stuff, especially if you caught the recent 60 Minutes segment about this traitor which covered substantially the same ground.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 7, 2007

The reflective sequences veer between stylishly effective and drearily overstated.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2007

A scary journey into the belly of the beast but a sketchy psychological portrait.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 3, 2007

Profile of the last American GI defector in North Korea. Fascinating!

| Jun 28, 2007

An engrossing look at a rarity, the only four Americans who ever defected to North Korea, with a warm look at the first, James Joseph Dresnok.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 20, 2007

One commendable but far too brief section of the documentary, presents through horrific images and testimony, the gruesome atrocities visited upon the DPRK civilians which exceeded even the US mass carnage against the Vietnamese in that invasion.

| May 15, 2007

The film is so visually stunning it keeps the audience entertained the entire time.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 3, 2007

Amazingly, director Daniel Gordon and his crew were allowed to film Dresnok in and around his home in Pyongyang, resulting in a canny portrait of a man as uniquely fit for a life on display as he is blindly willing to kowtow to power.

| Original Score: 4/6 | Jan 20, 2007

Dresnok comes across as honest and credible, and his story is absolutely fascinating.

Full Review | Jan 16, 2007