The first indication that we’re being lied to comes from a little girl in an immaculate Pyongyang classroom: Her school is so cold that she has put her coat over her head.

Russian documentarian Vitaly Mansky made a movie under the auspices of the North Korean government. He filmed adorable 8-year-old Lee Zin-mi as she prepared to join the Children’s Union, and Zin-mi’s parents as they worked in factories. And then, he left the camera on, capturing the government spooks as they micromanaged every moment. None of it is reality — least of all Zin-mi’s happiness, as a couple of wrenching moments reveal. I worry about this film’s repercussions for her.

Hollywood has been yukking it up over North Korea and its comical-looking leader for some years now. There’s nothing funny about either, and Mansky shows why.