MOVIES

Kim Jong Il reportedly owned a collection of over 20,000 videotapes and authored a number of books on film theory. The James Bond films were reportedly among his favorites, though given his penchant for underground lairs and gray jumpsuits, it's tempting to wonder whether he considered Ernst Stavro Blofeld the misunderstood tragic hero of the series. His cinephilia went as far as kidnapping a famed South Korean director and his actress wife in order to make the infamous 1985 socialist Godzilla knockoff Pulgasari.

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In 2007, then South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun presented Kim with a stack of DVDs of South Korean movies and television shows during a diplomatic visit. (Kim gave the South Korean leader 4 tons of mushrooms in return.)

Naturally, Kim didn't exactly extend his love of world cinema to his people. DVDs from South Korea or elsewhere were prohibited in the North under Kim's rule; police would often enforce the ban by cutting off power to apartment blocks and then going in to check what discs were stuck in citizens' players. This year, the British soccer comedy Bend It Like Beckham became the first Western-made film ever shown on television.

There's no indication whether Kim enjoyed his infamous portrayal in the 2004 puppet comedy Team America.

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