Assassins

Assassins is a riveting and compelling documentary that tells the real-life story of a brazen assassination and its aftermath. The film, released in 2020, is directed by Ryan White. It dives deep into a fatal event that made headlines around the world in 2017—the high-profile assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s estranged half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in broad daylight in Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport. The central figures in this documentary are two young women, Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, who claim to have been duped into committing the crime.

The center plot of Assassins is Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong's claims that they were tricked into carrying out a public act of murder by believing that they were participants of a hidden camera reality TV show. The film follows the unfolding series of events as they are arrested and detained for the crime, allowing audiences a closeup view of the shocking incident and subsequent court trial.

The documentary does an excellent job of stitching together each piece of the event from different sources—interviews, courtroom footage, and security camera recordings—that trace the lives of both women before the fateful incident and what happened to them after it. Through this framework, Ryan White explores wider themes such as the forces of manipulation, deception, and geopolitical tensions that became critical elements of their story.

Siti Aisyah, who had been a migrant worker in Malaysia before the incident, becomes a central figure in the story, along with Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, both of whom never really meet or appear together in the film. Each believed they were playing tricks on unsuspecting individuals for a hidden camera prank program. Their lives are starkly contrasted with the high-stakes politics and power play that has become characteristic of the North Korean regime.

Throughout Assassins, viewers are taken on a surprising journey tainted with cruelty, betrayal, and twisted humor. Ryan White’s direction provides an almost surreal atmosphere that brings us closer to the strangely theatrical lives that Aisyah and Huong were living, and the larger political drama that they became unwillingly embroiled in.

The film also includes commentary and analysis from journalists and experts, including journalist Hadi Azmi, who covered the trial in-depth, and Anna Fifield, a Washington Post reporter who specializes in North Korea. Their insight into the events adds gravitas and depth to the narrative, giving viewers a broader understanding of the geopolitical context of the murder. White also makes use of grainy CCTV footage to tell the story more comprehensively, providing visual evidence of what transpired during the event.

Assassins is as gripping as it is perplexing, posing questions about trust, manipulation, and the power of perception. Through its intricate storytelling and carefully constructed narrative, it brings forth the fearsome picture of North Korean dictatorship while intriguing the viewers with an almost unbelievable yet true story of deceit and manipulation.

In the end, Assassins is a film that offers straightforward storytelling combined with deep investigative journalism. It stands out not just because it navigates a real-life crime story with expert precision, but because it is intrinsically interesting—the intrigue derives from the seemingly improbable reality that these two women were unwitting pawns in a political game that had catastrophic consequences. It's a fascinating combination of true crime, political intrigue, and human drama that is likely to resonate with viewers long after the end credits roll.