Documentaries are such polarising projects. They either take over the entire internet or fade into oblivion. However, with a story like King of Clones, it has to be a dead ringer to success, especially on Netflix. The documentary is directed by Aditya Thayi, who also joins as a producer along with Syahirah A Karim and Kavitha Wijeyeratne. It is edited by Simon Barker, while the cinematography has been done by Neil Harvey and Colm Whelan. Dan Deacon serves as the music director, while the VFX are done by Elliot Riella.
Who is King of Clones About?
This documentary is about the veterinarian Hwang Woo-suk, who was also a professor of theriogenology and biotechnology at Seoul National University. However, he was removed from the profession after a series of articles published discovered the myriad of crimes and ethical violations he had committed in the name of science. In this documentary, they explore some of those crimes and their implications on his life through archival footage and interviews.
King of Clones Plot/Synopsis
There are many ways scientists can dig their own graves. The best way is to throw away all the ethical responsibilities of the scientific community and do whatever you want. This documentary focuses on one such event with doctor Hwang Woo-suk, who became Korea’s pride in 2004 when he came forward and explained that he had successfully cloned human embryos. Obviously, the scientific community awoke from their slumber and started thinking about the bioethical implications of something like this.
The scientists who worked on this project noted that they only did this for therapeutic reasons, keeping in mind that they vehemently opposed reproductive cloning. However, it came forward that they committed a far greater ethical violation by using donations from their own researchers. Chaos ensues. Even though the researchers maintained that it was all consensual, he still had to step down from his position as a professor at the university and move to Abu Dhabi to continue his research.
The documentary explores his rise in the scientific community and Korea in general while detailing all the events that led to his downfall, including embezzlement, fraud and ethical violations.
King of Clones Release Date and Trailer
Netflix has not yet released a trailer for the documentary yet, stay tuned to see any new clips coming out soon.
King of Clones will be coming to Netflix on June 23, 2023.
What do you think of this documentary and its premise? Let us know in the comments below.
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