By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Anders Østergaard
Original language title: Burma VJ: Reporter i et lukket land
Country: belgium, canada, denmark, germany, israel, netherlands, norway, spain, sweden, united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 84
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1333634/
Thom says: “When this started, not having any prior knowledge of the film, I sort of went Ho Hum, & settled in for a dull political polemic. I am thrilled to tell you that my prognosis was totally wrong. Burma has been under a hard-line military junta dictatorship since 1962 when General Ne Win led a coup d’état that deposed the civilian government. From that date to the present Burma has a terrible history of abuse, violence, racial discrimination, and nationalization of all private enterprise. Hundreds of thousands of the Burmese population have fled the country in the ongoing years. In 1988 after general turbulence including pro-democracy demonstrations the government security forces killed thousand of protestors & another coup placed General Saw Maung in charge of the hated despotic rule. In 1990 free elections were held and Aung San Suu Kyi was overwhelmingly designated to head the democratic leadership but the totalitarian regime under Than Shwe refused to step down and put Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, where she stays to this day. This captivating documentary basically follows the anti-government protests of 2007 which ended up being led by Buddhist monks & a dedicated group that under duress and great probability of getting caught filmed much of the proceedings so that the viewer obliquely is able to follow what transpires. Even with worldwide protest of the reactions of the Burmese hardliners they go ahead and squelch the latest revolution by killing or imprisoning the demonstrators and matters stand at a nightmare plateau. We learn that all the participants in the making of this film have now disappeared and have no contact with each other. Spellbinding! 5 cats ”