Beyond Rangoon

John Boorman, I like your movies. Your movies are cerebral, but do not rely on symbolism or language to convey thought. They seem to rely on emotions, sometimes clichéd (not always a bad thing, and you do handle it well, in that your people say what one would expect a person to really say in that situation, even if it has that feel of a cliché), and lots of water and green vegetation, mud, earth, breath in the cold, dragon's breath, stuff like that.

Your films remind me of David Lean and David Attenborough, which makes sense, but, as you would probably agree, more dreamy.

A possible misgiving is an expectation set up with your stuff that right away tips me in a certain direction, and takes away possible surprise.

Not so with Beyond Rangoon, which I found was beyond the others you have done that I am most familiar with (Emerald Forest, which I need to see again, and Excalibur).

Beyond Rangoon is the story of one woman set against the backdrop of events in Myanmar (Burma). The story makes no attempt to give us a comprehensive picture of those events, just an introduction, but it is a solid introduction. I feel I know a lot more, and I have a sense of connection with those people that I did not have before, however tenuous from my place of privilege.

Overall I found the story moving and filled with meaning. I always like Patricia Arquette, and her leading man in this film is just great. Actually, she's the lead in this film, and that is what is great.

So much of the film is told with film language, that is, images, that I can see some critics being a little impatient with it, but it is probably because they overanalyze and find it fearful to feel anything too deeply.

Anyone out there wondering if this movie is worth it should watch it to find out. It will not be a waste of your time, whether you like it or not.

When an American tourist comes to Burma with her sister to try and move on from the murder of her husband and son. However a midnight walk brings her into the middle of a student demonstration where she loses her passport. Left behind by her tour group she begins tour of discovery through the troubled country led by U Aung Ko. She discovers a world of atrocities that have not been exposed to the media.

There's no denying that there is a great story here – it is a powerful tale of injustice, military rule and massacres that happened away from the public eye. However this film does not really tell that story. Instead it focuses on an American doctor on holiday in Burma who allows us to see all these things. However it comes across like it's about her rather than the country. She is seen as the most important character and we have a subplot about her overcoming the loss of her family in the US. It takes away from the central story and makes this feel like a soap.

Of course it needn't have been like that. It's only a terrible, flat, lifeless performance from Arquette that does this. She is so flat that it's hard to care about her and it comes across even more like a soap. She gives us shock, self-righteous indignation etc all under a monotone voice over than made me want to sleep. She manages to come across as more important than everyone else in the country and it's as she only sees events in terms of how they affect her. Outside of Arquette the support cast are good – U Aung Ko in particular, but McDormand and Grey are OK.

The film continues with Hans Zimmer's standard `Far East' score (compare this to Black Rain to see what I mean) and Arquette discovering herself and spuing philosophy everywhere. However at the end the film acts as a metaphor for why the US didn't know about events in Burma – because no one cares about massive deaths unless a Westerner is involved. We see in on the news everyday – hundreds killed in a third world country is relegated to the end of the news, after a story about what Brittany was wearing that day! But if one American was killed then it would be the lead story with politicians running from all corners to comment on it.

The film manages to take a terrible, emotive story and make it into a beautifully shot drama about one American woman who only sees things in terms of how they affect her. Boorman has a good try but really needed a much better actress to lift the script.

While the movie has its flaws, it brings to light some of the problems that come with living in a country that has no democracy. It makes you empathize with the people under such a government and makes you want to learn more about their lives, their struggles and a potential leader Aung San Suu Kyi. It makes one wonder why our government will interfere places we are not wanted yet ignore those who ask our help.

I first saw Beyond Rangoon years ago, and my interest in South East Asia has kept growing ever since.

Laura's husband and son have just been murdered. Seeing her sink into depression, her sister takes her on a tour of Burma hoping the change will somehow get her back on track. Due to a thoughtless mistake Laura finds herself trapped in the country on her own, finding herself face to face with the exactions of the military dictatorship. She meets an old professor who becomes her only way out of the country. During their escape through the Burmese jungle, tracked by the military, Laura finds herself forced to fight her way back into life. She gradually lets go of her own pain to focus on the country's wounds. And I just love the ending, it's a wise one.

I'd like to answer some other reviewers' comments: Laura is MEANT to be in that comatose don't-give-a-damn state. Arquette's interpretation is spot on. That's the sort of state I'd be in if I had seen the people I cherish the most lying in a pool of blood on my living room floor. This is what makes her wander out of the safety of the US Embassy even though as an intelligent woman she's bound to sense the danger of doing this. What's happened to her has made her almost suicidal, "I was stone myself".

The film is well paced, the acting is good, and the scenery is beautiful. Intense and food for thought, this film will be haunting you for days. That's an 8/10.

So what is Columbia waiting for to release it on DVD ??

This movie was working toward two goals: to make a political point and to tell a scary adventure story. It's often difficult to do make a political point and still tell a good story (consider the highly political but rarely-entertaining final season of Ellen). Beyond Rangoon finds a good balance between politics and storytelling.

I already knew that Aung San Suu Kyi had won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, and knew something about the oppressive political situation in Burma, so the political message of the movie was mostly a dramatization of what I already knew. But I thought the movie did a good job of telling about Aung San Suu Kyi and the mostly-faceless dictators who have for years tried to silence her. The device of presenting an unfamiliar setting through the eyes of a character that viewers can identify with is fairly common, but it's quite well done in this movie.

Of course, the real measure of the movie was its entertainment value. Arquette was excellent as a young woman whose sister took her to a distant, unfamiliar place to shake her out of her depression over the violent deaths of her husband and son. She is convincingly detached and depressed. Her grieving condition gives her a clear reason for her distracted wanderings into the thick of a dangerous situation she does not understand, something she'd otherwise be much too intelligent to stumble into.

Once the dangers become so obvious that she can see through them even through the cloud of grief, she's trapped, with no easy escape. That sets her on a path of adventure where she needs her intelligence to survive. The writers deserve much credit for making her intelligent and resourceful enough to deal with numerous dangerous situations, while still finding a plausible reason for her to be foolish enough to get into trouble in the first place. The directing is strong also, keeping up the tension throughout the race to escape the forces of the dictatorship.

This movie had additional impact on me and my wife because of other events of the same time period. We were preparing for a trip to India, and heard news reports of Western tourists who had been taken hostage by a terrorist group in India. Avoiding isolated terrorists in a peaceful democratic country is quite a different matter from escaping an oppressive dictatorship. But the movie and the news shared the element of avoiding danger in an unfamiliar country. That common characteristic gave the movie meaning beyond the strength of its own skillful storytelling. The movie illustrates the international tourist's worst nightmare.