BEYOND RANGOON
US, 1995, 99 minutes, Colour.
Patricia Arquette, U Aung Ko, Frances Mc Dormand, Spalding Gray
Directed by John Boorman
Director John Boorman has been an effective movie storyteller for almost forty years (Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, Hope and Glory). Here he uses the familiar structure and conventions of the action chase but pauses dramatically before he goes into action to re-create beautifully a walk by Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, through the streets of Rangoon. She walks majestically and memorably through the night lights to the cheers of the crowds. When troops bar the way, rifles poised, she looks the soldiers in the eye and calmly moves through their ranks. She quietly smiles. It is more than enough to persuade Patricia Arquette's Laura Bowman to believe in her. And the audience, with the knowledge of hindsight, see in her the peace and democratic hopes of the people.
But an American being the central character in a specifically Asian story (like The Year of Living Dangerously, The Killing Fields or City of Joy) raises questions of political correctness, of why the Burmese themselves are not the principal focus and why we are presented with an abrasive American character who seems to be culturally unaware and endangers the lives of people who sacrifice themselves for her.
The answer is that Beyond Rangoon is a movie `entertainment', not a documentary, made for a Western audience, using Western cinema styles and techniques. A Burmese film would be entirely different in focus. Boorman capitalises on the fact that his audience will so identify with Laura and her trying to use her wits and decide what must be done that we will experience her fear and uncertainties - how we might act if we were in similar situations.
1. The title, the focus on Burma, the military dictatorship, the 1980s, Aung San Suu Kyi and her moral authority, political authority, the demonstrations of 1988, the elections of 1990, the military continuing in power? The home imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi? The film made in the mid-'90s - and the subsequent history of Myanmar? The use of Malaysian locations for Myanmar? The city, the monuments, the streets, the countryside, the river? The musical score?
2. The Buddhist background of Myanmar, the statues, the temples, the spirituality of suffering, endurance? The presence of the monks? The military dictatorship versus Buddhist traditions?
3. The film as Laura Bowman's personal journey, a naïve American, petulant and belligerent, her own personal tragedy, discovering her husband and son dead, her memories and dreams of them, having to let go of them? The tourism, her relationship with her sister, her sister's concern? Her going out into the streets, seeing the demonstration, Aung San Suu Kyi and her heroism? A transformation for her? Her journey in Rangoon, the riots, getting her passport again? The encounter with the professor, going to the countryside, the Buddhist monastery and what it meant, meditation, prayer? Friendship, being able to speak to the professor? The dangers, the car, the students? Her discovering the realities of Burma? The dangers, the boat, coming out of the train and rescuing the professor, the death of the student? Her going into the town to get the medicines, the confrontation with the colonel, her shooting him? The continued journey, the military, the students, the flight? The group, the river, the shootings and the mines? What she had gone through and what she had discovered, coming to life again, broader concerns, her role as a doctor? Her future?
4. The film as a story for westerners discovering the East, history and politics, oppression, spirituality, the need for justice and action?
5. Aung San Suu Kyi and her historical role in Burma, the importance of the march of 1988, the demonstrators, her calm and dignity, the rifles raised, her advancing, walking quietly through the soldiers and their not shooting her? The acclaim of the students? Her example as liberation for Laura? For women and men in Myanmar? The later history of her house arrest, her husband's death, her final freedom in 2002?
6. The professor, as a tourist guide, approaching Laura? His offering to guide her, the car, his explanations of the situation, her being able to talk to him? The bribes getting through? Getting her on the train, his being beaten, her rescuing him, the boat, the medicine in the town? The continued flight, going to the students? Their having to flee because of martial law? His getting across the river with her? Meeting his daughter and granddaughter? A symbol of the wisdom of the East?
7. The students, their protests, the demonstrations in Rangoon, the imposition of martial law, the military shooting and killing them, defenceless? The parallel with Tiananmen Square at the same time?
8. The violence in Burma, in the streets, military law, martial law, the soldiers presented and their killing, the shooting of the demonstrators, the military at the Thai border? The colonel and his confrontation with Laura and the attempt to rape her? Her shooting him?
9. The countryside, the ordinary people, fearful, helping? The liberation at the Thai border and the hopes for the future?
10. The supporting cast, especially the westerners: Laura's sister and her concern for the trip, the passports, the embassy officials, the tour guide, the photographer who got out the photos to the West.
11. The mid-90's perspective on Myanmar in the late 80s? The history of Myanmar and of Aung San Suii Kyi?
