Dir.
Anders Ostergaard, Denmark, 2008, 89 mins
Documentary
Review by
Joyce Dundas
The immediacy and unpolished look of Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country 's hand-held footage adds an extra layer of danger to what is actually being shown in this guerrilla film of the Burmese monks' Saffron Revolution in 2007.
The footage from the video journalists, who risked their life using hidden cameras to film the atrocities dealt out by the military to bring this peaceful revolution to a tragic end, has been put together by Anders Ostergaard, the award-winning documentary maker.
As more than 100,000 people, including monks dressed in saffron robes and students took to the streets to protest against the dictatorship that has ruled the country for more than 40 years. The Democratic Voice of Burma, as these journalist called themselves, decided to film what was banned to foreign news media. And the results are shocking.
The film is the brainchild of Joshua, who from the relative safety of Thailand sent the VJs to film the abuses. They would then smuggle the footage back to Joshua who managed to broadcast it back to Burma and the world.
The plight of Burma tends to slip off the pages of Western newspapers as it compete with other more immediate atrocities each day and films about the situation in the country are even more rare ? the constant threat of persecution and even death mean that film-makers are afraid to expose the reality. But the might of the military junta which still runs the country is no less in evidence and it is keen that the outside world know as little as possible about affairs in Rangoon .
Burma's most famous prisoner of conscience, Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Prime Minister elect, has been under house arrest for 13 out of the past 19 years, as her pro-democracy stance is treated as a crime. However, she is seen by the monks as a spiritual leader and is beloved by the Burmese people, which is why she is restrained where she can have as little influence as the ruling party will allow. The demonstrators were demanding her release and the footage of the monks praying at the gates to her house is extremely moving.
The film is understandably short, it's not like they could have more than one take, but its impact lasts much longer. It deserves to be seen for many reasons not least that the film-makers risked their life to bring it to the screen. It has also rekindled interest in the Burmese situation, which is no bad thing.
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