ARTS & ARCHITECTURE351uk), which includes interviews conducted with the Burmese comic
Zargana in 2007 before he was sentenced to 35 years in jail for his politi-
cal activities; and the Oscar-nominated Burma VJJJ.
Filmed in the summer of 2009, Altered Focus: Burmaa (www.hotknees.
com/media/Altered_Focus.php) is a 19-minute documentary following
three young British fi lm-makers and skateboarders as they share their love
of skateboarding with local enthusiasts in Yangon and volunteer to teach
English at a school in Mandalay. There is politics here but it's great to
see something about people in Myanmar having some fun, as well as to
discover Yangon’s skate park just opposite the national football stadium.
John Boorman’s Beyond Rangoon, a political tract/action fl ick set dur-
ing the 1988 uprisings, had Georgetown, Penang, do a credible turn as
the nation’s then-turbulent capital. It starred several Myanmar actors,
including Aung Ko, who plays an elderly guide to Patricia Arquette’s
American tourist galvanised into political activist. Another Myanmar ac-
tor, Win Min Than, was cast opposite Gregory Peck in 1954’sThe Purple
Plain, the most credible of several WWII dramas set in Myanmar.
Fighting more recent wars is Sylvester Stallone who returned to one
of his most famous roles inRambo ( 2008 ). This time Vietnam Vet John
Rambo takes on the Tatmadaw, a whole platoon of which he mows down
at the movie’s climax with a jeep-mounted machine gun!
It’s a cert that no such dramatics will be part of Luc Bresson’sThe
Lady, in production during the research period of this book. The docu-
mentary Lady of No Fear, directed by Anne Gyrithe Bonne, also focuses
on Aung San Suu Kyi. For more about both productions, see p 352.
Myanmar’s lack of copyright laws means those same DVD sellers will
happily off er you the latest Hollywood or overseas product; during our
2011 visit all the Oscar nominees and more were available.
The inaugural
Burmese Arts
Festival (http://
burmeseartsfes
tival.com), held in
London in 2010,
featured many
contemporary
artists, including
the Burmese
Theatre Work-
shop and former
political prison
Htein Lin.