more and more parallels, or maybe it's just the way i see things
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| They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain (2012) |
really starts off dopey in the beginning and has some weirdly humorous things in the middle because he really has no clue what he got himself into
beautiful footage, good summation of burma i think
some horrifying images from cyclone nargis but is definitely most up to date now
"What I do observe is a land where the precepts of Buddhism are so
embedded that philosophical acceptance is widespread. It is not a
successful nation... and although
its tourist business thrives, the nation (at least as seen here) has not
yet been colonized by fast food and chain stores that make much of the
world look like a Western shopping mall. Even Lieberman, an outspoken
critic of its military regime, loves it." - Roger Ebert
and it's a bit unsettling just how much he loves it, starting off the movie by saying how exotic and culturally intact burma is because of its closed of nature
but at least he comments on the fact that it's dilapidating, it's decaying, its hardly thriving and preserving what is most important which is the human experience.
"Lieberman's film is the only doc about Burma available. I gather he may not be an infallible source."
that is also a lie, good job Roger Ebert.
"The lorry is crammed with Buddhist pilgrims, but Mr Lieberman gives
his attention to another foreigner seated next to him, who quite
ominously explains that the trucks frequently veer off the winding road
as they make their way to the top of the mountain, plunging into deep
ravines and killing everyone on board.
The drivers, the man further explains to the camera, are not bothered by the prospect of dying....But those who live in Myanmar or who possess reasonable knowledge of the
country will immediately recognise the man for what he is: a charlatan
unable to resist the compulsion to impress others with “special
knowledge” about the supposed dangers of visiting “exotic” locales like
Myanmar.
This might seem like a minor point foreigners, but when I’ve described
this scene to Buddhist friends in Yangon who have not seen the film, the
reaction has ranged from mild disapproval to deep shock that a director
could be so poorly informed about the subject of his movie. The handful
of Christians I surveyed were more forgiving.
Some audience members at the January screening in Yangon also
questioned the title of They Call It Myanmar, about which Mr Lieberman
responded that he thought the title was somewhat ambiguous: “I mean, who
is ‘they’?” he asked the audience.
Of course when foreigners talk about Myanmar, particularly those like
Mr Lieberman who make a point of referring to the country as Burma,
there is really only one “they” from which to choose. It would be a
stretch to assume that the word is a reference to the poverty-stricken
people depicted in the film.
....
Mr Lieberman did acknowledge that there has indeed been a different kind
of change, of the sort that is important to people in Myanmar in ways
that most Westerners can barely imagine; that is — to borrow the title
from a book by Aung San Suu Kyi — the freedom from fear."
http://www.mmtimes.com/2012/timeout/621/timeout62104.html
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