Burma VJ: Reporting From A Closed Country (2009)
XviD | English | 1h 25mins | 640x352 | MPEG-4 @1263kpbs | mp3 @128Kbps | 770 MB
Genre: Documentary
Summary and review: Using smuggled footage, this documentary tells the story of the
2007 protests in Burma by thousands of monks.
EyeForFilm- Guerrilla reporting has its risks and limitations. When the penalty is life in prison, even death, keeping those cameras hidden is of vital importance, which restricts access to a considerable extent, although any pictures coming out of a locked down
country, such as Burma, especially during the monks’ “revolt” of
2007, are of genuine value.
The government decrees that “gatherings of more than five individuals are forbidden”. This is ignored. A day later a curfew is announced in Rangoon and then the violence begins.“They are trying to grab the monks. They are tearing off their clothes.” You see them being thrown into trucks. A Japanese journalist is shot dead in the street. Gunfire can be heard everywhere. Crowds run in panic.
This film is a testament, a witness, a scoop, a cry for help, a recognition, a suppression, a determination to be heard, an act of faith, a murmur of the heart, a defiance, a defeat.