Columbia (Castle Rock Entertainment)
The heart and intent of John Boorman’s exotic political melodrama (which he also produced) are in the right place, but the narrative is rambling, and the characterization is flawed, lacking any credibility—-even by Hollywood’s standards.
Grade: C+ (** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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The protagonist is Laura Bowman (played by Patricia Arquette), an American tourist who vacations in Burma (now known as Myanmar) in 1988, the year in which the 8888 Uprising takes place.
Andy Bowman persuades her sister Laura to go on a trip to Burma after Laura’s husband and son were murdered during home invasion and Laura had gone into a deep depression.
One night, unable to sleep because of nightmares, Laura leaves her hotel in Rangoon and gets caught up in an anti-government protest.
Bowman joins, initially unintentionally, political rallies with university students protesting for democracy, and travels with the student leader U Aung Ko throughout Burma.
There, they witness the brutality of the military dictatorship of the Ne Win Regime and attempt to escape to Thailand.
The film was mostly shot in Malaysa, and, though it’s a fictional work, it was inspired by real people and real events.
Boorman is a good director and so the movie is well-produced with impressive production values and lush cinematography, but these factors only partially help grounding this melodrama in a particular historical and political context.
Broadly speaking, the movie belongs to the sub-genre of “Naïve American Abroad.”
A colleague of mine dismissed the film as “Beyond Rangoon is Beyond Belief.”
Greeted with mixed to negative reviews, the movie was a big commercial failure.
Critical Status:
The film was an official selection at the 1995 Cannes Film Fest.
Reel/Real Impact:
The film had a real impact: Just weeks into its European run, the Burmese military junta freed Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi (depicted in the film) after several years under strict house arrest. The celebrated democracy leader thanked the filmmakers in her first interview with the BBC.
Suu Kyi was re-arrested a few years later, but Beyond Rangoon had already helped raise attention on previously “invisible” tragedy: the massacres of 1988 and the cruelty of her country’s military rulers.
Cast
Patricia Arquette as Laura Bowman
Frances McDormand as Andy Bowman
U Aung Ko as U Aung Ko
Johnny Cheah as Min Han
Adelle Lutz as Aung San Suu Kyi
Spalding Gray as Jeremy Watt
Tiara Jacquelina as San San, Hotel Desk Clerk
Kuswadinata as Colonel at Hotel
Victor Slezak as Mr. Scott
Jit Murad as Sein Htoo
Ye Myint as Zaw Win
Cho Cho Myint as Zabai
Credits:
Directed by John Boorman
Written by Alex Lasker, Bill Rubenstein
Produced by Boorman, Sean Ryerson, Eric Pleskow, Barry Spikings
Cinematography John Seale
Edited by Ron Davis
Music by Hans Zimmer
Production company: Castle Rock Entertainment
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates: June 30, 1995 (UK); Aug 25, 1995 (US)
Running time: 99 minutes
Budget $23 million
Box office $14.7 million
