One of the themes of this video is that appearances deceive. Behind the serene beauty of the Burmese countryside and culture there is, we are told, a level of coercion and violence worthy of the most blatant tyranny. What the narration might have added is that this two-faced quality of Burma is nothing new; it is the nexus of such colonial accounts as Orwell's
Burmese Days as well as much of the non-fiction writing on post-colonial Burma (See, for example, Lucian Pye,
Politics, Personality, and Nation-Building: Burma's Search for Identity, 1962.).
The political purpose of the video is too direct and its message too urgent to allow for such academic referencing. But that is not to say that the presentation lacks historical grounding altogether. In fact the inclusion of some brief footage depicting colonial military units on parade adds depth to the portrayal of the contemporary Burmese army as arrogant, brutal, and out of control.
The other aspect of Burmese history brought to bear on the discussion of the current situation is, inevitably, an explanation of General Aung San's role in the nationalist movement. This segment leads to discussion of the emergence of his daughter, Aung San Suu Syi, as leader of the Burmese opposition. The filmmakers succeeded in obtaining an interview with Suu Syi at her family home where for the past several years she has been held under house arrest. No more than five minutes of this short interview are included in the video, but it is more than enough to demonstrate Suu Syi's charisma. Her calm and optimistic determination may or may not be persuasive, and this surely will be one of the points of discussion after classroom showing of the video.
At the time of this review (late 1998) Aung Suu Syi is again in the news, challenging her military captors by attempting to travel within the country. The argument about the effects of alternative policies adopted by the rest of the world, a second theme developed in the video, continues unchanged. The reporter in the video, John Pilger, is a controversial Australian reporter well-known for his advocacy of sanctions against governments that violate human rights. In making his case in Inside Burma he introduces such compelling evidence as footage of children at work in hazardous situations, laborers in chains working for the state, and comments to the camera by a British businessman who claims to have first-hand evidence of an arms company's illegal activities in support of the Burmese regime.
Most citizens of Western countries fail to see much connection between their daily lives on the one hand and events in Burma and other repressive nation-states on the other. For some, however, a potential linkage resides in tourism opportunities, an aspect of Burma's national life held up to especially strong criticism in this video. Like foreign investors, tourists help provide the funds necessary for the Burmese military state to maintain itself. Accordingly, Pilger's closing comment about the Burmese people is that "they deserve more than our complicity."
