Friday, March 19, 2010

Burma

I had Burma on the brain recently, and all thoughts pointed to documentaries (shocking, I know).

A comic book connoisseur acquaintance was determined to find a comic that could be my entry point into fandom of this genre. I had my doubts, tearing through several options unsuccessfully until he presented me with Guy DeLisle's graphic comic, "Burma Chronicles". I quickly discovered that it was essentially a documentary in comic book form, and boy was I hooked!

The book details via black and white drawings the cartoonist's experience in Burma (officially known as the Union of Myanmar, located in SE Asia), working and caring for his young son while his wife was working with Doctors Without Borders. The country is under authoritative control of the ruling military junta, whose censorship and curtailment of free speech is ongoing and oppressive. So, under challenging circumstances for an artist, he manages to describe the life there in a dry but revealing tone. It's a deeply interesting way to delve into the story of what is happening there, since Burma rarely seems to make the cut with our sorry U.S. news outlets.

I can't wait to dive into his similar chronicles of North Korea and China.

I also attended a screening of the Oscar®-nominated Burma VJ documentary. Having read "Burma Chronicles", I was at least somewhat familiar with the state of this closed country, where video crews are banned. It was still shocking to see many of the horrors captured. This gripping film presents footage shot by an underground troupe of reporters, who manage to capture video of atrocities surrounding a 2007 march by Buddhist monks. These intrepid VJs smuggle the footage out of the country and broadcast it back into Burma and around the world via the internet, knowing they will likely be tortured, imprisoned or killed if discovered. Their footage stands in stark contrast to the propaganda being spread by the ruling military regime.

I'm glad once again that through documentaries - in all their forms - I have a better understanding of what the heck is going on around the globe.

Oy.