Fighting the Odds
source : The Nation
BY PIMPAKA TOWIRA
A BURMESE epic drama made from a populsr historical novel has become the highest grossing movie in Burma, but can it get Burmese film industry off the ground?
While movies made in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia have received welcome exposure at overseas film festivals over the past couple of years, those made in Burma and the Lao PDR are rarely screened beyond the borders of those countries. Which is why it was so exciting to get the opportunity to see a film which has been hugely popular in Burma.
Entitled Thu-Kyun-ma-khan-pyi (Never Shall We Be Enslaved), this three-hour epic with subtitles in English was screened during a conference held at Chulalongkorn University last month to discuss the topic "From Fact to Fiction: A History of Thai-Myanmar Relations in Cultural Context." Its veteran director, Kyi Soe Tun, says this is the first time this movie has been shown outside Burma.
Made in 1996, Never Shall We Be Enslaved was a smash hit when it opened the following year, with many Burmese going to see it two or more times. It is based on a popular historical novel of the same name written in 1958 by a lecturer at the University of Mandalay named Tatkatho Phone Naing (aka Khin Maung Tint). The book is imbued with the sense of gloom which descended on Yatana Bon (now Mandalay) in 1885, the year the British took complete control of Burma and sent its royal family into exile in India. The novel was first serialised in the monthly magazine Myawady, starting in April, 1959. It was published in book form in October that year and since then has been reprinted no less than eight times. It was translated into Russian in 1970.
Two unsuccessful attempts were made to adapt the novel for the big screen. Finally Kyi Soe Tun got the project on the road with help from Dr Myo Thant Tyn, chairman of the Khattiya Institute of Technical Services (who acted as producer), and Chit Oo Nyo (aka Kyaw Zwa) who wrote the screenplay. The latter is a veteran writer and consultant to Burma's Ministry of Culture.
"I first read this novel when I was about 15 or 16," said Kyi Soe Tun. "It has interested me ever since because not only is it based on a true story but the love affair between the two main protagonists is very romantic."
British forces based in India annexed Burma piecemeal between 1826 and 1885. During what is now called the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852-53), the British took control of the delta of the Irrawaddy River. The film opens at this point. King Mindon Min of Burma (reigned 1853-78) has ordered his army to cease resistance but two of his generals decide to fight on: Myat Tun, a brave military commander in lower Burma, and his comrade-in-arms, a Shan chieftain named Saw-bwa of Theinni. Faced with the overwhelming superiority in modern weaponry enjoyed by the British, both men are subsequently killed.
The movie then moves forward to the late 19th century and we meet Bo Thurain, son of the slain Myat Tun, and Saw Shin Oo, daughter of the Shan chieftain. The pair are deeply in love. Disgusted with the misgovernment and the injustices perpetrated by Mindon Min's successor, King Thibaw, and his queen, Suphayar Lat, Bo Thurain sets up a secret society. The intention is to dethrone Thibaw and replace him with his wise and popular half-brother Prince Nyaungyang whom, the group believes, is enlightened enough to accept the change from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy.
Bo Thurain and Saw Shin Oo are kindred spirits bound together by love, patriotism and common political aims. However their efforts to have King Thibaw removed become irrelevant in the face of another invasion by British forces, the short-lived Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. With their homeland under threat, Burmese people of all political persuasions and ethnic background unite to fight the British. Saw Shin Oo is fatally wounded during a fierce skirmish and dies in her lover's arms.
In the last scene of the movie, one of Bo Thurain's lieutenants tries to lift his spirits: "Don't think back, comrade," he exhorts. "Let us move forward. Look! That star! Isn't that star our future and hope."
For a brief instant, we see a light shining from Bo Thurain's eyes (the light of hope?) before he flicks the reins and rides away on his horse. The implication is that Bo Thurain's loyal lieutenant is also directing his words to the Burmese nation as a whole. The director, Kyi Soe Tun, said he thinks his compatriots should learn more about themselves before they point the finger of blame at foreign countries or citizens.
Adds Dr Sunait Chutintaranond, a Thai historian who specialises in Thai-Burmese relations: "The movie portrays some errors which exist in Burma's culture and society. It is time for them [Burmese people] to realise this and think about it."
In 1920, Ohn Maung, owner of a photographic studio in Rangoon, made a documentary on the funeral of a Burmese dignitary named Tun Shein. The film brought him recognition both at home and aboard, earning him the title "father of Burmese cinema". However, in the years since achieving independence in 1948, Burma's film industry has failed to live up to its early promise.
According to Kyi Soe Tun, between 1970 and 1980 an average of 100 full-length features were being produced there annually. However, more widespread access to television sets and video-tape players in the years since then has had a disastrous effect on the industry.
"We're now putting out only about 20 new movies per year," he said. "More and more videos are being produced because a lot of people prefer to watch movies at home rather than going out to the cinema."
Like most of its neighbours, Burma imports foreign, especially Hollywood and Indian, movies. The former are apparently more popular since the English soundtrack obviates the need to add subtitles in local languages. Another major problem facing film-makers in Burma is the lack of high-quality cameras and other equipment and the dearth of good film-processing laboratories and post-production facilities. At present, there is only one modern film-processing machine in the whole country; and it is owned by the government.
Then there's the issue of official censorship. Before a shoot can begin, the script must be approved by a board appointed by the authorities in Rangoon. The final product must be passed by the same board before it can be released.
Like other Burmese directors, Kyi Soe Tun had to learn his profession by trial and error. Since there is no school in his country specialising in film-making, he had to spend three years picking up the tricks of the trade before setting out to make his feature debut in 1980.
"I had to learn, step by step, the skills needed to be a location manager, art director, production designer, editor and scriptwriter."
Now 55, Kyi Soe Tun has made almost 40 movies to date. Downstream, the first of his films to be shown outside Burma, was screened here during the 1995 BOI Film Festival. With a budget of four billion kyat (around US$1.14 million), his Never Shall We Be Enslaved is the most expensive film ever made in Burma; and with box-office receipts in the region of six billion kyat (US$1.7 million), it is also the highest grossing Burmese movie of all time. A special camera had to be imported from the UK and the final processing and printing of the film carried out in Beijing.
Comparisons are inevitable with the historical epic Suriyothai which, although not yet complete, has already cost more than any Thai-language movie ever made. Kyi Soe Tun has a lot of admiration for its director, Than Mui (MC Chatrichalerm Yugula), whom he met at the 1996 Rotterdam International Film Festival where Than Mui's Siadai was being screened.
"I'd like to make a film like Suriyothai," said Kyi Soe Tun after seeing the "rough cut" of a battle scene from the movie at last month's seminar in Bangkok.
Unless conditions for film-making in Burma improve very rapidly and very soon, he'll have an uphill struggle to realise this ambition.