Beyond Rangoon |  | Director: John Boorman
Actors: Patricia Arquette, U Aung Ko, Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray, Tiara Jacquelina
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.97
Buy New: $11.96
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Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 34836
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Japanese (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 1000035825
UPC: 883929003068
EAN: 0883929003068
ASIN: B00005JN7T
Theatrical Release Date: August 25, 1995
Release Date: May 26, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | A young San Francisco widow is swept into a political uprising in Burma after her sister reluctantly drags her on a Southeast Asia tour.Running Time: 92 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R Age: 883929003068 UPC: 883929003068 Manufacturer No: 1000035825 |
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/26/2009 Run time: 92 minutes Rating: R
Amazon.com
Working at the top of his form, John Boorman is a director who can pursue the poetry of his personal obsessions within the framework of a dynamic thriller and not shortchange the film. Beyond Rangoon involves a journey into unfamiliar territory: the rivers, jungles, and war-torn backcountry of Burma in 1988; But it also ventures into the mythic Arthurian terrain of such seemingly disparate films as Excalibur, Point Blank, and Deliverance. This time, uniquely in this director's work, the quester is a woman. American doctor Laura Bowman (Patricia Arquette) regards her life as having ended after the brutal murder of her husband and their little boy by home invaders. Her sister (Frances McDormand) has persuaded her to come along on a sightseeing tour of Burma. The trip leaves Laura numb until, impulsively venturing into the night alone, she becomes witness to a crisis moment in history: the beginning of the military dictatorship's violent crackdown on the rising democracy movement. The sight of Aung San Suu Kyi, the dissidents' inspirational leader, facing down a wall of armed soldiers with only the power of serene self-possession inspires Laura (an amazing scene--and it really did happen). But that's only the beginning of Laura’s movement toward enlightenment, and back to life. Beyond Rangoon abounds in memorable encounters--with individuals variously supportive and terrifying, and with locations and situations where hope and catastrophe trade off like valences of the same energy. As critic Kathleen Murphy has noted, "It's as though the fabric of reality shivers like water, racking focus into a new, altered pattern of experience." (Case in point: the startling image of a car's rear window star-shattered by a pursuer's bullet as Laura drives down an almost nonexistent jungle road--the pursuit car sharply irised in the bullet hole.) Boorman makes us feel the total chaos of a spectacularly beautiful land that is not only at the mercy of a brutal regime but utterly cut off from an outside world that doesn't, can't, know what's happening there. In this, Boorman's movie immeasurably increased awareness of Burma's tragedy, but it hasn't prevented the government of what's now called Myanmar from keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest more than 20 years later. --Richard T. Jameson
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 47
 Beyond Rangoon. February 1, 2010
LHM (Broomall, PA)
based on true happenings in Burma/Myanmar and relevant for today as this is still going on. Well shot film and well worth viewing.
Well crafted July 30, 2009
Andrew Reid
Well crafted film by John Boorman. Haunting in some places, intense throughout. I was surprised at the strength of Patricia Arquette's performance. It is a cut above her previous work.
Worth saving for a rainy day with no other distractions.
5 Stars + July 13, 2009
Renaud Hulin (Cork, Eire)
We have been waiting for so long... The DVD has finally been released at a time where we would expected a bluray... but still absolutely perfect.
Patricia Arquette in her best role ever, and a music so beautiful that you can easily listen it as a stand-alone.
The movie is purely and simply one of my favorite. I saw it in a theater years ago and since, never felt that the story was losing its attract. At a time when the sympathy of the people is linked to the headlines and soon vanishes, we should not lose from sight the fact that though the movie has ended well (or not so), the situation has not changed in Burma.
Please buy this DVD to your friends as the truth must be heard!
 Still Informative! July 12, 2009
P Sutcliffe (Mx Mexico)
Had been waiting for this dvd. Eventhough some of the scenes I remember from the original have been cut off, after all these years it sadly amazes me that many people around the world still have no idea who the Nobel Laurate is!!!!! Movies should cause curiosity, specially in the case of Aung San Suu Kyi and her country Myanmar. I had the opportunity to visit Burma 3 yrs. ago. Thanks originally to this movie I had done my research. The people I encountered are VERY afraid to even mention her name.She is called the "Lady" in as many languages as the brave tour guide speaks!!!...it's an entertaining way to get cultivated.
A River of Grief May 10, 2009
Bobby Underwood (Manly NSW, Australia)
Patricia Arquette is excellent as a young woman numb with grief who slowly comes to terms with being left behind after her husband and young son are murdered in their home during a robbery. When she travels to Burma to vacation with her sister, Andy (Frances McDormand), she finds a country in as much pain as she is and slowly finds the purpose she so desperately needs. Based on actual events, John Boorman deftly weaves on a large loom the fine thread of Laura Bowman's intimate story with the thicker yarn of a country fighting for democracy.
Laura (Arquette) and her sister, Andy (Frances McDormand), are on vacation in Burma, two American tourists enjoying a boat ride down a beautifully scenic river in Burma. Laura has been brought here by her sister in the hopes it will help her move forward after she has lost everything she loved. Though Laura seems stoic, there is tremendous pain just beneath the surface, emotions so strong she dare not let herself feel them. She has walked away from her life as a doctor because she could not heal herself and is drifting on a boat of sorrow.
Boorman shows us a visually beautiful country, that like Arquette, has deep emotions just below the surface. One night in her hotel room Laura hears a demonstration in the streets and is drawn to it, witnessing firsthand the call for freedom as one woman fearlessly calls for democracy in the midst of soldiers sent to stop her. That woman is Aung Suu Kui (Adelle Lutz). The soldiers are, in a larger sense, her sons and brothers, and she bravely walks to them and lowers their weapons.
When Laura is separated from her sister she forms a friendship with an elderly teacher and a group of young students who are seeking change. She learns of the government crackdown that has cost many their lives, as soldiers have fired into crowds of young students. Laura wonders why the world has not heard about this but learns that no photo journalists are allowed to send words or pictures outside of the country. Cut off from her family, Laura must make her way, along with the others, to Thailand, for safety. She will risk her life on more than one occasion as they make their way through the lush jungle and down the beautiful rivers of Rangoon.
Laura has found a place for her grief to dwell as she has unknowingly come to a place where millions are grieving. A transformation occurs within Laura as she begins to live again, and in doing so starts the healing process. "Beyond Rangoon" is a film about the struggle for political change and the struggle within ourselves to find redemption. Arquette gives a subtle performance as Laura, dead on the surface, but filled with anguish underneath.
Laura, who has begun to feel again, will make a decision at the end of this film that will alter the direction of her life forever. Travel down the beautiful waters of Irrawaddy with Arquette as she navigates her way through a river of grief, and discovers the reason she was left behind. This is a region two import, for those who shop outside the U.S. and need such, but it is worthy to note this film is finally getting a region one, U.S. and Canada release in June (2009). It is long overdue. Fans of Medium and Arquette will enjoy this film greatly. It is a journey worth taking.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 47
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