Anders Østergaard’s Burma VJ celebrates the courage of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a group of underground video journalists who risked their lives to document the 2007 uprising against the military junta. The film is a collage of footage shot by the anonymous “VJs” themselves, tied together with scene-setting reconstructions of the then-DVB’s tactical leader, code-named “Joshua” who co-ordinates the coverage from Thailand whilst in hiding.
Haunted by the memories of the junta’s brutal crackdown on the Burmese people in the early 1990s when they were defeated in the election by Aung San Suu Kyi, Joshua and his colleagues fear that an entire generation will miss the chance to even understand the meaning of democracy let alone experience it.
Risking everything, the DVB cover the emergence of the usually passive Buddhist monks who come to symbolise anti-government sentiment. Their images of non-compliance spread around the world in spite of the government’s ban on foreign journalists, spurring on yet more acts of bravery.
The majority of the footage is shaky and blurred, captured on easily-hid handheld camcorders. The seemingly amateurish result of such precautions are totally understandable in such extreme circumstances and only help to increase an already heightened sense of jeopardy. The use of modern communications and internet technologies is cleverly deployed throughout the film, not only to show how the VJs cope with remaining anonymous while keeping in contact, but also to help the audience connect on a more personal level with those in danger.
We witness a society on the edge of starvation waking up to confront the tyrants that starve them. The emergence of hope in this movement is shared by the audience; elation surfs on the wave of new media technology only to be dashed by the inevitable crackdown. The cameras are there recording it in gruesome detail but can do little to stop it.
Østergaard has created an immersive experience, making you feel as if you are right there with the oppressed and could be subject to the same terrible fate at any moment. Such audience engagement is essential to truly understand what the Burmese are going through.
Time may tell a story similar to the fall of totalitarian regimes past, but this documentary is pragmatic and does not lean towards eternal optimism or utter despair. For once it does what a documentary really should – it tells the truth.
Informative, disturbing and completely unmissable, Burma VJ is close to documentary perfection.
[etRating value=“ 4.5”]
