'This is How We Live'

Thousands of nameless ethnic Burmese escape death by hiding in the jungles and working like slaves. For the first time, they talk about their plight in front of the camera.

By LYNDA LIN, Assistant Editor

The images are stark — ethnic Burmese huddled in masses around makeshift homes in the jungle; in the center, a mother flanked by her two young sons and cradling her feverish baby tells the camera there is no medicine. But in this case Arnold Schwarzenegger does not gallop into the scene on a white steed to liberate the people.

There’s a sort of disconnect between the viewer and subject with documentaries as personally uneasy to consume as these three shorts: “Entrenched Abuse: Forced Labor in Burma”; “No Place to Go: Internally Displaced People in Burma”; and “Burma Report: May 30 Incident.”

We are taught by Hollywood that in the most distressing moments, the alpha male hero swoops in to the rescue. But there is no such star-studded hero here.

There are only the faces and voices of those oppressed and victimized by a militia junta called the State Peace Development Committee (SPDC). Perhaps for the first time, these people are given the opportunity to voice their opinions.

We quickly realize this is not a fun night at the movies. This is real-life and the stage is Burma, a country with one of the worst ruling regimes in the world, according to the United Nations agency that monitors forced labor.

Often, the country’s ethnic population is forced into hard labor with no compensation, driven out of their homes and into a predator versus prey existence in the jungle.

Each face, oddly distinctive and memorable, forms a mosaic that simultaneously arrests and overloads the senses. One woman can’t keep herself from smiling even when talking about the countless times she has had to flee from the SPDC’s tyranny. It’s a very uneasy moment of self-consciousness — the emotionally battered woman flushes with pleasure over the attention of the camera.

Another boy’s stone-face erupts into emotions as he describes his ordeal over being forced into joining the army. “I hate the army,” he pronounces. He is only 12 years old.

The people’s one promise of democracy in the hands of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, came crashing down one bloody day in May. This subject is explored in “Burma Report,” a short by an anonymous director.

These heart-wrenching shorts have been put together by human rights advocacy groups (Witness and Burma Issues) and Asiaworks Television and are primarily comprised of face-to-face testimonies, guerrilla shoots of places cameras are forbidden, and historic file footages.

But the most intriguing scenes involve a single person free-associating with the camera, and this is the element that makes these documentaries so personal and exceptional. We get the feeling that these subjects are speaking from the bottom of their souls, nothing like those contrived “Real World” confessionals.

The films premiered at the Third Annual Amnesty International Film Festival last week, but can now be seen on the Witness Web site.

Sam Gregory, 29, the Witness program manager, said he’s excited the documentaries received the exposure and hopes to make it to other festivals.

The Witness program’s premise of turning the camera on human rights abuses sprang to life in 1992 after the amateur tape of the Rodney King beating dramatized racism. Several people, including musician Peter Gabriel, a current board director, took to the idea of using video to add power to human rights cases. Through video testimonies, the audience can stare into the eyes and listen to the words of those directly affected.

Witness works with other human rights groups, in this case Burma Issues, and trains their activists on technical skills with the camera and social skills on how to help the subjects open up and fully understand the safety implications of appearing in a documentary. These truly embedded activists and filmmakers travel across the border from Thailand to Burma risking their own lives to tell these stories.

In the wake of graphic videos of Iraqi prisoner abuse, Gregory said the goal of the documentaries are not to shock with violence, but to tell a story, understand and take action. These documentaries, funded in part by grants, are key elements to campaigning for change by raising awareness at local and governmental levels.

Gregory got involved with championing for human rights in Burma 14 years ago when working with the Aung San Suu Kyi campaign. In his experience, he has seen many footages of gross abuse, but the images that continue to haunt him most are of people just speaking to the camera.

“In one scene, an old man talks about how the SPDC keeps burning down his home and he says all he wants is a home. It’s a direct statement to the viewer out there of what he wants, which he is not given the opportunity to do in his life. I find that very moving and powerful,” he said.

On June 19, there will be a movement to stay at home in support of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest in Burma. Gregory encouraged people to take action by watching the “Burma Report: May 30 Incident” and talking about the issues.

For more information on Witness, Burma Issues or to watch the documentaries, visit their web site: www.witness.org .