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Beyond Rangoon (1995)
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Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:11
Rotten:18
Average Rating:5.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Director John Boorman's film, inspired by the crackdown of the Burmese military during the late 1980s, stars Patricia Arquette as Laura Bowman, an American doctor. After the violent death of her... Director John Boorman's film, inspired by the crackdown of the Burmese military during the late 1980s, stars Patricia Arquette as Laura Bowman, an American doctor. After the violent death of her husband and child, Laura joins her sister, Andy (Frances McDormand), on a tour of Southeast Asia, hoping that a trip might be therapeutic. While the sisters are in Burma, the demonstrations of political dissidents become violent, and although her sister is able to depart, Laura must stay behind, having lost her passport. After seeking help at the American embassy, she encounters a former college professor, now a dissident supporter, who asks her to help him in eluding the police, an action that she knows will place her in jeopardy. In return, he offers to lead her out of the country across the Thai border. At a train station, he introduces her to a group of rebel students, one of whom is killed when government troops open fire on the crowd. Laura, whose aversion to blood has led her to contemplate leaving her profession, overcomes her problem when her teacher himself is shot and only she can save him. The well-acted film features impressive nature photography by John Seale. [More]
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Adele Lutz, Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Adele Lutz, Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray
Director: John Boorman
Director: John Boorman
Reviews for Beyond Rangoon
Do artists, and those who style themselves as artists, have the right to lie to further their visions?
In place of the backstory on Laura Bowman we need to understand why this woman undertakes her dangerous odyssey, the script races forward with action sequences better suited to co-writer Alex Lasker's earlier Firefox.
Because the film is well acted and directed, and the Malaysian locations are exotic and seductive, I got involved even though the story ... was so clearly concocted.
Arquette's central character makes several rather stupid decisions along the way, but the drama of the political events unfolding around her compensates for it.
Seems less about the horror suffered by the Burmese than the inconvenience suffered by an American tourist who has lost her passport.
Arquette seems out of place, but there's enough quality here to warrant a fair shot.
Absolutely typical of the way Hollywood can take a compelling story, full of genuine characters and heartfelt emotion, then hack it to tiny bits and put it back together, Frankenstein-like, into a sappy, overwrought drama.
As an exercise in art, or even polemics, Beyond Rangoon is beyond redemption, but still works its occasional magic with extraordinary flair.
In attempting to make its politics palatable as entertainment, the film has grafted them onto a boatload of Hollywood implausibilities whose excesses cripple believability.
This is a perennial favorite because of the scenery (it's set in Burma, shot in Malaysia), because of the strong heroine, and because of the mix of politics and adventure.
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