Danish filmmaker Anders Ostergaard was in Myanmar to do a half-hour portrait on a young member of the Democratic Voice of Burma, an underground group of video journalists determined to document the oppressive conditions in the country, when suddenly, in September 2007, the Buddhist monks’ rebellion broke out.
It had been sparked by the military government’s decision to lift fuel subsidies, causing some fuel prices to jump as much as 500 percent overnight.
“Burma VJ” — for video journalist — is filmmaking at its most fearless.
Ostergaard creates a suspenseful, harrowing account of “Joshua,” whose face is never seen, and his colleagues risking their lives to record the “Saffron Rebellion” and its dire consequences in order that the whole world could see a brave attempt to challenge one of the most brutal and repressive military dictatorships on the planet.
Democratic Voice of Burma was able to transmit its images via satellite to Oslo; one of the strongest is that of the bloody corpse of a monk floating face-down in a creek.
The public, with large numbers of students, began joining the monks in their demonstrations.
Yet history repeated itself: As with the 1988 uprising that the military forcefully crushed, this rebellion, too, was put down with the utmost brutality.
While several of his colleagues were caught and face life imprisonment, Joshua survived to continue to dedicate his life to showing what’s really going on in his country.
“BURMA VJ.”
Not rated but with disturbing images. 1 hour, 10 minutes. Written and directed by Anders Ostergaard. Opens today at Starz FilmCenter.
