100
Empire
Captivating and essential viewing.
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country (Burma VJ: Reporter i et lukket land)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Denmark,
- Sweden,
- Norway,
- United Kingdom,
- United States,
- Germany,
- Netherlands,
- Israel,
- Spain,
- Belgium,
- Canada
- 2008
- · 84m
Director
Anders Østergaard
Cast
George W. Bush,
Ko Muang,
Aung San Suu Kyi
Genre
Documentary
An inside look at the 2007 uprising in Myanmar where 100,000 people peacefully took to the streets to protest the repressive governmental regime. The military turned their guns on the protesters and foreign reporters were banned, but a collective of thirty heroic underground citizen video journalists secretly videotaped what they saw.
Stream Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
What are critics saying?
100
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
Filmmaking at its most fearless, with Ostergaard creating a suspenseful, harrowing account of his original key subject, known only as "Joshua."
100
Empire by Sam Toy
Captivating and essential viewing.
90
Village Voice
There was no happy ending, but if Burma VJ's account of the efficacy of dictatorship threatens to crush you, the sight of a sturdy young back disappearing into the mountains, returning from a Thailand hideout for another round of bearing witness, should make your heart burst.
90
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
A rich, thought-provoking film.
90
Village Voice by Ella Taylor
There was no happy ending, but if Burma VJ's account of the efficacy of dictatorship threatens to crush you, the sight of a sturdy young back disappearing into the mountains, returning from a Thailand hideout for another round of bearing witness, should make your heart burst.
89
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
It's the truth, unshackled and captured against all odds, and it's one of the most powerful documentary films I have ever seen, period.
88
Boston Globe by Ty Burr
Burma VJ’ retorts that eyes and ears are everywhere in our ever-tightening global communications mesh. Voices, too, and they get heard. The generals and the ayatollahs have every right to be scared.
80
The Hollywood Reporter
In preparing Burma VJ, Ostergaard decided to reconstruct some scenes with scripted dialogue -- in part to explain events, but also to protect the participants. This material, shot in darkened offices and apartments, feels both accurate and necessary.
80
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Anyone who doubts that a single individual can make a political impact should see Anders Østergaard’s gripping documentary.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Daniel Eagan
In preparing Burma VJ, Ostergaard decided to reconstruct some scenes with scripted dialogue -- in part to explain events, but also to protect the participants. This material, shot in darkened offices and apartments, feels both accurate and necessary.
80
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
Thanks to the new guerrilla narrative, the world has a constant flow of images to file in its collective consciousness. And that camera-testable accountability slowly becomes a global civic right that fulfills the noblest purpose of journalism -- to bring truth to power.
75
San Francisco Chronicle by Walter Addiego
The most compelling footage was taken during the uprising of August and September 2007, which put a bad scare into the government because a large number of Buddhist monks played a prominent role.
70
Variety
Has some style as well as compelling content.
50
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
The news footage, so powerful on its own, needs no enhancement. The dramatized scenes only slow the film's momentum.
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