Beyond Rangoon

1988: Profoundly scarred by the deaths of her husband and son, American doctor Patricia Arquette remains largely unmoved by what she sees around her in Burma, until she is suddenly thrown into the midst of the conflict between the ruling fascist regime and the dissident democracy movement, incarnated here by the wise old tour guide U Aung Ko. While it's hard, finally, to care much about Arquette's road to redemption (especially given her flat and unappealing performance), and while some of the mystical/philosophical homilies advanced by the screenplay simply sound banal, there's no denying Boorman's commitment to the cause of freedom, nor his assured handling of the scenes depicting the larger chaos of a beautiful land torn apart by violence. Illuminating fare.