BurmaVJ

Release Date (UK) - 17 July 2009

Certificate (UK) - 12A

Country - Denmark

Director - Anders Østergaard

Runtime - 89 mins

DVB, The Democratic Voice of Burma is a media organisation based in Oslo that broadcasts uncensored TV and radio back into Burma. Their film footage is all shot in Burma by video journalist's (VJ's) who risk there lives by doing so as the brutal Burmese ruling Junta do not allow any filming and the footage has to be smuggled out of the country in order to be broadoast to Burma and the international media.

The (varying quality) of VJ's footage shown is mostly focused on the months of the 2007 Burma uprising as Monks led protests in the streets of Ragoon. These scenes are assembled into a linear narrative by focusing on 'Joshua' (names are changed and faces are occasionally blurred out for peoples own personal safety), a DVB filmmaker who had fled to Thailand and was coordinating the filmmakers back in Ragoon. There are reconstructed scenes of him organising the VJs and passing on messages as to where they should be filming as various protests and events occur but the phone calls and film editing scenes occasionally feel a little over the top, created just to heighten mood and tension, but they are definitely needed for the full story to be told well.

The footage of scenes of the uprising speaks for itself and the scenes build up from those of the peaceful political protests to scenes in the final quarter of the film of real brutality as the military attack the Monks and civilians. Here the shocking state of Burma really sinks in and the film will make everyone who watches it want to help in anyway they can - many of the VJ's in the film are now political prisoners and this film is trying to highlight the campaign to free them. Its great that these brutal scenes aren't pushed too heavily earlier in the film, up until then the concentration has simply been on the film journalists methods as otherwise it would be almost too harrowing to watch.

The only criticism of the film I have is in that it assumes a viewers knowledge of the basic history of Burma and doesn't really give any background info into the history of Burmas culutre and military rule. This unfortunately will limit any mainstream appeal it could have, and is perhaps a part explanation to this wonderful documentary's limited release.