THE LADY

By Naw May Lay

“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”         Aung San Suu Kyi

This is very significant phrases highlighted in the recently released historical movies "THE LADY". This movie is the extraordinary story of Aung San Suu Kyi, the fearless daughter of General Aung San, the hero of Burma's (today commonly known as Myanmar) freedom struggle.

She is the Iron Lady of Burma.

In 1947, when Aung San Suu Kyi was two years old, her father led Burma to independence. But soon afterwards, on 19 July 1947, he along with a group of his colleagues was assassinated by a military death squad.

 

As an adult, she went to England, found a loving husband and had a happy family life. But in 1988, her mother's poor health forced her to return to Burma where her father, Aung San, is still widely remembered.

When she visited her mother in the hospital in 1988, she met many of her people were wounded during the military's crackdown in the 8888 Uprising (demonstration events in 8th August 1988). She realized that political change was needed in Burma. She accepted the role of icon in support of self-determination by the Burmese people and devoted herself to activities in support of goals of greater political freedoms.

Suu Kyi founded a political party (National League for Democracy-NLD) and clearly won the 1990 elections. However, the Burmese military refused to accept the result of the election and moved to bring Suu Kyi under control. She and her family became separated when her husband and children were banned from Burma and she was put under a house arrest for more than a decade.

Due to her family's efforts, she became the first woman in Asia to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet their separation continued because neither could Suu Kyi attend the ceremony nor could her husband Michael Aris see her one last time before his early death.

The reveals the true history of Aung San Suu Kyi and it was mainly pointed out the endure love of her and her husband rather than political points.

It is a French-English co-production directed by Luc Besson, starring Michelle Yeoh as Aung San Suu Kyi and David Thewlis as her late husband Michael Aris. Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest when the movie was created. But she has been released in November 2010. Her party won many seats during bi-election in April 2012 and now she, as one of parliament members, has being involved in reforming the Burma as democratic country.

Concerning with THE LADY, Aung San Suu Kyi said she would hesitate to watch the film because she wasn't too sure to be up to it already, although she asked for a copy while the movie director, Luc Besson, visited her house.

Soe Hok Gie- Seorang Pemuda Yang Pemberani A Brave Young Demonstrantor By Windu

Cerita tentang Soe Hok Gie diangkat dari kisah nyata yang tercantum dalam catatan-catatan yang ia torehkan dalam buku harian Soe Hok Gie. Soe Hok Gie yang akrab dipanggil Soe semasa kecilnya dilahirkan dalam keluarga keturunan Tionghoa di daerah Jakarta pada tahun 1942. Soe besar dan tumbuh di tengah-tengah keadaan Indonesia yang saat itu sedang bergejolak. Indonesia yang pada tahun-tahun 1960an dipimpin oleh Soekarno, Presiden pertama Indonesia masih menggambarkan bagaimana rakyat Indonesia hidup di tengah kemiskinan dan kebebasan sendiri tidak seperti apa yang disiarkan oleh radio-radio pada tahun itu. 

The story about Soe Hok Gie was based on true story from his diary. Soe Hok Gie who was called Soe or Hok Gie was a Chinese-Indonesian born in Jakarta in 1942. Soe Hok Gie grew up in the middle of uncertainty in Indonesia. In 1960s Indonesia was led by Soekarno, first president of Indonesia, the situation was described by poverty and without freedom, far from what all government's radio said everyday.

Jiwa kepemimpinan dan jiwa ingin membawa Indonesia menjadi lebih baik dan makmur telah tumbuh semenjak ia duduk di bangku SMP. Jiwanya yang tak ingin kalah oleh keadaan, yang selalu memberontak terhadap ketidakadilan makin tumbuh ketika ia lulus dari jenjang sekolah SMA dan memulai belajarnya di Universitas Indonesia. Soe Hok Gie banyak bertemu teman-teman yang memiliki pemikiran dan pandangan yang sama akan pembaharuan di Indonesia, ia juga mencintai Alam, sastra dan karya-karya pemikiran tentang Negara.

The spirit to bring Indonesia to brighter life for all the citizen has been built since he was at middle school. After he finished his high school, he entered University of Indonesia, and met many friends who have similar thought of enlightenment for better Indonesia, this movie also showed how he loves nature, literature which is related to states and welfare.
 

Film ini banyak menggambarkan bagaimana prinsipnya yang murni dan jauh dari politik yang kotor maupun politik yang lebih mengarah pada agama, ras, suku atau budaya tertentu. Ia melihat bahwa kepemimpinan di tahun 60-an lebih didominasi oleh kepemimpinan yang lebih memikirkan kepentingan pribadi dan kediktatoran, tak ada kebebasan, rakyat miskin sedangkan pemerintah berfoya-foya mennghamburkan uang, ia banyak memberikan kritik kepada pemerintah melalui tulisan-tulisannya di beberapa koran nasional. Pada saat itu, pemberontakan TKI juga berlangsung dan ketika kepemimpinan Soekarno turun, pemerintahan orde baru sendiri yang dicurigai banyak menculik dan membunuh orang-orang yang diduga berhubungan dengan partai komunis. 

This movie also described how his principles which were pure and far from any dirty politics or any politics that were related to a particular racial, ethnic, religious, or culture. He saw leadership in era 1960s were dominated by dictatorship, and government and actor's self interest. People were poor but government were happy and spent so much money for themselves only. He criticized government through his writing on many national news papers. That period, government kidnapped many people who were suspected have corelation with comunist party.

 

Buku harian Soe Hok Gie sendiri diterbitkan dengan judul Catatan Seorang Demonstran tahun 1983. Banyak tulisan-tulisan lainnya yang juga diterbitkan setelah kematiannya. Soe Hok Gie meninggal ketika ia mendaki gunung, di atas puncak gunung Semeru ia meninggal satu hari sebelum ulang tahunnya yang ke 27 karena mencium asap beracun. Kisah cintanya juga mewarnai film ini, kisah cinta di atas rasa hormat yang tak sempat diungkapkannya semasa hidup tertoreh dalam sebuah surat yang ia titipkan kepada temannya sebelum ia mendaki gunung.

The diary of Soe Hok Gie was published with the tittle A Diary of A Demonstrator in 1983. Many other of his writings were also published after his death. He dead when he was hiking into one of the highest mountain in Indonesia because he breathed poison fog in the tof of Semeru mountain a day before his 27th birthday. His love story also colourful this movie, a love that was based on respect that he never revealed, he wrote a love letter to his bestfriend, Ira before he left to the mountain through a friend.

Ia yang seorang aktivis pemberani percaya bahwa 

“Nasib terbaik adalah tidak dilahirkan, kedua Dilahirkan tetapi mati muda,

Yang tersial adalah mati diumur tua, Rasa-rasanya memang begitu, 

Bahagialah mereka yang mati muda”


He was a great activist who always believes that

"the most lucky person in the world is the person who is never born to the earth, second is born but die in young age,

the most unlucky person is the one who has long life, Ya I think is like that,

You should be happy if you die in young age" 

Film ini bisa menjadi referensi tontonan yang apik bagi para pecinta film, film ini juga mengandung pesan moral bagaimana seorang pemuda yang berpendidikan berfikir tentang masa depan bangsa dan sesama. Jiwa nasionalisme yang berani menantang dan memerangi kemiskinan dan ketidakadilan dapat membawa kita kembali kepada arti sebangsa dan tanah air Indonesia.

This movie could be a reference for movie lover, this film also brings message of nationalism and soul of war, war from poverty and injustice, how an intellectual student concerned about other's life.

Canh Dong Hoang The abandoned rice field by Nguyen Hung

Click here to watch Canh Dong Hoang

Director:	Nguyen Hong Sen
Producer:	Liberation Film
Writer:	Nguyen Quang Sang
Genre:	Romance/War
Length:	95 min
Released:	1979

Synopsis:

Bối cảnh chính của phim là vùng Đồng Tháp Mười trong những ngày diễn ra cuộc chiến tranh Việt Nam. Vợ chồng người chiến sĩ cộng sản Ba Đô và đứa con nhỏ sống ở vùng đầm lầy, một cánh đồng hoang.

The main context of the film is in located in Dong Thap Muoi, a free-fire zone in the Mekong Delta in the Vietnam War. Ba Do, a young couple are Communist soldiers living with their infant son in a swamp, an abandoned rice field (the "abandoned field" of the title).

Họ được phía Cách mạng Việt Nam giao nhiệm vụ giữ đường dây liên lạc cho bộ đội. Tác giả tập trung khai thác nhiều vào cuộc sống thường ngày của đôi vợ chồng như việc trồng lúa, nuôi con, bắt trăn, bắt cá nhưng xen kẽ vào đó còn có những cảnh trực thăng của quân đội Mĩ quần thảo khu vực đồng nước này nhằm phát hiện đội du kích hoạt động. Hai vợ chồng Ba Đô qua nhiều phen thoát chết khỏi trực thăng Mĩ săn lùng. Cuối cùng Ba Đô bị bắn trúng, để trả thù cho chồng, vợ Ba Đô đã bắn cháy chiếc trực thăng.

Their duty is to maintain a safe communication channel for Vietnam soldiers. The director mainly focuses on their daily routine such as cultivating, caring the son, python hunting, fishing, which sometimes disturbed by US helicopters search them in order to verify that some guerilla units are still active there. The couple seems to be skilled at hiding whenever the helicopters come near. Finally, Ba Do, the husband, is killed by US helicopters then his wife shoots it down to revenge.

Kết thúc của phim có cảnh tấm ảnh chụp vợ con của phi công Mỹ bị bắn, rơi ra từ ngực, đã có nhiều ý kiến cắt bỏ cảnh này. Tuy nhiên, nó vẫn được giữ lại để cho người xem hiểu rõ hơn về lính Mỹ, họ cũng là người bình thường, có vợ và con như Ba Đô, nhưng do chiến tranh mà họ phải dứt bỏ gia đình để sang Việt Nam tham chiến. Qua đó, bộ phim lên án cuộc chiến tranh phi nghĩa ở Việt Nam.

In the end of the movie, a picture of the pilot’s family has fallen from his chest pocket. The scene conveys a simple message that US soldiers are normal citizens like Ba Do, they also have their own family. However, they have to leave their families to participate in the Vietnam War. Thereby, the film condemns the unrighteous war in Vietnam.