Celluloid Disillusions

The rise of communism and the cold war in the region also impacted Burma’s film industry in 1950s.

Following the Chinese Kuomintang invasion of northeast Burma in the 1950s Pa Le Myat Ye (Tear of Pearl) was produced. The movie denounced imperialism and called for unity within the country. It also stressed the importance of the Tatmadaw, or armed forces.

Aside from the war and anti-imperialism themes, love stories, historical films, thrillers and stories dealing with the occult and the supernatural continued to be made. Perhaps 80 movies were released each year between 1950 and 1960.

The technical proficiency of production houses improved. Talented directors made a number of classic movies, some of which were translated into Chinese or Russian. Thu Kha, a renowned director now in his 90s, directed several acclaimed films. A number were distributed abroad. Perhaps his best-known was Bawa Thanthaya (The Life Cycle).

Burma inaugurated its own Academy Awards ceremony, modeled on the Hollywood version, in 1952. At the 2004 Awards, Minister of Information Maj-Gen Kyaw Hsan paid tribute to the nation-building role played by the industry. "Film artists and technicians joined the Burma Independence Army, formed to restore independence, and took part in driving out the colonialists and fascists," he said.

He tactfully demurred from mentioning the insurgent role played by other people from the industry who joined anti-Rangoon forces after Gen Ne Win’s 1962 coup.

Lead insurgent actress was Louisa Benson, a Jewish-Karen movie star who had twice been crowned Miss Burma. She married the commander of the Karen rebels’ 5th Brigade, Brig-Gen Lin Tin, soon after he agreed to a ceasefire with Rangoon in 1963 (Lin Tin had fallen out with the leftist Karen National United Party).

The marriage was an unlikely alliance—worthy of a movie in fact. Lin Tin had only a rudimentary education, was 16 years older than his wife and had something of a reputation as a hellraiser and a womanizer. Benson was born into a wealthy family, studied for a time in Boston and was a member of the Rangoon’s high-society crowd.

In 1965 Lin Tin was gunned down in Thaton, Mon State—ironically outside a movie theater. His 24-year-old widow led his 400-odd 5th Brigade troops, who were camped nearby, back to the jungle and back to hostilities. One of Rangoon’s most beautiful stars was, for a brief period, Burma’s most photogenic rebel commander. If Benson missed the excitement of the movie set, by 1965 there probably weren’t any roles in the Rangoon film world that she would have wanted to act in.

After the Burmese Socialist Program Party took control in 1962 the motion picture industry was told to "march to the Burmese Way to Socialism." The cinema halls and production houses were nationalized. Scripts were intensely scrutinized by censors before production was even approved. Movies were required to emphasize the struggles of workers and peasants much more strongly.

Ne Win’s socialist government paid little attention to the promotion and development of the film industry. With no privately-owned production houses, no artistic freedom and no skills development, the movie sector, as with the economy in general, went into reverse.

From 1989 a new government economic policy aimed at opening up the economy was gradually implemented. Cinemas were sold off to the private sector while new film production houses opened for business.

By the mid-1990s a private company, Mingalar Ltd, owned most of Rangoon’s and Mandalay’s best cinemas. In Rangoon the firm now has the Thamada, Taw Win, Naypyidaw and Mingalar cinemas; in Mandalay the Win Lite and Myo Ma theaters.

The sound quality and service at the venues has improved, but production houses complain about the virtual monopoly that Mingalar has over film distribution.

Among the production houses, the leaden hand of the regime is all too apparent. Last year 26 Burmese-made movies were released. But scripts must still pass the censors before a film can go into production. Movie stars that were actively involved in the democracy movement are banned from the screen. Aung Lwin (a member of the opposition National League for Democracy) and Tun Wai, both veteran actors were banned from appearing in movies. The films of Win Pe, a respected director who moved to the US in late 1990s and now works for Radio Free Asia’s Burma service, are no longer legally available.

Pro-government writers and film directors, by contrast, receive financial assistance and privileges for producing propaganda films.