Documentary Highlights Plight of Imprisoned Burmese Comedian

“But the comedian can gape everyone’s.”

In 1986, he formed the Mya Ponnama Anyeint troupe, which frequently performed at secular and religious events and even appeared on state-run television. Anyeint shows were traditionally performed by one or more female dancers who would dance and sing playful songs with a troupe of comedians providing comic relief. Before Zarganar came along, the popularity of Anyeint shows had long been in decline, especially in urban areas, but the then-budding entertainer helped revitalize the art by turning the format upside down and focusing on the humor.

By using this humor to push the envelope against government censors, Zarganar's shows generated immense interest among Burmese of all backgrounds, and in the process attracted new generations of fans. His troupe entertained delighted audiences with their satires on late dictator Gen Ne Win's one-party ruled, military-controlled socialist government and its corrupt ways. He even got away with a highly popular play, “Beggars’ Conference,” which ridiculed the People’s Parliament that was designed and controlled by Ne Win and his cronies (the play still feels current and draws laughter among the Burmese people, who see sadly striking similarities between the legislature Zarganar was mocking more than twenty years earlier and the new Parliament recently convened in Naypyidaw).

Zarganar soon became a household name. But after the military coup in 1988, the ruling generals did not laugh at his jokes as their predecessors had done. Instead, they sent him to prison—after the coup he was arrested, accused of being an “instigator” in the uprising, interrogated for eight days and then locked up in Insein Prison for nearly a year. Then at the time of the 1990 election, he was again arrested for giving political speeches.

Zarganar's late father, the writer and artist Nan Nyunt Swe, was also politically active, as was his late mother. Nan Nyunt Swe once spoke in Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s house during National Day celebrations and he was subsequently banned by the regime’s censors. Zarganar’s mother, Kyi Oo, ran as an independent candidate in the 1990 polls and defeated her opponent.

After his release from prison in 1994, Zarganar was allowed to participate in video productions and worked as a producer, director, scriptwriter and actor.

But the censors and military intelligence closely scrutinized his work, and Zarganar finally ran afoul of the authorities in 1997 for a movie he worked on. After being banned from show business for three years, in 2000 he was once again allowed to make films but was still prohibited from performing live comedy shows. But in May 2006, Zarganar was banned indefinitely from all forms of performance for giving an interview to the BBC—this time even his name was not allowed to be printed in any Burmese periodical.

Despite incurring the wrath of the regime and being oppressed for virtually his entire career, Zarganar said he has never regretted using humor to criticize the ruling authorities.

“Zarganar is an example of courage, humanity and creativity,” said Mittermeier, who was impressed by his fellow comedian's willingness to risk his own life by using his humor and satire to stand up for humanity and democracy.

When Mittermeier heard the story of Zarganar and saw the footage Bloomstein shot in 2007, he decided to go to Burma with the filmmaker and help show the world the prison conditions to which Zarganar was subjected.

Bloomstein and Mittermeier visited the same locations where Bloomstein met Zarganer in 2007: the comedian's flat, the cinemas and bookstalls, the stage where he was banned from performing. Then they flew to Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in Burma’s northernmost region, where Zarganar is imprisoned. Using video cameras small enough to be quickly concealed under dangerous circumstances, they captured their exciting approach to the prison in blurred and shaky images. They managed to get close enough to film the outside of the prison and even managed to smuggle hand-written notes to Zarganar through local mediators.

“This Prison Where I Live” is a moving and stimulating film not only because of the story it tells, but also because of the perspective it offers on the role that humor can play in the fight for humanity and democracy against a ruthless authoritarian regime. The film demonstrates that Zarganar's jokes and satire are not only his artistic vocation, they are also a serious weapon against oppression.

As veteran Burmese journalist Ludu Sein Win wrote in an article for The Irrawaddy when the publication chose Zarganar as one of its “People of 2006,” Zarganar is more than just a comedian: “Zarganar is laughing with tear-filled eyes on behalf of his people. He is a Charlie Chaplin for the Burmese people.