They Call It Myanmar: Lifting The Curtain (2012)

Robert Lieberman, a physics professor at Cornell University, is given a grant from the State Department and various NGO's to go to Burma to train people in technical matters. While there, and at no small risk to himself, he uses a video camera to film. With his footage and commentary from people who are very familiar with the country, he compiles a documentary, "They Call It Myanmar," which is insightful, yet occasionally repetitive, going beyond just a simple travelogue of the tourist sights to talk to ordinary people in what has been termed the second most reclusive country on the planet.(One would have to guess that North Korea is #1.) This is due to a military government that has ruled over the country for about the past fifty years, without the usual cult of personality, causing Burma to stagnate into a state of decay where the infrastructure crumbles and social institutions including health care and education, as children usually complete about a year of education before going off to support their families, have become too expensive for the common person to utilize.(Even in times of greatest need like a cyclone a few years ago that killed over 100,000 people, they have kept the country isolated, not accepting outside aide, in order to maintain their power in the 'kleptocracy.') As a result, the more educated people leave the country, while others do so but not of their own choosing.

Lieberman also spends a good deal of time exploring religion in this devoutly Buddhist country and uses it to explain the reaction to the monks being attacked by government troops a few years ago. At the same time, he uses the people's supposedly fatalistic attitudes in explaining why they have not risen up to rebel. In reality, most societies, even those repressive like Burma's, exist firmly rooted in a status quo until a spark sets them off. At least there are signs that things are starting to turn around politically since Lieberman is able to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi who was under house arrest for decades.