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Beyond Rangoon Photos

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Movie Info

After the shocking murders of her husband and son, Laura Bowman (Patricia Arquette) travels to Burma with her sister, Andy (Frances McDormand), to find peace. There she witnesses protests against the government and the military's violent response. When Burma enters into military lockdown, Laura loses her passport and is unable to leave the country. A professor (U Aung Ko) helps her, but this makes her a target of the government as she attempts to reach the border and cross into Thailand.

Rating:

R
Genre:

drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

John Boorman
Producer:

Barry Spikings, Sean Ryerson, Eric Pleskow, John Boorman
Writer:

Alex Lasker, Bill Rubenstein
Release Date (Streaming):

Jan 1, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA):

$5.1M
Runtime:

1h 40m
Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Columbia Pictures Corporation
Sound Mix:

Surround

Cast & Crew

Patricia Arquette
Laura Bowman

Frances McDormand
Andy Bowman

Spalding Gray
Jeremy Watt

U Aung Ko
U Aung Ko

Victor Slezak
Mr. Scott

Adelle Lutz
Aung San Suu Kyi

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Beyond Rangoon

All Critics (34) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (21)

Arquette gives the kind of mighty physical performance usually delivered by men in existential action classics like "The Wages of Fear," but she suffuses it with something all her own-she's bulletproof yet vulnerable.

February 9, 2015 | Full Review…

Michael Sragow
New Yorker
Quote not available.

September 7, 2011 | Rating: D+ | Full Review…

Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
In attempting to make its politics palatable as entertainment, the film has grafted them onto a boatload of Hollywood implausibilities whose excesses cripple believability.

August 15, 2002 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
As an exercise in art, or even polemics, Beyond Rangoon is beyond redemption, but still works its occasional magic with extraordinary flair.

April 12, 2002 | Full Review…

Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
Yet one more film -- that defines Third World political unrest through its effect on a white liberal.

May 12, 2001

Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
An odd movie, brilliant in places, but frustrating all the same.

January 1, 2000 | Full Review…

Hal Hinson
Washington Post
...earnest yet hopelessly underwhelming...

February 4, 2021 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…

David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
John Boorman's Beyond Rangoon is a humane and technically accomplished drama set in the viciously repressive world of contemporary Burma.

December 13, 2017 | Full Review…

Quentin Curtis
Independent on Sunday
Do artists, and those who style themselves as artists, have the right to lie to further their visions?

November 25, 2007 | Rating: 85/100

Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
An exotic adventure story with a political conscience

June 15, 2007 | Rating: 3/5

Douglas Pratt
DVDLaser
Quote not available.

December 23, 2005 | Rating: 1/5

Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Quote not available.

April 8, 2005 | Rating: 3/5

Marcy Dermansky
About.com

View All Critic Reviews (34)

Audience Reviews for Beyond Rangoon

Jun 19, 2010

In "Beyond Rangoon," sisters Laura(Patricia Arquette) and Andy(Frances McDormand) travel to Burma in 1988 to help Laura get over the murder of her husband and son. Sleepless one night, Laura stumbles across a pro-democracy protest led by Aung San Suu Kyi(Adelle Lutz). It is there that she has her passport conveniently stolen and is forced to stay behind while Andy continues on to Thailand. While she waits to have a replacement passport made, Laura decides to do some sightseeing, enlisting U Aung Ko(U Aung Ko) to drive her. If it is true that the road to mediocre films is built on good intentions, then "Beyond Rangoon" is a perfect example. Set at an important time in Burma's history and made at a time when not a lot of information was getting out due to the military junta's total control, then the movie serves a purpose to dramatize these events. However, by working in a highly contrived story that closely resembles an epic psychiatric session, it also manages to trivialize them at the same time. But the cinematography is very lovely. At any rate, it would not be until the documentary "Burma VJ" that we would get the clearest picture of what is going on inside Burma.

Walter M Super Reviewer
Jul 07, 2008

Good story and performances.

Anthony V Super Reviewer
Jan 14, 2008

I didn't get into this in the beginning because the main character made one bad decision after another. Still, the movie ended up being very riveting.

Ida K Super Reviewer