Beyond Rangoon (DVD, 2008)

Director John Boorman's film, inspired by the crackdown of the Burmese military during the late 1980s, stars Patricia Arquette as Laura Bowman, an American doctor. After the violent death of her husband and child, Laura joins her sister, Andy (Frances McDormand), on a tour of Southeast Asia, hoping that a trip might be therapeutic. While the sisters are in Burma, the demonstrations of political dissidents become violent, and although her sister is able to depart, Laura must stay behind, having lost her passport. After seeking help at the American embassy, she encounters a former college professor, now a dissident supporter, who asks her to help him in eluding the police, an action that she knows will place her in jeopardy. In return, he offers to lead her out of the country across the Thai border. At a train station, he introduces her to a group of rebel students, one of whom is killed when government troops open fire on the crowd. Laura, whose aversion to blood has led her to contemplate leaving her profession, overcomes her problem when her teacher himself is shot and only she can save him. The well-acted film features impressive nature photography by John Seale.