Raise The Bamboo Curtain: Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma (Myanmar)

Average Customer Rating: [ not yet rated ] List Price: $29.95 Asia Trips Trips Price: $29.95 Subject To Change Without Notice Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Rick Ray Films Starring: none Directed By: Rick Ray
Binding: DVD EAN: 0181309000042 Format: Anamorphic Label: Rick Ray Films Manufacturer: Rick Ray Films Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Rick Ray Films Region Code: 1 Release Date: 1997-01-01 Running Time: 100 Studio: Rick Ray Films
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Editorial Reviews: In 1997, when Rick Ray (noted director of 10 Questions For The Dalai Lama) visited Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma to produce his landmark film (later narrated on PBS by Martin Sheen), these countries were thought of as sites of war and suffering. To some extent, Burma (called Myanmar by it's repressive, authoritarian regime) is still the land that time forgot, as depicted beautifully but tragically in this film. However, both Vietnam and Cambodia have emerged as major tourist destination. Ray's film offers an amazing glimpse at a time when these countries were just emerging from behind the Bamboo Curtain. No country has been more hidden from the modern world than Burma. Since the 1950's, tourists have been restricted to between 24 hours and 7 days to see the country. In times of crisis, Burma's xenophobic government simply allows no one from outside in. Needless to say, getting out of Burma is a virtual impossibility for the vast majority of its citizens. Called the Albania of Asia, Burma is a wondrous country for those who visit. Ray travels the Road To Mandalay to film the amazing Inle Lake and it's remarkable leg rowers, the colonial decay of Rangoon, the long neck women hill tribes and the temple studded plains of Pagan. For those of us who did not serve in Vietnam, most of our images of the country have come to us from the movies. Ray travels before Americans were allowed to journey back to Vietnam (by the US government ironically) and offers glimpses of a country emerging from both war and the ravages of Communist privation. He journeys from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to Hanoi on Vietnam's Highway One, with stops in Dalat, Nha Trang, China Beach, the DMZ, Halong Bay and Hanoi. Finally, Ray ventures in the formerly troubled land of Cambodia, for a look at a country still coming to terms with the ravages of war. From the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh to the magnificence of Angkor Wat (before any tourist clutter was present!) Ray's journey explores the heights and depths of human achievement and suffering in the homeland of the Khmer culture. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, many of the emerging countries of Indochina found themselves with new opportunities to overthrow old regimes and proceed with a more self-determined course. Burma and Vietnam stand in stark contrast in this regard. Rick Ray truly raises the Bamboo Curtain to shed some light on world's that were hidden from outsiders for many years.