Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding! A real eye opener!, October 21, 1999
Martin Sheen does an outstanding job of narrating the journey through Burma, Cambodia, and Vietnam. He takes us where we can not go on our own. This documentary is a total eye opener to cultures that we learn little about in the mainstream press. It makes one appreciate what advanced civilizations once existed in this part of the world, and how the people now manage their lives despite oppressive governments. This video is a must see. It will make the viewer want to experience the Burmese and Khmer cultures first hand. Outstanding footage of Angkor Wat is shown.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
VIETNAM, CAMBODIA AND BURMA - TOTALLY EXOTIC!, July 18, 1999
By A Customer
This video, narrated by Martin Sheen, takes us into closed, hidden Burma to see what the government there doesn't want us to see - a repressed society, and then shows us golden temples, Inle Lake, Pagan, Mandalay, Rangoon - then to Cambodia, just awakening after decades of struggle, then on to Vietnam - opening its doors to commerce. Rick Ray, the director has done a superb job, in National Geographic style - of documenting this journey. Better than the Video Visits or Lonely Planet series - he traveled with only a backpack and shot an intimate portrait of these places and people. It is fascinating - I'll watch it over and over.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Appallingly Misinformed!, December 31, 2004
Having lived in South-East Asia for 3 years and having traveled to and studied the culture and history of Burma and Cambodia, I feel it is my duty to write this review. It's amazing how many false and misleading statements one VHS cassette can contain. I don't know where to begin. I almost pressed the stop button when he was showing the people raising money for the temples and claimed that no one would fail to make a donation "for fear of incurring the wrath of Buddha." First, that is absolutely untrue. Most people traveling the roads of Burma don't make donations at ever temple they pass. Second, anyone with even the most basic understanding of Burmese Buddhism knows that Buddhist don't perceive the Buddha as cursing people who don't donate to temples.
He claims that Burma had never been united all it's history. Dead wrong! True, it wasn't united for quite a bit of history, but there have been long periods when it was united. He claims that the British built Mandalay as their capitol. Totally, utterly wrong! It was built by king Mindgon when Upper Burma was still independent. I may have studied quite a bit of Burmese history and culture, but I'm not an expert. A number of claims were made that I had never heard of before, and I'm left wondering how many were true and how many were garbage.
Most appallingly, he actually repeated the long discredited rumor that the "Long neck" women never remove their rings because they would suffocate if they did. That nonsense rumor has long since been discredited. His history of Burma was rambling and inaccurate. The name changes (i.e., Rangoon to Yangon and Burma to Myanmar) were not instituted in 1962 but in 1989.
The section on Cambodia was no better. He claims that no one survived the Teul Slung prison. That's interesting, considering that the tour guide is a survivor! According to the survivors, who are not ghosts, 7 people survived. He also give the impression that only people in Phnom Penh suffered during the Khmer Rouge era, but in reality all city dwellers and most rural folks (to a lesser extent) suffer terribly. But get this: at one point he says that the first westerners to enter Cambodia came less that 100 years ago. A few minutes later he mentions French explorer Henri Mouhot and states that he found Angkor in 1861. This film was made in the 1990's, do the math!
His bad pronunciation of Burmese and Cambodian words can be forgiven, but pronouncing some words in 2 or 3 different ways can't be. Not can his poor choice of some words, such as describing a statue of the Buddha as an "Idol."
I don't know a lot about Viet Nam, but I took that part of the tape with a block of salt.
He was effective in capturing the quietness and kindness of Burmese and Cambodian people, as well as the suffering of the Cambodian people. The scenery is lovely, but I'd suggest pressing the mute button before watching it.
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