By Thomas Maresca
Mi-Thet (Su Lay) is a factory worker in Myanmar in director The Maw Naing's "MA -- Cry of Silence," which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival.
Photo courtesy of Busan International Film Festival
BUSAN, South Korea, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Mi-Thet (Su Lay), an 18-year-old garment worker in Myanmar, feels trapped in a hopeless cycle. Her life is a round-trip between the fluorescent-lit factory where she sits at a sewing machine and the dark, cramped dormitory where she sleeps and eats, each day blending into the next.
It is an existence that mirrors Myanmar's own spiral of repression and stagnation, according to MA -- Cry of Silence, the wrenching feature by The Maw Naing that premiered at this year's Busan International Film Festival.
"This is the feeling that history is repeating itself," Mi-Thet says at one point. "Our country should have changed, but it's stayed the same."
The film is an extraordinary document of life in present-day Myanmar -- shot, almost miraculously, on location amid widespread civil unrest and brutal oppression after the military took control in a February 2021 coup.
"We decided to do this under the military, under the coup because this is important," The Maw Naing told UPI in an interview at BIFF. "I must tell this story to the world, even though it's risky for me and for my crew."
The film was inspired by women-led factory protests that began in 2012 and helped spark a wider movement resulting in a (brief) return to democratic rule after decades of military control.
The Maw Naing and producer/screenwriter Oh Young-jeong had planned to shoot an earlier version in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In 2022, they returned to filming, convincing military authorities that they were working on a harmless romantic melodrama while surreptitiously shooting the more sensitive scenes as violence consumed the country.
"The army and police followed the production to all our shooting places and they checked everything," The Maw Naing said. "That's why we had to shoot some scenes very, very secretly. We also had to keep silent when bombing and fighting broke out around the shooting area."
Two of the film's crew members were later killed in protests and uprisings and a third was arrested and has not been heard from again, the director said. Completed footage was ultimately sent to France for editing inside diplomatic pouches from the French Embassy to avoid being screened by military authorities.
MA -- Cry of Silence centers around a strike by Mi-Thet's fellow garment workers, who have not been paid for two months. Mi-Thet, traumatized after being displaced from her village in the countryside, is reluctant to join the movement led by the more strident Nyein Nyein (Kyawt Kay Khaing).
Back at the dormitory, she meets U Tun (Nay Htoo Aung), who was a member of the 1988 student uprising in Myanmar (with the haunted expression and scars across his back to show it.) He shares his memories and lends her books, which inspire Mi-Thet to return to the fight.
Real-life cell phone footage of burning villages and street-level attacks by military thugs is interspersed throughout the film, adding an emotional jolt to the story. Over 5,000 civilians have been killed and 3.3 million displaced since the coup, according to a recent report by the United Nations human rights office.
At just 74 minutes, MA -- Cry of Silence feels narratively thin at points. The Maw Naing, whose last feature was 2014's The Monk, augments the story through strong visuals, with close-ups of whirring reels on sewing machines and spinning fans echoing the characters' trapped lives.
The villains, meanwhile, remain faceless. The factory supervisor is seen only in shadows or from behind, slapping a ruler on the girls' sewing tables as he barks at them to speed up. When the Chinese owner of the factory appears, we never see him leave his car.
"I don't want to show these people's faces," The Maw Naing said. "They are the invisible black hand -- the military and investors that control the society."
A near-constant monsoon rain, frequent blackouts and the sound of gunfire in the background add to a mounting sense of dread that erupts in a shocking final encounter for the striking girls.
"This kind of uprising is difficult and cannot be successful in a short time," screenwriter Oh Young-jeong told UPI. "We want to show they are still trapped in the loop, in the cycle, but the people keep trying."
MA -- Cry of Silence sends a loud plea from Myanmar, which is closing in on its fourth year of brutality and devastation under the military junta.
"Inside Myanmar it's difficult to find hope nowadays, so we wanted to bring our voice to the world," Oh said. "We hope that the international audience can help shine a light on the situation in Myanmar."
MA -- Cry of Silence is showing in competition for the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival, which concludes on Friday.
Read MoreBusan International Film Festival opens with Netflix streamer 'Uprising'
BUSAN, South Korea, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Mi-Thet (Su Lay), an 18-year-old garment worker in Myanmar, feels trapped in a hopeless cycle. Her life is a round-trip between the fluorescent-lit factory where she sits at a sewing machine and the dark, cramped dormitory where she sleeps and eats, each day blending into the next.
It is an existence that mirrors Myanmar's own spiral of repression and stagnation, according to MA -- Cry of Silence, the wrenching feature by The Maw Naing that premiered at this year's Busan International Film Festival.
"This is the feeling that history is repeating itself," Mi-Thet says at one point. "Our country should have changed, but it's stayed the same."
The film is an extraordinary document of life in present-day Myanmar -- shot, almost miraculously, on location amid widespread civil unrest and brutal oppression after the military took control in a February 2021 coup.
"We decided to do this under the military, under the coup because this is important," The Maw Naing told UPI in an interview at BIFF. "I must tell this story to the world, even though it's risky for me and for my crew."
The film was inspired by women-led factory protests that began in 2012 and helped spark a wider movement resulting in a (brief) return to democratic rule after decades of military control.
The Maw Naing and producer/screenwriter Oh Young-jeong had planned to shoot an earlier version in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In 2022, they returned to filming, convincing military authorities that they were working on a harmless romantic melodrama while surreptitiously shooting the more sensitive scenes as violence consumed the country.
"The army and police followed the production to all our shooting places and they checked everything," The Maw Naing said. "That's why we had to shoot some scenes very, very secretly. We also had to keep silent when bombing and fighting broke out around the shooting area."
Two of the film's crew members were later killed in protests and uprisings and a third was arrested and has not been heard from again, the director said. Completed footage was ultimately sent to France for editing inside diplomatic pouches from the French Embassy to avoid being screened by military authorities.
MA -- Cry of Silence centers around a strike by Mi-Thet's fellow garment workers, who have not been paid for two months. Mi-Thet, traumatized after being displaced from her village in the countryside, is reluctant to join the movement led by the more strident Nyein Nyein (Kyawt Kay Khaing).
Back at the dormitory, she meets U Tun (Nay Htoo Aung), who was a member of the 1988 student uprising in Myanmar (with the haunted expression and scars across his back to show it.) He shares his memories and lends her books, which inspire Mi-Thet to return to the fight.
Real-life cell phone footage of burning villages and street-level attacks by military thugs is interspersed throughout the film, adding an emotional jolt to the story. Over 5,000 civilians have been killed and 3.3 million displaced since the coup, according to a recent report by the United Nations human rights office.
At just 74 minutes, MA -- Cry of Silence feels narratively thin at points. The Maw Naing, whose last feature was 2014's The Monk, augments the story through strong visuals, with close-ups of whirring reels on sewing machines and spinning fans echoing the characters' trapped lives.
The villains, meanwhile, remain faceless. The factory supervisor is seen only in shadows or from behind, slapping a ruler on the girls' sewing tables as he barks at them to speed up. When the Chinese owner of the factory appears, we never see him leave his car.
"I don't want to show these people's faces," The Maw Naing said. "They are the invisible black hand -- the military and investors that control the society."
A near-constant monsoon rain, frequent blackouts and the sound of gunfire in the background add to a mounting sense of dread that erupts in a shocking final encounter for the striking girls.
"This kind of uprising is difficult and cannot be successful in a short time," screenwriter Oh Young-jeong told UPI. "We want to show they are still trapped in the loop, in the cycle, but the people keep trying."
MA -- Cry of Silence sends a loud plea from Myanmar, which is closing in on its fourth year of brutality and devastation under the military junta.
"Inside Myanmar it's difficult to find hope nowadays, so we wanted to bring our voice to the world," Oh said. "We hope that the international audience can help shine a light on the situation in Myanmar."
MA -- Cry of Silence is showing in competition for the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival, which concludes on Friday.
Read MoreBusan International Film Festival opens with Netflix streamer 'Uprising'
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