In 1947, Burmese democracy leader Aung San is murdered, along with members of his political party. Fortyone years later his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, MICHELLE YEOH, who has been living in Oxford with her academic husband, Michael, DAVID THEWLIS, and their two sons, returns to Burma to visit her sick mother. She witnesses the brutality with which soldiers acting on orders from the military junta, crush political dissent, and she agrees to lead the National League for Democracy, as a result of which she is sentenced to house arrest.

This timely film from French director Luc Besson concentrates to a great extent on the personal story of Aung Sang Suu Kyi - her relationship with her husband, Michael, and her sons. Although this makes for a poignant film it also tends to skip over the political elements of Suu's story - there are few insights here that wouldn't be familiar to anyone who has even the most cursory knowledge of recent events in Burma. The officers who run the junta are scowling, cardboard villains, while Suu, beautifully played by Michelle Yeoh, is the epitome of grace and calm, and her long-suffering supporters follow her example. Filmed mostly in Thailand the film looks very handsome, but given the subject matter you might have hoped for a more probing look into the life of one of the great women of our age.

ABC - At The Movies
Copyright ABC - At The Movies