Burma Soldier

Former Burmese soldier Myo Myint unfolds his life story in a first person interview captured while he waits in the Umpeim Mai refugee camp in Northern Thailand - along with thousands of compatriots - to be granted refugee status in a third country. Myo Myint fled from the Burmese regime that he supported for many years. Using archive footage smuggled out of Burma to illustrate his story, Myo Myint explains how as a boy seeking respect and security, he made the decision to join the army, which has held his homeland in a vice-like grip since 1962. After being hit by a mortar during the civil war and losing an arm, a leg and several fingers, he realizes that he is doing anything but serving his people. Myint opens a hidden library of strictly banned books, provides an account of his military life, and demonstrates against the regime. The authorities arrest him; he is severely tortured and he spends the following 15 years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement - all because of a single comment: "I told them [the judges] I don't believe in the military regime." Following his release, he is kept under constant surveillance and decides to flee to Thailand. Once there, he reestablishes contact with his family, who have meanwhile sought asylum in the United States and want him to join them there. Myint is faced with the heartrending dilemma of whether or not to upturn his life once more and say farewell to his fatherland forever.