Lady of No Fear

This year the annual Gwangju Film Festival was held November 11-14 and featured a formidable variety of notable and provocative international films. The final film was a documentary about Burmese human rights activist and pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi entitled, Aung San Suu Kyi: Lady of No Fear. The film’s director, Anne Gyrithe Bonne, was also in attendance for the screening (a remarkable thing considering that she had flown from her native Denmark in order to attend) and she was gracious enough to grant Gwangju News a private interview.

Aung San Suu Kyi: Lady of No Fear naturally covers Suu Kyi’s infamous periods of house arrest and the personal discipline and mental fortitude she possessed which allowed her to be such a powerful leader and democratic activist. However, the film focuses on Suu Kyi’s private life, which Bonne would argue is essential to understanding her involvement in the Burmese struggle for democracy. Bonne specifically chose to focus on the astounding relationship between Suu Kyi and her husband, Michael Aris, since Aris was a major support to Suu Kyi and similarly held her belief that Burma was everything: more than each other, more than their children.

What the film is especially good at demonstrating is the incredible mythic power that Aung San Suu Kyi has over the Burmese people. Because of her background as the daughter of the great commander and soldier of independence, Aung San, as well as her renowned public speaking abilities, Aung San Suu Kyi was able to step into her father’s shoes; as one loyal Burmese supporter said of her, “She is not only a fighter, she is a commander.”

There is a second side to her though; her graceful and poised nature set her apart from other would-be leaders, and even from her college friends. Suu Kyi was educated at Oxford during the sixties and while other women were exploring the sexual revolution, Suu Kyi protested that she wanted to be a virgin when she married and that for now she would, “just hug her pillow at night.” In many ways Suu Kyi never forgot that she was from Burma, even refusing British citizenship as a way to maintain her heritage, for, as she told Aris when they married, “If Burma needs me, I will go.”

This dual-nature she possesses highlights her relationship to Burma: Burma was always her home, but neither was she the government’s puppet, sporting a rebellious streak of her own. A rebellious streak that Bonne believes is demonstrated in her marriage to Aris, who despite his cosmopolitan upbringing, was still an “enemy of Burma” as an Englishman. Suu Kyi directly went against her mother’s wishes, her family’s wishes, and even the wishes of her country by marrying the man she loved – her mother refused to even attend the wedding.

For many years Suu Kyi stayed in Oxford with her family, giving birth to two children and supporting her husband’s rising career as a Buddhist scholar, a topic that surprisingly Aris actually taught Suu Kyi about and an interest that the two of them shared. Eventually, Suu Kyi began to start her own projects, beginning a biography about her father and even applying to graduate school. However, the sudden failing health of her mother in 1988 called her back to Burma, unknowing that she would become its most outspoken and inspiring democratic activist in just a few short months.

In reference to Suu Kyi’s sudden propulsion into Burmese politics, Bonne felt that Suu Kyi had been seduced by Burma, stating that, “She had been a proper housewife for a long time, ‘ironing Michael’s socks.’ During that time period the world was more about the man; if you wanted to get a Ph.D you couldn’t because you had your children and your house and your husband. Then there was the 8-8-88 revolution and she went to Burma to visit her mother and she was finally elevated. She gave a lot of public speeches, speeches with some say 250,000 people, some say even 500,000 people; she was an amazing public speaker and people loved her.”

But her success would lead to great personal sacrifice, a situation that Bonne outlines in her film. While many are aware that Suu Kyi was held under house arrest for almost 15 years, some might not be aware that she was allowed to leave as she chose: she just wouldn’t be allowed to return. The conditions for her release were dependent upon her willingness to live in exile from Burma, however, despite her desire to see her family (Aris and her children were refused visas into Burma starting in 1995) she knew that she could only be effective if she stayed in Burma. And how could she leave Burma knowing that so many others could not? How could she leave knowing that Burmese people were suffering and political prisoners were being abused? She therefore chose separation from her family rather than abandon her people, a decision that led to criticism against Suu Kyi, some saying that she had ‘abandoned her children, which is a harsh accusation against any mother.

The documentary then walks a delicate line in respectfully baring Suu Kyi’s unique past, highlighting her political achievements, while also demonstrating Suu Kyi’s own humanity. In that light, the film focuses more on her personal relationships and features interviews from several of her close friends and family. These interviews revealed just how much Suu Kyi sacrificed for the people of Burma after the Burmese government refused to allow Aris to visit his wife, even as he was dying of prostate cancer. Aris died in 1999 in England, unable to say goodbye to his beloved wife.

Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding Aris’s death and the Burmese governments unwillingness to allow him into the country, Bonne believes that it served to increase Suu Kyi’s popularity and power among the Burmese people. When it became known that she had given up everything for them, she became even more beloved and her supporters ever more loyal.

While great attention should obviously be paid to Suu Kyi’s incredible political triumphs, when asked about what she wanted audiences to take away from the film, Bonne explained that she hopes people see, “That there’s always a story behind the person and then realize what price they had to pay to become that person and who they are.” A tie-in to a beautiful line in the film where Aung San Suu Kyi says, “Nothing is free: if you want something of value you must make payments accordingly.” According to Bonne, Suu Kyi, “paid a big price.”

The extended version of the film (which I was able to view on Monday night) actually starts at the end of her house arrest, with the first few minutes of the film showing footage of Suu Kyi after her 2010 release. This is unique for many reasons: the documentary was originally released a mere two days before Suu Kyi’s 2010 release. Bonne is humble about this astounding coincidence however, acknowledging that the film certainly, “brought people’s eyes to her.” Obviously the film created a fair amount of exposure about Suu Kyi’s situation and must have helped to place pressure on the Burmese government. In 2011, the film was selected for the exclusive Berlin ‘Cinema for Peace’ Festival, after which a journalist was finally allowed into Burma to photograph Aung San Suu Kyi.

Bonne’s film exposes Aung San Suu Kyi’s humanity and in so doing has shown the strength and desire for freedom that is possible in leaders and which is fundamentally necessary for the development of human rights in the future. As Aung San Suu Kyi has said, “we must nurture mental strength and support each other,” because it is then that we experience true freedom: “freedom from fear.”