THE LADY DEPICTS FAMILY LIFE AMID the POLITICAL STRUGGLE OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Fortuitously timed for release while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Myanmar (Burma), The Lady is a biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi (played by Michelle Yeow) from her return to Rangoon in 1988 to be alongside her dying, hospitalized mother Daw Khin Kyi (played by Marian Yu) until her entry into politics that continues until the present. Featured are the events of the 1947 assassination of her father that established military rule, the 1988 crackdown as the country prepared for elections as featured in Beyond Rangoon (1995), her house arrest in 1989, her party’s pyrrhic election victory in 1990, awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Japan’s foreign aid offer in 1994 conditional on her release from house arrest that proved shortlived, her husband’s death in 1999, the protest march of monks in 2007, and her appearance before them while still under house arrest. Much of the drama involves her husband, Oxford professor Michael Aris (played by David Thewlis), and her two sons, Alexander (played by Jonathan Woodhouse) and Kim (played by Jonathan Raggett). Directed by Luc Besson, the film ends with an explanatory title providing information on the desperate state of affairs in the country but not the news that by elections are now scheduled for 2012 in which she will be a candidate. The Political Film Society has nominated The Lady for awards as best film on democracy, human rights, and peaceful conflict resolution of 2011. MH