Cablegate: The Plot Thickens As Hollywood Casts Burma in Villain Role

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P 160042Z AUG 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0248
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0521
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SCUL TH BM
SUBJECT: THE PLOT THICKENS AS HOLLYWOOD CASTS BURMA IN VILLAIN ROLE

REF: CHIANG MAI 49

1. Hollywood's script for a new Rambo movie that features evil
Burmese soldiers savagely killing Karen villagers may get the
thumbs down from the Thai Film Board.

2. Plans to start filming in Thailand are in limbo after the
board in charge of approving foreign movie productions expressed
concern that Rambo's rescue mission of Christian church workers
in an area identified as Karen state might offend the Burmese
regime.

3. Reportedly inspired by consultations with Soldier of
Fortune magazine, the script includes a rotten-to-the-core
Burmese colonel who enjoys betting on young boys running through
minefields and a charismatic Karen rebel leader whose daughter
has been stolen in a cross-border raid by Burmese soldiers.
Meanwhile, dams being constructed to reap foreign profits
threaten to displace poor Karen villagers as Rambo is called to
rescue kidnapped American missionaries.

4. Burma exiles here have already taken note of the Rambo IV
project, comparing it to last year's "Stealth". Filmed
partially in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, that movie's portrayal of a
US air strike against terrorists in Rangoon raised misguided
hopes of US military intervention among Burmese opposition
groups (reftel).

5. According to a member of the Rambo pre-production crew, the
Thai Film Board fears the movie could provoke Burmese wrath and
has asked that Rambo's base country not be identified.

CAMP

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