Rambo gets Burmese officials' attention

Last Updated: Saturday, February 2, 2008 | 5:43 PM ET

CBC News

Burmese officials are fussing over the new Rambo movie, which features Hollywood superstar Sylvester Stallone taking on the country's ruling military junta.

Police in Burma, also known as Myanmar, have given hawkers strict orders not to sell pirated copies of the flick, a resident of Rangoon has reported, quoted by the Reuters news agency.

Sylvester Stallone, 61, plays a Vietnam vet who storms into Burma to tackle its ruling junta in the latest Rambo instalment.
(Associated Press)

In commercial release less than two weeks, the film is already available in bootleg copies in Burma's largest city.

Stallone, speaking from Los Angeles, said he had heard that copies of the film were being seized.

He also said two Burmese actors who appeared in the film had reported arrests among family members.

The plot follows Vietnam veteran John Rambo, played by Stallone, as he ventures into Burma to rescue a group of Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by a ruthless local infantry unit.

"Rambo acted very cruelly, but his cruelty is nothing compared to that of the military junta," a Burmese student in Thailand told Reuters.

Burma's population is eager to shake off 45 years of military rule, and Rangoon residents said the film's "live for nothing, die for something" tagline is appealing for young viewers.

The military junta cracked down on pro-democracy activists, many of them Buddhist priests, last year. 

The film, which has lots of blood and guts, was largely panned by North American critics.