Nobel Peace Prize Aung San Suu Kyi just won a parliamentary seat in Burma today (April 1st, 2012), it reminds us to recommend you John Boorman‘s Beyond Rangoon (1995) starring our favorite Patricia Arquette.

[Edit – Wed 2 May, 2012 – Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sworn in to Burma’s military-backed parliament today, taking public office for the first time since launching her struggle against authoritarian rule nearly a quarter century ago]

Beyond Rangoon (pronounced Yangoon) is set in the nineties. It follows an American doctor who travels to Burma with her sister, to recover from the loss of her murdered husband and son. Dr. Laura Bowman sees a political pro-democracy manifestation to support the leader Aung San Suu Kyi and decides to join. Unfortunately she loses her passport, and finds herself trapped in Rangoon. And things go bad…

John Boorman's Beyond Rangoon (1995) with Patricia Arquette - International movie poster

In 1995, Beyond Rangoon was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Festival de Cannes. But the award winner was Underground from the talented director Emir Kusturica.

Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 :

The great Patricia Arquette, a few years before Medium

Luc Besson recently directed a movie about Aung San Suu Kyi’s life, called The Lady (2011), starring Michelle Yeoh :