Fort Wayne is home to the nation's largest population of Burmese refugees, about 4,000 strong, and having such a large ethnic group is obviously going to create some cultural oddities. This is a surprising one:
To some Americans, “Rambo” is just another shoot-'em-up flick. To the Burmese, it's an inspiration.
Citizens in Burma are risking their freedom to buy DVD copies of the film in which Sylvester Stallone takes on the Burmese military. “Rambo” is a hit with Burmese refugees in Fort Wayne, too.
The movie depicts the atrocities committed by the totalitarian Burmese government known as the State Peace and Development Council, considered one of the most tyrannical governments in the world.
“The movie covers the brutal methods of the regime,” Burmese refugee Kyaw T. Soe said Tuesday after watching the film at Coldwater Crossing. “This is why millions of people run out of Burma and some of them settle in Fort Wayne.”
Attendance has since dwindled, but some 60 Burmese, including some carrying anti-government leaflets, turned out when “Rambo” opened at the start of the month, theater personnel said.
We can learn something, then, from the silliest of movies. Remind me sometime to educate you about how "Next of Kin" was received by a certain subculture of which I am a member.
