THE PLOT THICKENS AS HOLLYWOOD CASTS BURMA IN VILLAIN ROLE

UNCLAS CHIANG MAI 000128 SIPDIS SIPDIS 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