The most eye-catching viral images of the 2021 Myanmar military coup come from a remarkable video where a fitness instructor performs a spirited exercise routine while, in the background, army vehicles are en route to surround the parliament complex. The surreal contrast between an everyday task and a brutal political takeover distils what’s at stake when a military junta comes to power. The mundanity of life would soon be gone, replaced by an endless parade of state violence and oppression.
Made by a group of anonymous film-makers, Berlin prize winner Myanmar Diaries begins with this famous video, threading together civilian footage of military brutality with staged, fictionalised sequences based on real-life stories. Vertically shot on smartphones by those on the frontline, these guerrilla recordings capture a collective resistance to the stripping back of individual rights. To witness an older woman bravely berating a convoy of young soldiers for terrorising protesters, or a mother being dragged out of her home by military personnel, is gut-punching. Enfolded in a disorientating cacophony of gunshots and screams, every frame shakes with the barbarity visited on dissenting citizens, whose plight seems to have been forgotten by international media.
