The Day That Jim Carrey Didn’t Crack a Joke
| By Aung Zaw | Monday, September 3, 2007 |
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Many ordinary Burmese and pro-democracy activists probably had difficulty suppressing a smile when they witnessed a short message on Burma by the Hollywood movie star Jim Carrey. Why? For once, Jim Carrey wasn’t funny at all.
Last week, through the Internet site YouTube, Carrey released a public announcement calling for the release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Carrey probably wouldn’t be able to point to Burma on a map. But his statement was no Carrey-style joke; he performed a public service in the interests of Suu Kyi.
On behalf of the US Campaign for Burma and the Human Rights Action Center, Carrey called on the military government to lift the house arrest of Suu Kyi, whom the actor describes as a "hero" of his.
"She's a champion of human rights and decency in Asia, and a symbol of hope to all struggling people," Carrey said in his 81-second long message, which coincided with the junta’s heavy-handed crackdown on street protests in Rangoon and other provinces.
The actor admitted in his speech: "Even though she's compared to a modern-day Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, most people in America still don't know about Aung San. And let's face it, the name's a little difficult to remember. Here's how I did it: Aung San sounds like 'unsung,' as in unsung hero. Aung San Suu Kyi is truly an unsung hero."
Singer Bono, who previously dedicated an inspirational song “Walk on” to Suu Kyi and called her "a modern icon of moral courage” would undoubtedly be pleased by Carrey’s words.
Carrey is the latest Hollywood celebrity to join the Burma campaign and he won’t be the last.
In June, actor Eric Szmanda, who plays Greg Sanders on the CBS network’s award-winning series “CSI,” visited Karen refugee camps along the border with Thailand.
Speaking to reporters in Thailand, the “CSI” star said, “The UN can do a lot on Burma… countries in this region can do a lot on Burma, the United States and Europe can do a lot on Burma, but they need to start to speak out, regularly and quickly and with urgency. I think that’s the most important thing that we can do.”
Szmanda said: “One and a half million people have been forced from their homes, women are systematically raped, men and children have been forced into slave labor.
It’s time to say ‘Enough is enough.’”
In July, Walter Koenig, one of the original cast members of the “Star Trek” TV series expressed shock after visiting Karen refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border.
"I was shocked at how little I knew," Koenig, 70, said. Like many US citizens, Koenig admitted that he knew little about the plight of the Karen until he was approached by the US Campaign for Burma to help.
"The time was right in my life to be a part of something that is worthwhile. It's one thing to espouse a liberal and political attitude, and quite another to act on it," Koenig told reporters.
Carrey, Szmanda, and Koenig are no Burma experts but they were all approached by the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma to raise awareness on Burma.
Before them, Hollywood star Angelina Jolie also visited refugee camps as a goodwill ambassador of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Late last year, she visited India, where she met Burmese refugee women. She was in India to act in the film “A Mighty Heart,” about the slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl by Islamic militants in Karachi in 2002.
In October 2004, the Oscar-winning actress visited two Karenni refugee camps in northern Thailand’s Mae Hong Son Province. After her well publicized adoption of a Cambodian child, she reportedly expressed interest in adopting a young refugee from Burma.
Any association between Hollywood and Burma was virtually non-existent before the 1988 uprising, which gave the British director John Boorman material for his film “Beyond Rangoon.”
Patricia Arquette played a young American doctor caught up in the 1988 events who had to make a dramatic escape through hostile jungle after making friends with a group of pro-democracy activists. The story was fiction—no foreigner was trapped in Burma during the 1988 uprising.
The film, released in 1995, wasn’t a success and was compared unfavorably with the movie based on the Khmer Rouge massacres in Cambodia, “The Killing Fields.”
The latest news from Hollywood is that Rambo is coming to Burma on a rescue mission. In this third sequel of the original “Rambo” movie, Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone heads into the Burmese jungle to rescue a party of abducted missionaries. He spent several months this year making the film in northern Thailand, working alongside Burmese actors.
Last week, through the Internet site YouTube, Carrey released a public announcement calling for the release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Carrey probably wouldn’t be able to point to Burma on a map. But his statement was no Carrey-style joke; he performed a public service in the interests of Suu Kyi.
On behalf of the US Campaign for Burma and the Human Rights Action Center, Carrey called on the military government to lift the house arrest of Suu Kyi, whom the actor describes as a "hero" of his.
"She's a champion of human rights and decency in Asia, and a symbol of hope to all struggling people," Carrey said in his 81-second long message, which coincided with the junta’s heavy-handed crackdown on street protests in Rangoon and other provinces.
The actor admitted in his speech: "Even though she's compared to a modern-day Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, most people in America still don't know about Aung San. And let's face it, the name's a little difficult to remember. Here's how I did it: Aung San sounds like 'unsung,' as in unsung hero. Aung San Suu Kyi is truly an unsung hero."
Singer Bono, who previously dedicated an inspirational song “Walk on” to Suu Kyi and called her "a modern icon of moral courage” would undoubtedly be pleased by Carrey’s words.
Carrey is the latest Hollywood celebrity to join the Burma campaign and he won’t be the last.
In June, actor Eric Szmanda, who plays Greg Sanders on the CBS network’s award-winning series “CSI,” visited Karen refugee camps along the border with Thailand.
Speaking to reporters in Thailand, the “CSI” star said, “The UN can do a lot on Burma… countries in this region can do a lot on Burma, the United States and Europe can do a lot on Burma, but they need to start to speak out, regularly and quickly and with urgency. I think that’s the most important thing that we can do.”
Szmanda said: “One and a half million people have been forced from their homes, women are systematically raped, men and children have been forced into slave labor.
It’s time to say ‘Enough is enough.’”
In July, Walter Koenig, one of the original cast members of the “Star Trek” TV series expressed shock after visiting Karen refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border.
"I was shocked at how little I knew," Koenig, 70, said. Like many US citizens, Koenig admitted that he knew little about the plight of the Karen until he was approached by the US Campaign for Burma to help.
"The time was right in my life to be a part of something that is worthwhile. It's one thing to espouse a liberal and political attitude, and quite another to act on it," Koenig told reporters.
Carrey, Szmanda, and Koenig are no Burma experts but they were all approached by the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma to raise awareness on Burma.
Before them, Hollywood star Angelina Jolie also visited refugee camps as a goodwill ambassador of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Late last year, she visited India, where she met Burmese refugee women. She was in India to act in the film “A Mighty Heart,” about the slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl by Islamic militants in Karachi in 2002.
In October 2004, the Oscar-winning actress visited two Karenni refugee camps in northern Thailand’s Mae Hong Son Province. After her well publicized adoption of a Cambodian child, she reportedly expressed interest in adopting a young refugee from Burma.
Any association between Hollywood and Burma was virtually non-existent before the 1988 uprising, which gave the British director John Boorman material for his film “Beyond Rangoon.”
Patricia Arquette played a young American doctor caught up in the 1988 events who had to make a dramatic escape through hostile jungle after making friends with a group of pro-democracy activists. The story was fiction—no foreigner was trapped in Burma during the 1988 uprising.
The film, released in 1995, wasn’t a success and was compared unfavorably with the movie based on the Khmer Rouge massacres in Cambodia, “The Killing Fields.”
The latest news from Hollywood is that Rambo is coming to Burma on a rescue mission. In this third sequel of the original “Rambo” movie, Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone heads into the Burmese jungle to rescue a party of abducted missionaries. He spent several months this year making the film in northern Thailand, working alongside Burmese actors.
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