Our Burmese Days

Alright, first things first, let me confess that i have totally no idea... Wait.. Or rather, i didn't have the big picture of what this documentation is all about, so, i'll just share what i know... Haha...

This documentary revolves around Sally(the origin-self-denying mother), Lindsey(the daughter) and Billy(brother to Sally/Lindsey’s uncle). Sally is an Anglo-Burmese, but in that particular period of her life, she does not embrace her side of the Burmese blood as she strongly believes that she is truly an European. Lindsey, insistent that her mom should embrace her Burmese descent, roped her into a trip back to Myanmar, to the core of where their genealogy began. Billy tailed along as he was brought along by Sally. As the adventure began, so this documentary was made for us to learn from it.

The point of my focus-point diversion began when I could not link as to why Sally would deny her Burmese side of the story. She seemed to be totally engrossed and proud of her thick English accent she adapted to in Europe, but not her Burmese descent. I mean, how hard can it be for her to actually utter a simple “Yes, I was from Myanmar before” sentence? However, she denied and rejected all the questions posted by her daughter. It would be hard to imagine why a mother would keep her descent a secret from her daughter.

As the documentary went on, Sally seems to be enjoying herself among the denizens over there. She joined the villagers in their daily norms, she visited various places, in fact, she tried speaking Burmese as a few of the ladies in the same truck taught her a few Burmese words. She looked as if she was a total stranger, but yet the scent of irony surfaces as she tells them that she was in Myanmar once upon a time. Through all these times, she still did not subject herself to be vulnerable to open up her Burmese side of the story. Knowing all these, Lindsey still put her feet down that she should burrow deeper into her mother’s history in Burma.

With multitude flashes of questions that reiterate the same inquiry, Sally still did not want to talk about her past. Though freedom of speech is given to every individual and it is up to them to speak up for themselves, but I do believe there is something Sally is holding back so much so that she clings unswervingly to it as it serves to her as her identity, not to admit herself as being Anglo-Burmese, but to call herself a purebred European makes it all the more confusing to viewers, as we already know that she is what she does not claim to be. However, she still remains steadfast in her belief that she was never from Burmese. At the end of the documentary, the shadowy silhouette that appeared from the beginning of the documentary that acts as a shield for Sally remained true to her as it was evident that not a single hint of her letting her guard off as being a Burmese stayed sturdy.