Myanmar democracy leader’s love story debuts at film fest1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMyanmar’s revered pro-democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is now also a movie protagonist after Luc Besson’s “The Lady” premiered on Monday at the Toronto film festival.
The French director crafted a tender story of love and family tragedy, reaching beyond the political struggle by using private files obtained through sources close to Suu Kyi, her late British husband, and their two sons.
Suu Kyi returned to the country formerly known as Burma from Oxford in 1988 due to her mother’s worsening health, launching a life in the political spotlight followed by the darkness of house arrest ordered by a military junta.
She would not see her husband Michael Aris again, as the junta refused to grant him an entry visa and she knew that if she left Myanmar she would never be allowed back. Aris eventually died of prostate cancer in 1999.
“No matter what, Aung San Suu Kyi is immortal,” said Besson, of the opposition icon who was released by the junta in November 2010 after seven straight years of house arrest.
