After her life is all but destroyed by personal tragedy, Laura Bowman, a young American physician, decides to protect herself from any further painful human contact. Travelling through Asia with her sister, she is virtually immune to the charms, and challenges, of this beautiful but beleaguered part of the world. But when she unexpectedly finds herself stranded in the Burmese capital of Rangoon, Laura is suddenly in the midst of a city torn apart by oppression and dissent. No longer able to remain one of life's "tourists," Laura Bowman begins a journey beyond the city, and beyond her own personal borders. It is a journey that will take her to the very heart of a nation that is, like herself, in crisis.
Castle Rock Entertainment presents "BEYOND RANGOON," a powerful new film by master filmmaker John Boorman that chronicles the personal adventures of one woman, against a backdrop of the epic fight for freedom of the country that was, until recently, known as Burma. Starring Patricia Arquette, in her most dramatically compelling performance to date, the film is based on an original screenplay by Bill Rubenstein, Alex Lasker and John Boorman. Filmed entirely on location in Southeast Asia, it was produced by Barry Spikings, Eric Pleskow and John Boorman. Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray, Adele Lutz, and, in a stunning motion picture debut, U Aung Ko, round out the cast.
Throughout his career, which has spanned a broad range of genres and exotic locations, Boorman, director of such films as ""Deliverance." "Excalibur," "The Emerald Forest" and the multiple Oscar-nominee "Hope and Glory," has always centered his dramas around the notion of a quest. Each film is the story of a voyage, both of physical discovery and emotional self-discovery, in which the protagonist, after a series of tests and ordeals, emerges radically changed. "BEYOND RANGOON," which chronicles Laura Bowman's search to regain meaning in her life, and her transformation from disaffected outsider to healer, fighter and, above all, friend, is quintessential Boorman material.
