Rambo

Reporter 1: Something they had never seen, which liberated a yellow,

very pungent and acrid vapor.

Reporter 2: The actions of the hard-line military regime

are the cause of increasing international concern.

The regime crushes all dissent.

Ethnic groups are being oppressed in the east of the country,

and foreign journalists are rarely...

Reporter 3: Claim tonight that some form of chemical weapon

has been used in Burma by military rulers...

Reporter 1: Has led to the national uprising.

Thousands took to the streets and thousands were killed...

Reporter 4: In Burma, many peaceful protesting monks have been killed,

some burned alive, and others drowned.

Foreign journalists have been shot and killed.

Reporter 5: As thousands of villages have been destroyed,

rape and torture are a daily occurrence.

In Burma, there are more land mines than anywhere in the world.

Reporter 6: Young men are beaten and forced into the army,

many as young as 12 years old.

Reporter 5: Beheadings and mutilations are commonplace.

Reporter 4: The Karen people, comprised mostly of poor Christian farmers,

have been singled out for extermination.

Reporter 6: The ruling military government

wants the abundant natural resources on Karen land.

Reporter 5: The bloody Burmese military campaign against the Karen people

has been going on for almost 60 years,

the longest running civil war in the world.

Two snake that you see, they are siamese cobra or common cobra.

He is not king cobra and not spitting cobra.

Hey! Hey!

Fuck off, okay?

They still have fang and still have poison.

He is small, dangerous, number one.

King cobra number two.

And now spitting cobra.

He can spit poison to your eye.

One color.

He's very, very dangerous. Number one in Thailand.

Careful, my friend.

Looks like dangerous work.

I'm Michael Burnett. Do you have some time to talk?

Won't take long, I promise.

I was told it might be possible to rent your boat.

We'd like to do that.

Is that possible? We need to get upriver.

- Where you going? - Into Burma.

Burma's a war zone.

Well, that's what people call it, but it's more like genocide than war.

Anyway, this will be my fifth trip in, so we are aware of all the risks.

I don't go that far north.

Let me explain our situation.

Our church is part of a pan-Asian ministry located in Colorado,

and we're all volunteers who around this time of year

bring in medical supplies, medical attention,

prayer books and support for the Karen tribes people.

People say you know the river better than anyone.

Well, they lied.

So, what I'm asking is that we compensate you

for a few hours of your time.

It will help change people's lives.

- Are you bringing in any weapons? - Of course not.

You're not changing anything.

Well...

It's thinking like that that keeps the world the way it is.

Fuck the world.

- Let's go. - Why?

He's not interested. Let's just go.

- Let me try. - No, Sarah...

No, didn't you say it was the only way up there?

- I know I did... - All right, then what do we have to lose?

- I talked to the man... - Just let me try, Michael.

- Sarah... - Please.

Hello?

I'm Sarah Miller.

I hope you don't mind me coming back here.

The man that you were talking to...

I wasn't talking to anybody.

All right.

The man that was talking to you

asked if we could hire you to take us up the river.

- You said no. Why? - Can't help you out.

Well, if you have good reasons, would you mind if I heard them?

Go home.

You shouldn't be in here.

Would you reconsider?

Look, I don't know anything about you,

and it seems like you don't care to know anything about us.

Sarah.

But you live so close to what's going on over here.

I mean, doesn't it bother you at all?

It's not my business.

Sarah, we should go.

Do you believe that people are put here to die for no reason?

Or believe in giving time to something other than yourself?

I mean, do you believe in anything?

You really ought to go.

The man doesn't care. We'll figure something out.

Why'd you come back?

Waiting for you.

- I told you before, I can't help you. - Why?

I don't want to.

- Where are your friends? - At the hotel.

I can take care of myself.

- Is that so? - Yes.

- I know you don't like us. - I never said that.

Well, it looks that way.

We need to go and help these people.

Who are you helping?

Them or you?

- Does it matter? - Yeah, it matters.

Them.

There's nothing missing in our lives back home.

We're here to make a difference.

We believe all lives are special.

- Some lives, some, no. - Really?

If everyone thought like you, nothing would ever change.

Nothing does change.

Of course it does. Nothing stays the same.

Live your life, 'cause you got a good one.

It's what I'm trying to do.

No, what you're trying to do is change what is.

- And what is? - That we're like animals.

It's in the blood. It's natural.

Peace, that's an accident.

It's what is.

When you're pushed, killing is as easy as breathing.

Then the killing stops in one place and it starts in another,

but that's okay 'cause you're killing for your country.

But it ain't your country who's asking. It's a few men up top who want it.

Old men start it, young men fight it.

Nobody wins, everybody in the middle dies.

And nobody tells the truth.

God's gonna make all that go away?

Don't waste your life. I did.

Go home.

Really. Go home.

- You care. - What?

You care.

Because if you didn't, you would have taken us there,

taken the money and be done with it.

But you didn't do that.

Maybe...

Maybe you've lost your faith in people,

but you must still be faithful to something.

Believe me, I'm scared.

And I love my life and I don't want to lose it.

But trying to save a life isn't wasting your life, is it?

Will you help us?

All right.

Thank you.

Burnett: As bad as these people are, they will eventually lose.

They can't keep it up against a united front. They can't.

I mean, time alone will tell, but in the meantime,

we just have to help hold it together.

I mean, just the other day, I read...

Excuse me.

Sarah, where are you going?

To talk to him.

Well, he probably wants his privacy.

Michael, you shouldn't ignore him.

- He's helping us. - He's been paid.

He didn't take anything.

Thank you, again, for doing this. Really. From all of us.

It's like the same view goes on forever.

It's so empty out here.

It just looks that way.

You know, you never told us your name.

- John. - John.

- Lived here a long time? - Long time.

- Where you from? - Bowie, Arizona. Small place.

What'd you do there?

Worked horses, mainly.

- Why'd you leave? - I got drafted in nam.

- Long time ago. - Long time ago. Lot of years.

And you just stayed?

It's complicated.

- You have family back home? - Father maybe. I don't know.

Aren't you curious to see how things might've changed back home?

Got to have a reason for that.

- What do you do stateside? - I teach. Sixth grade.

What?

Now I know why you ask so many questions.

- Any idea how much longer? - Yeah, just a few more hours.

Maybe we should give the man his space.

We should go over the schedule, okay?

Okay.

We're engaged. He's a good man.

That's good.

I know you think you live alone out here, but there's always something pushing you.

- What is it? Who are they? - Burmese pirates.

Tell everyone to stay down, don't make a sound.