Report from Burma provides interesting points of contrast with Burma Victory and Stilwell Road, the two most well-known film documents of the Burma campaign. It is more fragmentary and localised, and it does not offer the broad overview that is provided in the other films. Curiously, however, in some ways it can be said to provide a more rounded picture of Burma and of the battle to recapture it.

Report from Burma is careful to outline its military credentials and its authenticity. An opening title card informs us that the commentary is spoken by Major Frank Owen, and the film then begins with a separate commentator, who informs us that Owen is editor of the 14th Army’s newspaper, SEAC, and that he recorded his commentary in London before returning to the Burma Front. Here, we are informed, ‘he is in daily contact with the serving men’. Nevertheless, the film does not attempt to outline the complicated strategy of the Burmese War. Unlike Burma Victory and Stilwell Road, there is no use of maps to illustrate the separate passages of the campaign; instead there are just two brief summations of the soldiers’ positions and of how well they are doing against the Japanese.

This ‘report’ appears to have been largely determined by the film material that was available. As much screen time is given to the construction work of elephants as there is to the battle for Kennedy Peak. Owen’s commentary, by and large, reflects directly upon what is taking place on screen. Ultimately, the film comes across as a series of snapshots; a feeling that is reinforced by the fact that its background music does not build from scene to scene.

The soldier’s perspective provides differences from Burma Victory and Stilwell Road. The same footage of the monsoon rains can be seen in each of these films, but it is dealt with most stoically here. Owen even concedes that there is one good thing about the rain: ‘it’s warm’. In addition, the film has a different approach to the polyglot nature of the Allied troops. Both Burma Victory and Stilwell Road have set-piece sequences that highlight the many nations who are fighting under one banner. It is Report from Burma, however, that has the most extensive footage of Indian troops operating in the field. Curiously, the nationality of the troops is one of the few visual elements that Owen fails to address directly in his commentary. There are positive aspects to this. The other films both stress the Anglo-American dominated structure of command. This film, in contrast, does not depict any of the military leaders and instead shows Indian soldiers working in self-contained units. On the other hand, Owen’s commentary is reductive. In one segment we see a group of Indian soldiers advance, but he describes this as being ‘the first British wave’. At the close of the film there is a section that features troops of different nationalities. Owen does acknowledge their racial composition here, stating that they are ‘British, Indian and African’; however, in the next sentence their triumphs are described as being ‘the mighty military victories of the British’.

Finally, Report from Burma can be differentiated from the other two films in its portrayal of Burma itself. Burma Victory and Stilwell Road portray Burma as a hostile country. This film, in contrast, shows the army working with the land, animals and people of Burma. We learn that the country’s waterways have been used to ferry goods to the soldiers; here we are shown medium close-ups of the locals who have helped to undertake this task. The elephants of Burma are described as being the soldiers’ ‘friend’ and worth their weight in gold; again, the film features the locals who are helping to harness this aid. Similar attention is paid to the tribes of the Chin hills who have been enlisted to help collect the drops of airborne supplies.

Richard Osborne (July 2009)