VZCZCXRO1297
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0128 2280042
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 160042Z AUG 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0248
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0521
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0282
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

UNCLAS CHIANG MAI 000128 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SCUL TH BM
SUBJECT: THE PLOT THICKENS AS HOLLYWOOD CASTS BURMA IN VILLAIN ROLE 
 
REF: CHIANG MAI 49 
 
¶1.   Hollywood's script for a new Rambo movie that features evil 
Burmese soldiers savagely killing Karen villagers may get the 
thumbs down from the Thai Film Board. 
 
¶2.   Plans to start filming in Thailand are in limbo after the 
board in charge of approving foreign movie productions expressed 
concern that Rambo's rescue mission of Christian church workers 
in an area identified as Karen state might offend the Burmese 
regime. 
 
¶3.    Reportedly inspired by consultations with Soldier of 
Fortune magazine, the script includes a rotten-to-the-core 
Burmese colonel who enjoys betting on young boys running through 
minefields and a charismatic Karen rebel leader whose daughter 
has been stolen in a cross-border raid by Burmese soldiers. 
Meanwhile, dams being constructed to reap foreign profits 
threaten to displace poor Karen villagers as Rambo is called to 
rescue kidnapped American missionaries. 
 
¶4.   Burma exiles here have already taken note of the Rambo IV 
project, comparing it to last year's "Stealth".  Filmed 
partially in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, that movie's portrayal of a 
US air strike against terrorists in Rangoon raised misguided 
hopes of US military intervention among Burmese opposition 
groups (reftel). 
 
¶5.  According to a member of the Rambo pre-production crew, the 
Thai Film Board fears the movie could provoke Burmese wrath and 
has asked that Rambo's base country not be identified. 
 
CAMP