Rambo in Burma: ‘This is a Hellhole Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’

Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 10.09.07 | 3:30 PM ET

An unlikely commentator has emerged on human rights in Burma. Sylvester Stallone, who recently spent time on the Thai-Burmese border while filming a new “Rambo” movie, is speaking out about the isolated regime’s ongoing war with ethnic minorities in outlying areas of the country. (He was there before the military crackdown on protesting Buddhist monks.) “I witnessed the aftermath—survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off. We saw many elephants with blown off legs,” Stallone said in an AP story. He added that people in his crew were threatened and had warning shots fired at them, while some of the families of his Burmese extras wound up in prison.

John Rambo, the new installment due out in January, features the aging Green Beret as he leads a search for Christian aid workers missing in Burma. Stallone says he hopes that the movie can help to expose the violence and cruelty of the military regime. “It would be a whitewashing not to show what’s over there,” he said. “I think there is a story that needs to be told.”

With John J. Rambo leading the way, Stallone is almost certain to have an audience to tell that story to. But if the trailer is any indication, it’s possible that his message will be lost in the carnage.