User Reviews

If ever there was a film that highlighted a huge social and political injustice taking place in the world today, this is it! It is hard to believe that people in our times live like this. The Karen people are a truly forgotten people. This film highlights the day to day struggle of the Karen while still engaging the viewer in a compelling story of 3 friends. The primitive conditions of the soldier's camps and the lack of any real weapons to fight for freedom is heart wrenching. Well done with beautiful scenery! The photography is excellent. Some of the jungle scenes make you feel like you are right there. The beautiful faces of the people in the villages, the children's eyes.... all of them will stay with me for a long time. This is a must see for anyone who has a heart for the underdog, the downtrodden, the politically oppressed of the world!

This documentary pulls you into the lives of a few friends from Burma, now entangled in the struggle for independence for their people, the Karen people. This is a conflict that has been going on for awhile, but the western press has not been giving it attention. Since the one friend is involved in the Karen army, most of the focus is on the armed struggle, but we see parts of a refugee camp and get an overall sense of the Karen people's suffering. The camera even takes us with some Karen soldiers through the jungle on an planned attack of Burmese troops. Prayers from Kawthoolei incriminates Thailand in this struggle, also, and for me, puts the Thai government in a different light. The film's real value is in introducing the struggle to those of us (most/all of us?) who were not aware that this was even taking place or had any up-to-date news about it. This then silently incriminates our news media, who for many of us defines the reality of the world around us.