While filming near Myanmar, Stallone and the rest of the crew narrowly avoided being shot by the Burmese military. Stallone described Myanmar as a "hellhole." He said "we had shots fired above our heads" and that he "witnessed survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off."
The Burmese military junta has ordered DVD vendors in Myanmar not to distribute the film due to the movie's content. Rambo is available on bootlegs however, and it is a great hit amongst the Karen Freedom Fighters and Burmese exiles critical of the Burmese military dictatorship. According to Karen Freedom Fighters, this movie gave them a great boost of morale. Burmese Freedom Fighters have even adopted dialogue from the movie (most notably "Live for nothing, or die for something") as rallying points and battle cries. "That, to me," said Sylvester Stallone, "is one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film." Also, overseas Burmese praise the movie for its vivid portrayal of the Burmese military's oppression of the Karen people.
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