New Documentary, “They Were Kids,” Underscores the Horrors the Myanmar Junta Inflicts on Its Own People

Antonio Graceffo

A video circulating on social media shows two members of the People’s Defense Forces screaming in agony as they are burned alive, dangling by chains from trees over a fire set by SAC soldiers. Bloodied, shackled, and hogtied, the victims writhe while a voice behind the camera calls the burning a triumph, and junta soldiers celebrate. Every household in the village was forced to send one member to witness the killing. The video was included in the film They Were Kids, created by 23-year-old filmmaker Nic Blauer, who chose the title after he and the Free Burma Rangers responded to two schools struck by an airstrike that left nine children wounded and four dead.

The film follows the Rangers on a mission in Karenni State and was shot over the course of Blauer’s four years with the Free Burma Rangers. I met him for an interview at a coffee shop in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where we discussed his experiences with the Rangers and his motivation for making the film. A devout Christian and second-generation missionary in Thailand, Blauer said he wanted to capture not just the violence of the war but also its emotional and spiritual toll.