Articles | "Mystic Ball" film details

by Dr. Craig Reid

"Chinlone is paradigm in sport," Canadian director Greg Hamilton joyfully shares about something few people in the West have seen or are have even heard of. "It's more than a sport and then it's not a sport. On one hand, you have the challenge and reward of a team sport and spirit, which is satisfying for humans. You also have the pursuit of excellence, playing through pain, especially the random nature and movement of a ball, and people having to react to that. Yet it's still difficult to define. What's clear is that one of the goals of the game is to become one with the ball and with the other players."

At first glance chinlone ("cane-ball" in Burmese), a spiritual kicking art created by Burmese ancients over 1500 years ago, looks like David Beckham juggling a soccer ball with his feet while using martial arts contortions and spins. But in actuality, the driving force of this traditional game, this nationwide treasure that exists within the borders of Myanmar but outside the political boundaries of a country in turmoil, is that the challenge of chinlone is ultimately about beauty and elegance.

"Mystic Ball" recounts Hamilton's 25-year journey on a path deemed closed to foreigners; the art of chinlone. Yet with his purity of love for something he did not understand other than a feeling to discover, he answered a calling, braved the elements and became the first foreigner to play chinlone at the highest level and to open doors to a side of Burmese culture that is often ignored or hidden.

"I first saw someone doing chinlone in a Toronto park in 1981," Hamilton reminisces. "I never played soccer, wasn't familiar with it, but when I saw chinlone, I was immediately fascinated that he was kicking the ball behind his back without looking.

"I couldn't find such a ball so I made one out of paper. But I still had no one to play with. When I went to Thailand in 1983, I found something similar but to find the real thing, in 1986, I decided to go to Myanmar to find a coach."

Made out of rattan and held together by the rattan's tension, the chinlone ball's patented ching-bingling sound, as a result of 200 possible kicking maneuvers, is also part of the mantra-like tonality that can ultimately trance the player into a feeling of overwhelming happiness.

One of the sparkling enigmas that Hamilton features prominently in the film is the chinlone solo artist Su Su Hlaing. Known as the "Golden Princess," she seems to have taken chinlone beyond its esoteric journey to the center of one's mind and elevated the game into a somewhat Zen realm of fantasy.

"There is indeed a certain blissful, ecstatic feeling you get from playing chinlone, but if you don't play long enough, you'll never achieve it, and you can only get this wonderful feeling of bliss during the moments you're playing," Hamilton enthuses.

One thing Hamilton chose not to pursue with his film was the repressive aspect of Myanmar's current regime or the plight the living folk hero Aung San Suu Kyi, explaining, "I don't think it's right that a country be seen through such a narrow perspective as politics and also I'm not qualified to talk about politics. Besides, to me it was more important to show the game, the people and the culture."

When asked about the film's theme, Hamilton thoughtfully posits that it is about transcending limitations, loneliness and one's culture into another culture. "It's finding one's place in the world. The film shows that somebody went out of their own way in spite of others around them, and found that deep passionate interest in life."

Although in chinlone, it is not a goal to be a national or world champion, Hamilton would like to be a champion for chinlone in his quest to spread the word of the art. "I am searching for a sponsor or patron. I want to get the players out on tour so the world can see them and respond to them. This is my next journey."