Clinton praises movie on Myanmar's Suu Kyi

WASHINGTON (AP) — French director Luc Besson's biopic of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won an unusual endorsement.

Hillary Rodham Clinton says she watched the movie, "The Lady," as she flew to the military-dominated country in December on the first trip there by a U.S. secretary of state in 56 years.

She said: "It was a moving experience for me and I think it will be for you."

Clinton was speaking before a screening Monday to a select audience in Washington, attended by Besson and the movie's star, Michelle Yeoh, who plays Suu Kyi.

Clinton thanked Besson for going to a lot of trouble to get her a DVD of the movie, "so I could watch it as I was traveling to actually meet the real person."

She paid tribute to Suu Kyi, and said the screening was an opportunity to celebrate "this extraordinary woman's struggle to bring democracy to her people."

Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, recently won a seat in Myanmar's parliament as her party swept recent by-elections, prompting the U.S. to ease some economic sanctions.