By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 14, 2000
“They’re fundamentalist Christians. They chain smoke. Bullets bounce off them. They’re 12. The way things are going, Luther and Johnny Htoo, Burma’s armed messiahs, might not make it to 13.”
So begins Talk magazine’s compelling article on these fraternal warrior twins, whose ascent to cult status in the West (a Web site–johnnyandluther.com–has been registered) cannot compete with the legend surrounding them in the remote Thai-Burmese border.
For the April issue, Nate Thayer and Bertil Lintner traveled to the jungle-clad mountains to learn the story of a phenomenon that people across the globe are beginning to call a miracle.
“Luther and Johnny Htoo are believed to have magical powers,” they write. “People say they speak in tongues, turn themselves invisible, repel bullets and topple mountains on their enemies. When they are not at war, the two love to eat candy, play hide-and-seek, chain-smoke, stock automatic weapons–and hang out with their protector, a bellicose dwarf, as well as a warrior known as the `Black-Tongued King.’ ”
In the feature, Father Augustine, a Catholic priest says of the twins, “I believe this is a miracle. I never used to believe in miracles. But . . . things have happened which no one can explain.”
Another pastor says, “They cannot be shot. And when they see a land mine, the twins just kick it out of their way.”
Though their father is a soldier under their sons’ command, their mother has a more traditional role. One pastor says their mother “tells her children when to go to bed and take a bath, and she beats them when they are bad.”
As for the cover story on Tom Cruise, it’s well written. But is there anything that we haven’t already read about the movie star?
The profile on fledgling actress/singer/Playboy cover girl Bijou Phillips, 19, warrants a similar yawn factor, though she is pretty funny describing how inept Lemonheads front man Evan Dando was in bed.
