If you watch the news from Thailand recent 15 years, the confrontation between Red shirt (an exiled ex-prime minister supporters, liberals in rural towns and countryside) and Yellow shirt (ultimate conservative elites and royalists in Bangkok) group which is ironically called "Sa-lim" (Thai traditional sweets name), "Ka-ti" (coconuts milk), "sam kip" (3 buffaloes' toes) in Thai, led to the bloody mobs and ended by coup d'etat before developed into a new movement against the government by youngsters today. What happened in the land of smiles?
Cloud Cuckoo Country, a short film by director Aim-ei Polpitak from Thailand make its world premiere at Osaka Asian Film Festival in March and the cinema was full when the movie began.
Two friends (starring by Nantanat Thakudkul and Chayatanus Saradatta) met by chance at Reclining Buddha Temple (Wat Po) and they walking together around Bangkok old town like National Museum and Sanam Luang, royal plaza. Both girls sharing opinions based on what they believed, like we are hearing a liberal debating with a royalist. They asked several questions which is forbidden to talk in the country.
Buddhist and Thai tradition is tied closely to all classes in Thai society as part of Thai culture and politics. To ask question or do it different from what the predecessors did, may be considered as unrespective. Not only the strong dialogue, but the two actors also show their emotional acting in many feelings which hooked the audiences to see their relation changing until the end.
"We live in a land where history has been held high up as sacred scripture, untouched by any narratives. How can that happen? The answer probably lies in a story that has been a cloud over Thailand for ages. We explore the relationship of the Thai people's political and royal history, the effect of the grandeur of the biggest fairytale that has been told in our lifetime. How that can affect people who live here. I’m interested in exploring the more subtle structural violence of institutions that populate our every day in this nation.
To my mind, this is a more dangerous kind of violence, as it is in the process of becoming gentrified and normalized. This is a violence that doesn’t stir us into action and resistance but instead seduces and lures us into inaction.", director Aim-ei Polpitak said for the world premiere in Osaka Asian Film Festival.
©2022 Cloud Cuckoo Country, Aim-ei Polpitak Production
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