In
1862, Thailand was surrounded by imperialist powers and ruled
by the Chakri dynasty. Britain controlled Burma on the East,
and France was moving up the Mekong to exercise sovereignty
over Indochina on the West. Dissatisfied with religious-oriented
education provided to members of the royal court by Christian
missionaries from Britain, King Mongkut Chakri of Thailand
recruited a British schoolteacher, a widow named Anna Leon
Owens living in Singapore, to educate the children of his
seventy wives and concubines, presumably including Crown Prince
Chulalongkorn (played by Keith Chin). Anna's story, recorded
in grossly fabricated diaries novelized by Margaret Landon
as Anna and the King of Siam, has inspired a stage
play, a musical, and four films, the latest known as
Anna and the King, directed by Andy Tennant. Of the
many versions, Anna and the King is the most
politically oriented, if entirely fictional. Anna (played
by Jodie Foster) displays righteous indignation, if we are
to believe the absurd story, in just the ways in which King
Mongkut (played by Chow Yun-Fat) must learn in order to know
how to appear more civilized to his chief threat, the English.
Anna, in turn, adapts to Thai customs, and the audience with
her learns that Thais have irrepressible humor as well as
a certain charismatic dignity mixed with humility. From Anna,
the king discovers that British value independence even in
matters of the libido, keep a stiff upper lip despite considerable
sentimentality, and revere the sanctity of human life, but
abhor cruelty, subservience, and violence. At the appropriate
time, we are to believe that Anna organizes a lavish state
dinner to impress the British community in Bangkok (with whom
she actually never spoke) that Thailand has a modern ruler
who can converse eloquently in English, provide excellent
food and dining accouterments, and even waltz after dinner,
but of course the Anglo-Siamese commercial treaty had been
signed in 1855 by an English ambassador who was already impressed
with Mongkut, who signed the treaty in part to undermine the
power of the Thai nobility. Unlike previous versions, Elizabeth
Hand's story of the same title, on which the film is based,
fabricates court intrigue, focusing on those who oppose the
king's plan to modernize Thailand. General Alak (played by
Randall Duk Kim), the head of the army, tries to arrange a
mutiny that will end the Chakri dynasty, but the plot is supposedly
foiled when the king arranges to blow up a key bridge that
separates the army from the royal family. Titles at the end
indicate that when Chulalongkorn succeeded his father as king,
Thailand abolished slavery and entered the modern world as
the only country in Southeast Asia to avoid being colonized.
However, the film was shot on location primarily in Malaysia,
since the script took such liberties with Thai customs and
historical accuracy that Thailand refused permission to serve
as the venue for the filming. The film studio underestimated
the seriousness of the crime of lésè majesté, which the film
violates many times, as kings do not permit such intimacy
with foreigners. Nonetheless, most filmviewers will assume
from the film that Thailand's customs, people, and scenery
are so awesome that a trip to the Land of Smiles will be amply
rewarded. MH
I
want to comment on this film
