| |
 ONE
WEEK LEFT TO NOMINATE FILMS FOR 1999 POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY
AWARDS
Since the Political Film Society moved to Hollywood,
the number of eligible films has increased considerably in
1999 -- a record 28 nominations have been made during the
year. The rule governing nominations requires that a film
must be exhibited for at least one week in a commercial cinema
in the headquarters county, which is now Los Angeles County,
where a large number of independent films are screened. Now
is the last week for Political Film Society members to nominate
films raising political consciousness for the year 1999; the
deadline is December 31.
ANNA
AND THE KING -- A FAIRY TALE WITHOUT LYRICS
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, 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, Anna and the King 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
DAVID
SIEMERS CONTRIBUTES TO THE SYLLABUS SERIES
Professor
David Siemers of Colorado College has just made the tenth
contribution to the Syllabus Series. Click
here to purchase the syllabus.
NOMINEES
FOR 1999
DEMOCRACY:
East
of Hope Street, Fight
Club, The
Insider,
Naturally
Native, Three
Kings
EXPOSÉ: Bastards, Cabaret
Balkan, East of Hope Street,
The Insider,
Naturally Native, One
Man's Hero, Three
Kings, Three
Seasons
HUMAN RIGHTS:
The
General's Daughter, The Green
Mile, Hard,
Naturally
Native, One
Man's Hero, Three
Kings, Three
Seasons, Xiu Xiu
PEACE: Cabaret
Balkan, Earth, Light
It Up, One Man's Hero,
Three Kings,
West Beirut
|
|
