The
Legend of Suriyothai, directed and written by Prince Chatrichalerm
Pikol, is an epic film with a cast of thousands recounting
two decades in the history of Thailand from 1528 that center
on the way in which Suriyothai (played by Lady Piyapas
Bhirombhakdi) paved the way for the two loves of her life
to gain power and thereby to save the Thai race from ethnic
cleansing by the Burmese. Financed by current Queen Sirikit,
with major events subtitled by year and month for Thai
schoolchildren, the movie is much more than a history lesson.
When the film begins, Suriyothai breaks tradition as a
royal princess by walking among the commoners to meet her
boyfriend Prince Pirenthorathep (played by Chatchai Plengpanich),
who in turn pledges that he will come to her aid whenever
she wants. However, her father insists that she must marry
Prince Thienraja (played by Sarunyu Wongkrachang) so that
the northern and southern kingdoms of Ayuthaya (Siam as
a unified country did not yet exist) will be allied, thereby
deterring the well-armed Burmese, led by King Hongsa (played
by Supakit Thangtatsawat), who is strangely portrayed as
an effeminate leader. Her sacrifice in consenting to the
marriage is her first but not her last. After her father,
the northern king, dies, she becomes a master at court
intrigue, seeking to outwit Queen Srisudachan (played by
Mai Charoenpura), who as the High Consort to the new king
is plotting to restore her own family as the royal line
for both the north and the south. Twice, a king dies, with
only a young boy as his male heir, whetting the appetite
of the Burmese to attack while Ayuthaya apparently lacks
strong leadership, so there is much necessity as well as
opportunity for court intrigue to bring military heroes
into greater prominence. Suriyothai maneuvers, first as
consort to a boy king, and later, when Thienraja is crowned
King Mahachakrepat, as his queen. In a decisive battle
that resulted in the defeat of the Burmese, Suriyothai
commits a final sacrifice--riding into battle to divert
the enemy troops from slaughtering the king. According
to the tagline, " A woman warrior changed the course
of history," though researchers do not agree on the
film version as historical fact. The Legend of
Suriyothai,
which broke all box office records in Thailand, is the
most expensive Thai film ever made, though the dialog is
rather stilted and the acting somewhat stiff. The pace
is rapid, due to careful editing by the director's film
school classmate Francis Ford Coppola, who shrinks 480
minutes of film footage down to 142 action-packed minutes.
However, non-Thais (for whom the expurgated version of
the original version, entitled Suriyothai, is intended)
will doubtless lose track of a fascinating history that
in many ways resembles the historical plays of Shakespeare
while depicting a queen who can be compared with Queen
Elizabeth, whose rule began only a decade later. Two centuries
later, however, Burmese hordes sacked Ayuthaya after a
heroic defense of the kingdom by ordinary villagers, as
dramatized in the film Bangrajan (2000), and the Thai capital
then moved south, across the river from what is now known
as the city of Bangkok. MH
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