Angulimala

 

Director: Sutape Tunnirut
Year: 2003
Starring: Noppachai Chaiyanam, Stella Malucchi, John Rattanaveroj.
Time: 1 hour 37 minutes

There seems to be a fascination among Thai’s for films that revolve around mythical/historical figures – Suriyothai, Kunpan, Phra Apai-manee and Krai Thong are some recent ones. One problem with all these films is that the main character is never imbued with any sense of real flesh and blood – they are treated with a detached mystical awe that makes them very one dimensional and ultimately boring to watch. That is certainly the case with Angulimala.

The film is based (a little loosely when compared to some material I read) on a character – whether mythical or historical I can’t say – who lived during the days of Buddha and achieved enlightenment and now has an important symbolic place in the Buddhist religion. He represents the ability of man to find salvation and redemption no matter what evil he has done in his life previously – all men can be saved. In a sense he has the same place as Paul in the Christian religion – Paul (then Saul) was a hated figure for persecuting Christians until he converted to Christianity after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. Angulimala has a slightly similar story.

Born to a high caste family in India, it was foretold at his birth that he (originally named Ahimsaka) would became a bandit and an evil man when he grew up. His father wanted to kill him immediately, but his mother convinced him to place their son in a religious temple where he would be able to reach dharma. The high priest of the temple instantly perceives the evil within the child (though he seems to be a sweet kid) and forces him to herd the goats. Ahimsaka grows up there but an incident in which he saves the life of the priest’s new wife (who was found to have Untouchable blood within her) forces him to go on the run with her ( Stella Malucchi from "Tears of the Black Tiger") where they begin to live in a cave. On a mountain he hears the voice of God (or so he thinks) tell him that the way to dharma is for him to kill 1,000 people and thus free them from their sufferings in life. And he proceeds to do so – but he worries about losing count – he doesn’t want to go over a 1,000 nice fellow that he is – so he begins cutting off a finger of each and wearing it around his neck – and he becomes known as Angulimala (“finger garland”). At the beginning he only kills evil people but as time goes on he becomes much less picky – he wants to reach that 1,000 target hit quickly – and starts killing just about everyone. In reality he becomes one of the great serial killers of all time.

Perhaps it’s the type of film that may resonate more with viewers familiar with the story or those that follow the Buddhist faith – but I found it quite monotonous, poorly directed and badly acted. There is also an ambivalence in the film's viewpoint around the character that never quite jells - it portrays him with mystical powers – yet at the same time it implies that he was crazy and delusional – and simply another serial killer who thought he was in communication with God. In either case he is not particularly sympathetic – though he was initially – and his killing spree goes on and on – but there is little imagination around the killings to keep them interesting - it's just arrows to the head or swift cuts of the sword.

My rating for this film: 4.0

Ka Kee 2003



Director: ?
Year: 2003
Starring: Ying Turaluck
Time: 95 minutes

For those who are fans of dull simulated sex, this is a movie for you! Especially simulated sex in which there is nary a glimpse of nudity and all you really see are close ups of faces contorted in pleasure and hands clenching the sheets. Personally, if I never see another scene like this again it will still be too soon. Give me Bollywood any day in which sex is played out in seductive dance numbers – the ultimate in safe sex! The fact that sex has been had of course may be important to the plot of the film – so instead I wish filmmakers would just emulate the days of silent film and put up a placard stating “Sex scene with much writhing and moaning by all involved” or “Sex scene in which the woman looked like she would rather be doing the laundry instead”. Movies such as this would then take up so much less of one’s life.

Aree (Ying Turaluck, the cutie from Phra Apai-manee) seems to be living the good life, but fate has her in its line of sight. She is young and beautiful and married to an older wealthy fellow who adores her and pampers her. They live in a huge house that has its own 18-hole golf course right outside their backdoor – and as he jokes “and the 19th hole is waiting for me inside”. Yuk yuk. One day the husband invites another rich fellow over to hit some golf balls and with one look at Aree this guy decides he has to have her. So he kidnaps her, but instead of forcing terrible things upon her he takes her shopping and more shopping and then more shopping. It must be the way to a woman’s heart I guess because Aree finally consents to go to bed with him and decides she wants to stay.
The husband finds out and isn’t too pleased and so sends his nephew – who has his own designs on Aree – to bring her back. This is just the beginning of Aree’s bad luck - for her and for all the men who fall in love with her during the course of this seemingly endless film. The only thing that might keep you going as it did me is that Ying is quite nice on the eyes and the DVD journeyed all the way from Thailand just for me and so I felt obligated to finish it no matter the cost to my personal well being!

My rating for this film: 2.0

The Poison

Director: ?
Stars: Ying Juraluck
Time: 87 minutes
Year: 1993

One very clear cut subject that Asian films can claim as their very own are the snake women films – this myth (or is it?) of snakes that take on female form is one that has been depicted in many Asian cultures and at some point it has been filmed in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and India. These snake women always seem to be hotties – though I suppose if you are to take on the female guise why not take on the form of a Maggie Cheung, Jade Leung, Sridevi or Brigitte Lin – all the better to seduce foolish men. There are not many taboos left in this world but male/female snake relationships seem to still always cause some uptight religious fanatic to wield his stick of moral indignation. To read more about this film genre – check out the fabulous essay at the Illuminated Lantern.

This recent entry from Thailand once again explores this theme, but unfortunately it is nearly dead on arrival. I emitted a noticeable groan as soon as I realized how cheap the production values were – basic TV fare and special effects that must have been done at the dime store around the corner. It begins one hundred years ago when the local chapter of the Asiripit cult all get together for a little fun and human sacrifice. The cult leader has kept his daughter Aratee a virgin just for this special night (and modern day parents think its tough for them – try telling your daughter that she has to remain chaste so she can be sacrificed to the snake god). The town folks though don’t take kindly to these snake worshippers in their neighborhood – property values being what they are – and so they slaughter all of them – Aratee’s parents right in front of her eyes. This she feels is disrespectful and so she turns into a giant cobra and kills them all – except for a little boy that she lets go out of kindness – though he had taken a few whacks himself with the guidance of his father - it is always good to see a father and son out together. One might of course wonder why she waited until everyone was dead before turning into a giant snake, but that’s snake women for you.
A hundred years pass and a crew for the Discovery channel is looking for this ancient monastery when they come across a bunch of drug smugglers who try and kill them – but Bordin escapes and finds a young sweetie in the middle of the jungle by a flowing stream. This is of course Aratee none the worse for wear after 100 years and with plenty of wiggle left in her. Aratee is played by Ying Juraluck – who clearly is in need of a change in management after clunkers like Ka Kee 2003, being a mermaid in Phra Apai-manee and now a snake woman in this one. She is a cutie though and upholds the snake woman/hottie correlation. It turns out the ancestor of that little boy is coming for revenge and there may be trouble ahead for our lovable couple – especially when his ex-girlfriend shows up. Fortunately, every time the baddies have her in their sights, they turn to long conversations that usually go something like “ its time to die – get ready to die – boy are you in trouble now – are you ready – am I going to enjoy this” which by this time she has been able to turn into her snake self. So will the love of a good man for a slinky snake win out in the end – I sure hope so – it’s a cold, cold world without love.

My rating for this film: 3.0