Khunsuk
Reviewed by Simon Booth
Director: Tanit Jitnukool
Year: 2003
Starring: Worrawith Kaewpetch, Sawinee Pookaroon
Time: 125 minutes
After a fun but disappointing
experience with Muay Thai - Nai Khanom Tom, I decided to chance my luck with
one more Thai film that promised some action. Khunsuk (aka "Sema -
The Warrior Of Ayodhaya") is a totally different ballgame, it turns out.
It's a historical epic that conforms much more to normal notions of cinematic
virtue. It has a strong script, great cinematography and decent acting
and the production values are quite high.
The plot has some resemblance
to that of MT-Thingy, in that it follows the fortunes of a young lad called
Sema who decides to try his chances as a soldier and runs into conflict with
an egotistic fighter over the attentions of an attractive young female.
I guess that is not exactly an uncommon story though. Despite the "historical
epic" trappings, the film is mostly a personal story of rags to riches to
rags to... well, that would be telling. Sema has some good friends
and a nice sister, and falls for a girl outside his social caste. The
film focuses mostly on the love triangle this creates, and the friendships
between the characters - the political/military stuff is kept very much in
the background - the canvas on which the story is woven, perhaps.
The story of Sema does
not present any radically new or profound ideas into the world of film, but
it is well told using the full arsenal of cinematic technique. It's
a well-crafted film that balances the "historical epic" with the personal
quite well, comparing reasonably favourably with the recent Hollywood effort
THE LAST SAMURAI for instance.
The one problem with the
film may be more of a problem with this viewer, in that I don't really have
any knowledge of Thai history in the period this film was set. Because
the film focuses more on the personal stories, it doesn't explain much of
the historical and social context. The film features a number of huge
battle scenes that are beautifully filmed, but I found that I didn't actually
have any idea who was fighting who or why. I knew who the "good guys"
were and was able to root for them and enjoy their success and feel sorrow
for their failures, but lacking any understanding of the underlying reasons
for the battles robbed them of some impact. Still, they were *very*
nicely filmed, with lots of the old claret spilled and sprayed. (NOTE:
on going through the film again for screen captures, I realised that the first
5 minutes does try to set the historical stage - if I'd paid attention to
names the later battles might have been a bit clearer!)
Final verdict - whilst
not a "masterpiece", Khunsuk is a very worthy entry into the historical epic
field, and certainly one of the better Thai films of recent years.
Recommended! 8/10