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