The week that was in Thailand news: Why every day is like a movie in Thailand.

 

 

Foreign movie companies have been making films in Thailand for the best part of a century.

 

One of the first were Universal who arrived in Siam in the 1920s to film Miss Suwanna of Siam that was released in 1923.

 

It was a romance about a young woman with many admirers who had many adventures and mishaps before eventually finding her soul mate.

 

Cynics would doubtless say that the idea spawned millions of copies resulting in the genre known as Thai Soap.

 

Very little remains of the original “Miss Suwanna” material today but we do know that the then king, His Majesty Rama VI, gave his wholehearted backing to the producers lending them dozens of cars, hundreds of horses, the navy and even the Grand Palace.

 

This spirit of cooperation was a far cry from later years when movies made in the Kingdom were vilified and banned because of perceived affronts to the Royal Family. Such forbidden fruit are “Anna and the King of Siam” and the movie version of the “King and I”.

 

Many classics of the latter part of the 1900s were filmed in Thailand with the kingdom often standing in for Vietnam in war movies. The Russian roulette scene from the “Deer Hunter” was said to have been filmed in Patpong.

 

Robin Williams’ ‘Vietnamese’ love interest in “Good Morning, Vietnam” was none other than Thai actress Jintara Sukapat and most of that movie was filmed here. Rambo even managed to find some of his MiA buddies in Thailand….

 

Locally made Emmanuelle (1974) also managed to create something of a stir – in Rooster’s case being adolescent loins in a South London cinema.

 

By the start of my own three and a half decade sojourn in Krung Thep it was easier to list the movies that were not being filmed here. Lured by the prospect of earning 1,000 baht a day and getting free film grub many of my impoverished friends rocked up for jobs as extras.

 

But a pal of mine was furious when the movie “Off Limits” (also known as Saigon) was shown. We were all very excited as our base around Soi Ngam Duplee in the Rama IV area was decked out in the signs of pre-1975 Saigon.

 

A frame of the movie featured a Sierra Leone guy of our acquaintance called CC who was smiling a sparkling, toothy white grin in a one second clip in the finished movie.

 

Nothing unusual in that, except that my Aussie mate Dave had bought those teeth for the ever skint and toothless CC expecting his money back when the African got paid for being on screen. He never received his cash and Dave stormed out of the movie theater threatening to tear CC’s teeth from his mouth when he saw him next.

 

Movies such as James Bond in “The Man with the Golden Gun” and later “The Beach” courted controversy. Producers of the latter were named in a lawsuit for illegally altering the beach location.

 

Mr Bond took flak for causing too many tourists to visit “Nail Island”.

 

Conversely “The Bridge on the River Kwai” – about the death railway in Kanchanaburi – was not filmed in Thailand but Ceylon. For me one of the most impressive things was Jack Hawkins speaking Thai – he did a good job.

 

Better than those who insist that the river is pronounced as the Thai word for buffalo and not in its correct way as “khwae”.

 

This week in Thailand film makers were still being courted. Tourism and Sports minister Weerasak Kowsurat took a break from doing nothing to jump on the bandwagon offering tax breaks to foreign movie companies.

 

Much of the rest of the week featured the omnipresent videos that today make up well over half of our staple of online news. Staple is the right word – it feels like we are inextricably drawn to such videos at times whether they come from mobile phones or CCTV, Facebook or YouTube.

 

The most gruesome and heartbreaking of the week featured the tragic death of “Nong Um” shot by her boyfriend in the street in broad daylight as he tried to reconcile with her. He later succumbed to a shot to his own neck.

 

Thai men shooting their ex-wives and girlfriends are now so frequent that the news stories are little more than B movie scripts – like Suwanna of Siam only with the names and locations changed. Or this is what a Nation comment piece would have us believe.

 

If you ask me it’s always been like that; before the days of video you needed to be able to read Thai to access it as neither the Bangkok Post nor the Nation bothered with crime of that sort.

 

Resembling a movie scene – and a very bloody one at that - was the state of a room in Lampang after cops managed to get in to help a British man studying Thai boxing. He clearly has a lot to learn after arriving home to confront his Thai wife.

 

“Defending” herself valiantly, we were told, she remarkably managed to locate a cut-throat razor lying casually on a table and caused such damage to the Brit’s arm that the translator described the aftermath as a bloodbath.

 

Forum bashers figuratively wallowed in the red stuff as they offered the bounteous delights of their profound lack of knowledge in everything Thai and British by condemning everyone and everything for the mayhem.

 

The Brit – perhaps due to a Blighty anesthetic known as lager – survived the incident while a Frenchman was also grateful to be alive after he was let out of custody in the alleged case of rape on Koh Tao brought after a complaint by an 18 year old – yes you guessed it – British teen in April.

 

Whether the claim was spurious Rooster knows not, but I really think that it is time in rape cases that the accused is not named until they are convicted. The Thai police – like many forces around the world – seem only too happy to give out names and the press is far too eager to print them.

 

Yet the name and the crime remains on the internet until kingdom come – and as we know few people read past the first few dozen characters to find out that someone was falsely accused or found to be completely innocent.

 

Besides, the Thai authorities really ought not to have further besmirched the already appalling name of Koh Tao……or the French. Plod also told Khaosod that they never actually believed the victim in the first place.

 

To me it sounds like the teen made it all up especially as they were doing some in/out at 7/11 after the in/out in the room that belied her “drugged and raped” fantasy.  

 

I agree with the male, a victim in the case if ever there was one, in that she continued with the ruse to avoid losing face after telling her mother who contacted the British Embassy. So let’s name her: BETHLYN KENNARD. If you see her on her travels around Asia….walk the other way. And if she comes back to Thailand…arrest her.

 

Guns – like their place in a million movies and US High Schools – were never far from the news this week. Apart from the one that helped to snuff out Nong Um we were treated to a potential shooting in a Big Bike vs Pick-Up race in QUOTES, the Queen Of The Eastern Seaboard.

 

This time the racing on the streets of the resort ended with a gun drawn at the lights that was filmed on a phone. The biker was quick to apologize as well he might but the complete inactivity of the cops in doing anything concrete about such lawlessness leaves little hope for the law-abiding.

 

Make no mistake, there are an awful lot of guns in Thailand and it is not a new phenomenon. Thailand has always been tooled-up and gun crime has been rampant since the year dot.

 

Learning Thai by reading crime magazines in the 1980s I was under no illusions and guns were drawn on several friends. Two of these had learned the hard way not to raise one’s middle finger even in the apparent safety cage of a car.

 

One of my teaching colleagues was actually followed to his house, made to wai in apology outside his front gate, before the gunman coolly left in his vehicle satisfied that a modicum of revenge had been exacted on the farang.

 

And not just guns; two other very upstanding teachers at my international schools had arguments with taxi drivers over rip-offs that led to them having to explain to students next day that they had mistakenly walked into doors.

 

If you have any doubt about weaponry in Thailand look under a taxi’s front seat or in the glove compartment – you won’t find gloves.

 

For Rooster the most revolting video of the week was the death of a motorcyclist on Ratchapreuk Road. A car had slowed because of a crossing water monitor causing a biker to brake and be dispatched to the next life by a following pick-up driver obviously texting or reading the news on Line about the latest road accident.

 

However, it was not the fact of the death of the rider that sickened me most but the childish and flippant treatment the story got from the presenters on TNA. It was my task to translate the story about the accident and, dear reader, I can hear you say after all my years in Thailand I should be inured to the pathetic bells, whistles and jokes that the so called presenters put into their attempt at reporting the tragedy.

 

But being a biker myself I would happily tell the inane male presenter and his vacuous, grinning female sidekick what I think of them should we meet. And I would probably use the shorter word for a water monitor.

 

Many like-minded posters agreed with my assessment and called for the presenters to be sacked which is about as likely as the road carnage ending in time for the election, even if it is delayed to 2050.

 

Most red-faced this week were the laugh a minute junta. DPM Prawit was convinced that the national police chief was about to bring fugitive monk Phra Chamnong Iam-intra back from Germany to face the music in Krung Thep. They had even booked a seat back on the plane for the errant monk.

 

Then came news that those wretched Germans – insisting as they do on that tiresome, old fashioned notion of law and order – were holding on to him.

 

It remains to be seen if the saffron runaway has asked for asylum but it was confirmed that Prawit should be IN an asylum based on his assessment of this situation as well as his timepiece excuses.

 

Grumpy chief Chakthip came back alone with his tail between his legs and refused to speak to reporters while pocket general Prayut prepared to fly to Paris and London for meetings to make it appear that he is a statesman and not merely a power grabber in a suit with Chinese made khaki underpants.

 

French leader Macron and Mrs May will smile diplomatically as there is always a second hand submarine or satellite they can flog to Thailand.

 

Prayut will be glad of the break. Earlier in the week he had his usual rant against the press, who he has failed to gag, about their scurrilous comments. How very dare they print the truth!

 

Talking of truth, there was much discussion about the state of the Thai economy this week – the people said it is bad and getting worse while the government (and many economists it must be said) thought everything was hunky-dory.

 

My own view is that it is robust despite what we see in the shops and streets, but the junta saying that lends about as much credence to the idea as the police saying crime is down or teachers claiming educational standards have risen.

 

Finally, the usual fun videos showing plod masquerading as professional also created much comment. One was the novel idea of punishing riders with noisy bikes by putting their faces a few inches away from the exhaust while a cop merrily revved the engine.

 

Titter!

 

Another featured a small army of constabulary trying for an hour to arrest one Ya Ba-ite who had threatened to kill his dad. The ‘Keystone Kretins’ running hither and thither with what looked clothes hangers would brighten anyone’s day.

 

Meanwhile, a security guard also got in on the uninformed in uniform act by casually opening the bank’s front door so that an armed robber could easily make his escape.

 

It was all a reminder of the laughs that are bound to emanate from a Sentosa Island meeting next Tuesday as two sabre-rattling madmen face-off for the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

Gawd help us!

 

Rooster

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-06-09

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Why every day is like a movie in Thailand

Every day is a Lakhon screen play. 

Brilliant!

Always enjoy your weekly round ups, always get me laughing

Thais have not looked after their film heritage at all, most classic films have disintegrated beyond restoration. One of the most successful films ever was monrak luktung from 1970, copied many times on TV. While the sound is still not too bad the film looks like it was made in the 1900's. Sad they neglect film history.

Edited June 10, 20188 yr by Orton Rd

Great article as always but don’t always get to read until Monday

On ‎6‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 4:34 PM, rooster59 said:

Why every day is like a movie in Thailand.

https://youtu.be/xqIJPNdKmw0