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MOVIE REVIEW
Legend of
Suriyothai, The
(2003)
Starring:
M.L. Piyapas Bhirombhakdi, Johnny
Enfone
Director:
Chatrichalerm Yukoi
Rating: R
Studio:
Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: 6.20.03
Review
Posted: 6.24.03
Spoilers:
None
By
Sara Michelle Fetters
"Bloodshed
and Chaos in 16th Century Thailand"
A feature film
made because the country’s queen decided her people – and
especially the youth – were not well educated in local history?
Why in the heck do something as insanely ludicrous as that? No
one likes being told what’s good for them, especially youth, so
I can only imagination the heartburn this would cause a director
to and try and, not only make something fitting for the queen,
but palatable to a mass audience as well.
That was
precisely the task set before Thailand director and Prince
Chatri Chalerm Yukol. The film,
The Legend of Suriyothai,
is the result and it is decidedly a mixed bag. The story of
legendary Thai princess Suriyothai whom in the 16th
century gave everything to save her country from ruin, Yukol’s
film excels at creating spectacle. This is a movie where when a
leader asks for the elephants to be armored and soldiers made
ready, hundreds of tusked pachyderms get suited up and thousands
of warriors take up the call. No CGI here, this is a broad
canvass the likes of which would make Cecil B. DeMille very
proud.
If only it all
made a lick of sense. This 400-plus-year-old story is so ripe
with double, triple and quadruple crosses and the hierarchal
structure of ancient Thailand so complex that following it all
takes a Masters Degree in East Asian ancient history. The
princess-cum-queen at the center of the tale disappears for at
least a good third of Legend’s two-plus hour story line
and so many of the actors unfortunately look just enough alike
making it easy to get the movie’s heroes and villains completely
mixed up. It’s a disconcerting mess resulting in more than a few
head scratches and hurried glances at the movie’s production
notes.
It seems clear
most of the blame for this has come from the editing down of
Yukol’s original four hour-plus original by the director and
friend (and fellow UCLA grad) Francis Ford Coppola to its
present length. That’s a shame, for Yukol has a definite eye for
grandeur and a striking feel for spectacle. This is a movie
that’s as much a treat for the eyes and ears as it is anything
else, and it’s sad such a large-scale epic is destined to only
fill the small screens of a local independent movie house.
Yet, even with
these strikes against it, Legend is decidedly worth
trying to find. For one thing, once the epic’s immense battle
sequences take over it becomes much easier to pick out the evil
from the valiant. Also, Yukol has a Kurosawa-inspired eye for
combat, staging some of the most fantastical and eye-popping
conflicts the cinema has seen since the Japanese mater’s
Shakespeare-inspired masterpiece Ran. It’s bloody and
brutal, yet filled with all the pageantry and scope of films of
a bygone era.
Also, two
performances stand out amidst the cluttered proceedings cutting
an indelible swath that sticks in memory. M. L. Piyapas
Bhirombhakdi is very good as the title heroine, continually
putting aside her own personal happiness for the welfare of her
people. She’s strong and stoic adding just the right amount of
vulnerability to make Suriyothai a living, breathing person
instead of an empty symbol of nationalistic sacrifice.
Even better is
Mai Charoenpura as one of
Suriyothai’s rivals and the head plotter against her country’s
freedom, the courtesan Srisudachan. Like a Siamese Lady Macbeth,
she leads a coup in order to bring her family the U Thong to
power, even ordering the (very violent – you’ve been warned)
execution of a young child who’s not old enough to realize he’s
had the grave misfortune of inheriting a kingdom. At first
appearing to be nothing more than a pristine and proper
porcelain doll made for sitting on a shelf and being admired,
Charoenpura whisks around the screen
with all the ferocity and tenor of a lurking Bengal Tiger.
Nonetheless, there is a surprising depth of humanity to her
performance, fleshing out Srisudachan far beyond the
limited scope of normal movie villainy.
Still,
The Legend of Suriyothai
cannot but help keep the viewer at arms length. It never drew me
in beyond the sweeping spectacle and into the all-important
human drama. It is apparent from what is on screen that this era
of Thailand’s history is far more fascinating than I would have
ever known, but a movie needs more than just the illusion of
greatness to get it by. As it is, in this incarnation Yukol’s
epic is a mixed bag at best; a ponderous bore at worse. And
while it does just get by I can’t help but think, much like
reading Clift’s Notes, this chopped-up version of the director’s
original vision can only pale next to the real thing.
Rating: 2.5 out of 4
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