''Tongpan'' ( th, ทองปาน) is a

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

16 mm black-and-white

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

that re-creates a seminar that took place in

Northeast Thailand Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan/ th, อีสาน, ; lo, ອີສານ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pali ''īsānna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provin ...

in 1975 to discuss the proposed Pa-Mong Dam on the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...

. Interwoven are sequences depicting a poor farmer, Tongpan, who had lost his land to another dam some years before, and his struggles to make ends meet. Because of the film's

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

message and suspected

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

sympathies of the filmmakers, it was banned by the

Thai government The Government of Thailand, or formally the Royal Thai Government ( Abrv: RTG; th, รัฐบาลไทย, , ), is the unitary government of the Kingdom of Thailand. The country emerged as a modern nation state after the foundation of t ...

. The 63-minute film was released on VCD in Thailand in 2006.

Synopsis

It is just after 1973 democracy movement and university students from

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

are going to rural Thailand to talk to farmers about their cause. Among the farmers the students meet is Tongpan, a father of two children with a wife, eking out a living on rented farmland. Years before, Tongpan had his own farm, but lost it when a dam was built. Now, a bigger dam is to be built on the

. The students urge Tongpan to attend a seminar about the dam proposal and share his experience. The seminar is attended by government officials, foreign experts, young intellectuals and local farmers. Various opinions are shared, both for and against the massive Pa-Mong Dam. Tongpan, meanwhile, is struggling to earn a living on his small, rented patch of land. There is not enough water to grow a decent

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

crop and fishstocks are dwindling. Tongpan and his wife have two boys, one still an infant. Food is so scarce, that Tongpan's wife falls ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and cannot breastfeed the boy. He is paid a total of US$100 for a year of watching his landlord's chickens, and cannot hope to borrow more money to buy food for his family. Tongpan attends the seminar, but the hardships at home weigh heavily on him, and when it comes time for him to speak, he has already gone home.

Cast

* Ong-art Ponethon as Tongpan * Khamsing Srinork as Academic at seminar * Peter Bell as Hydro-electricity expert at seminar * Surachai Jantimatorn as Minstrel *

Sulak Sivaraksa Sulak Sivaraksa ( th, สุลักษณ์ ศิวรักษ์; ; pronounced ; born 27 March 1933 in Siam) is a Thai social activist, professor, writer and the founder and director of the Thai NGO " Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation", ...

Production

The filmmakers were a group of such students involved in the 1973 democracy movement, and included folk musician Surachai Jantimatorn of the songs-for-life band

Caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

and director

Euthana Mukdasanit Euthana Mukdasanit ( th, ยุทธนา มุกดาสนิท, born May 25, 1952) is a Thai film director screenwriter and National Artist of the Performing Arts (film director). As a contemporary director of Chatrichalerm Yukol, Euth ...

. The film was based on actual events that had occurred in 1975, and was made in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. The actor who portrayed Tongpan, Ong-art Ponethon, was a farmer and former

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

boxer. He went on to act in the

Vichit Kounavudhi Vichit Kounavudhi ( Thai: วิจิตร คุณาวุฒิ; 23 January 1922, in Chachoengsao, Thailand – 31 July 1997) was a Thai film director and screenwriter. His works include the docudrama '' Son of the Northeast''. Biography ...

film ''

Son of the Northeast ''Son of the Northeast'' ( th, ลูกอีสาน, or ''Look Isan'', also ''Child of the Northeast'') is a 1982 historical drama film set in 1930s Isan, or northeastern Thailand. The film is directed by Vichit Kounavudhi and is based on a S. ...

''.

References

* ''Tongpan'' VCD booklet, 2006.
Tongpan, forbidden political film released!
ThaiCinema.org, 2006-04-19 (retrieved on 2007-01-14).

External links

Yahoo Movies

at

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

* {{IMDb title, 1805483 1976 films Isan Thai drama films Thai-language films Docudrama films Thai national heritage films Thai documentary films