The Legend of Suriyothai
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Movie Reviews of The Legend of Suriyothai
Movie Review: A major undertaking with severe flaws
Summary: 3 Stars
There's no doubt that "The Legend of Suriyothai" was a major undertaking in Thailand's film history, and it was a super blockbuster there upon release for a good reason: it was a film about nationalism, about how one Thai queen made sacrifices (some of which might have been of questionable intent) to protect her husband.
While the film has nice cinematography, staging and music, it tries to cover too many things, at least for the Western audience, and ends up lacking focus, esp. in the first half, when the power struggle between the faction of which Suriyothai was a member and a royal consort who wanted to resurrect her clan's dominance of Siam. As I watched how the latter tried to wrestle the throne from her husband, the king, I was confused: why would a movie about "the legend of Suriyothai" spend 1/3 of its time on someone else?
First, a little background in case you were also confused about who was who and what was what.
Ayuthaya was the 16th-century capital of Siam, which was made up of several kingdoms. The ruler of Ayuthaya was the "king of kings," and the other kings were supposed to swear allegiance to him and his heir. This was somewhat like the Japanese shogunate system at the same time, whereby the warlords (shoguns, literally meaning generals) were supposed to be loyal to the emperor, who ruled out of Endo (modern Tokyo). Just like in Japan, this kind of confederate system was fertile ground for disloyalty and treachery.
Suriyothai, the daughter of a minor lord living in one of the small kingdoms, was forced into marriage to Prince Tien, whose father became king of Ayuthaya. Prince Tien was not heir to the throne because his mom was a concubine, not a "high consort", let alone queen. Power struggles erupted over succession after Prince Tien's father died. One of the most memorable scenes in the movie involves the fate of Tien's half-brother, a little boy who was king for only six months.
After Tien's cousin took over the throne, he went to fight the Burmese. Historically, Burma and Thailand has had bitter rivalry for centuries, mostly over land and women. When the king is going, his high consort schemed to overthrow him and restore her clan's claim to throne. One thing led to another, eventually Suriyothai helped her husband Tien become the ruler of Siam.
The last 50 minutes of the 2-hour-20-minute film is about a Siamese-Burmese war. Some well-staged battle scenes (with real people and real elephants) in this part make this a worthy film to watch for people interested in world history, esp. the history of southeast Asia. Finally, you understand why they call the film "the legend of Suriyothai" and how she made the "ultimate sacrifice" the narrator had promised to show you at the beginning of the film.
As you can see, the film has a lot of storylines, as it covers a span of 20 years of Thai (Siamese) history. Not only did I find the film lacking a focus for the first 2/3, but the acting quite stiff, as if the actors were just reading scripts. My mind started wandering away as the film kind of dragged on and became difficult to understand with so many hard-to-remember names scrolling by so fast. It was until the two-hour mark or so that the film regained its footing, at least in terms of having a followable, focused story.
After finishing the film and feeling rather confused and exhausted, I nonetheless had no regrets renting the DVD. In fact, the character of Suriyothai kinda stuck in my head so I rewatched the first part, in order to understand what was really going on. I still found the palace intrigues too much to follow, but at least I began to know who was who and what was what.
Movie Review: Wow, need I say more?
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie justifies to the world that Asian countries can make movies as good as or even better than Hollywood. It's quite a rarity to have a movie made by a Prince, financed or endorsed by a Queen and the main character is acted by a royalty! You would get to see all of that in the behind the scene segment that comes as extras in the DVD package. Just like any other countries that were growing up, there were wild ambitions by various factions to reign the kingdom at any cost; the betrayal, the scheming, the plotting to hedge the bet or to better the chance; and to counter that, there were showing of honour, loyalty, bravery in times of need to do what the country is expected of you. Suriyothai, in this instance, is portrayed as such. She forsaked her true love for her distant cousin to marry a Prince just to keep the fragile peace among warring factions (which were related as well too). With the death of the King, Suriyothai's brother-in-law decided to reign the nation even though he swore upon his father's death bed that he would support his nephew (who was only a mere toddler). To do so, that involved a lot of killing naturally. Suriyothai explained to her disgruntled husband that at times, the coup was necessary for the betterment of a nation (wise instead of conniving like Lady Macbeth). As karma would have it, the brother-in-law would suffer a painful death as his own wife had an hidden agenda (to have her lover be coronated as a King & to have her long forgotten U Thong Dynasty be glorious once more). Suriyothai's husband was projected as a peaceful ruler. Rather than getting involved with all the bickering that was happening, he retreated to the temple instead (to his detriment as he would later found out as the Queen spread the rumour that Suriyothai's husband plotted for his own brother's downfall so he could be King himself). Naturally, Suriyothai would summon for his distant cousin that she was in love with years ago to come to the rescue (Lord Piren). Once all the introduction was gotten over and done with, the movie went up a notch to undo the plotters. The Director explained that originally, CGI was meant to be done by the Industrial Light Magic but he found out that it was cheaper to be done in real time. Thus, a fortunate accident that the fighting scenes were akin to Cecil de Mille's grand epic fighting. Just to complicate the matter, Burma decided to get itself tangled in the civil war. Here, we gotten to see the Spanish and the Portuguese that introduced modern weaponary and mercenaries to the warring factions and did I mention chicken pox as well? To cut the story short, Suriyothai's death in the battlefield vented the anger of their fellow countrymen and women who would continue her fight for the freedom of her nation. A very touching and well-deserving finale. I haven't seen the extended version before but suffice to say that Francis Ford Coppola would have edited the unneeded scenes or as the Director said himself, Director indulging scenes to make the movie flows more smoothly or more rhythmically. The deleted scenes were shown but not explained. It's quite wonderful to note that the person who played Suriyothai's nemesis was akin to Madonna (pop singer) in Thailand, or shall I say, a sex symbol there. In other words, she's perfectly casted as the conniving Queen who would use her sexuality to get her ways. Suriyothai was mentioned quite a bit in the beginning and again in the end, but towards the middle, the movie focused more about the turbulent time that Thailand immersed itself in. A sumptuous set, royal protocol which was followed quite strictly & possibly accurately as it's done by a Prince Director, fighting scenes with elephants which were never going to be outdone by, political backstabbing and intrigue that could match Elizabeth, a bit of love interest, this movie has got it all. Overall, a very commendable effort especially when you think that this is an Asian but not Hollywood movie. Highly recommended.Movie Review: NOW THAT'S AN EPIC
Summary: 5 Stars
The Legend of Suriyothai is a terrific epic. It tells the paralell stories two very different women. The first is Suriyothai, a princess who is in love with a fine man but is forced to marry Prince Tienne. The prince is a honey to look at it but really needs a good kick in the pants because he lacks the slightest bit of ambition or fighting spirit. Still, she makes the best of it. Her first love, Lord Piren also makes the best of it and carves out a succesfufl militray career.
The other woman is the King's consort. She's angelic to look at but is cruel and will do whatever it takes to have her own way. She falls in love with the ancient Thai equivalent of a knight and decides to make him king. She has three innocent men killed because they unwittingly stand in the way of her affair. She kills the king, several hapless servants and procedes to try to wipe out the entire royal family.
All along, Suriyothai sees what's up and battles to save her husband, children and country. There isn't room in the country for the two of them and one is going to have to die.
The movie is very violent in an operatic sort of way. Everybody in the movie loves, hates, fights, eats and forgives in a huge way. The good are very good and the bad are very bad. The actress playing the High Consort's henchwoman was particularly distrubing. Oh and it features a massive battle on elephants and the one of the most beautifully filmed death scenes I've ever seen. I don't buy a lot of DVDs becuase I have to absolutely love a movie before I'll shell out cash for it. I bought this one day after seeing it.
Movie Review: Flawed, But Worthy
Summary: 5 Stars
The Legend of Suriyothai is the most expensive movie ever made in Thailand, the production funded by royalty itself. Visually, Suriyothai must be the most enthralling film I've ever seen. The dead-on and awesome costumes, the superb cinematography and sets (which were filmed at the real historical sites) are just tremendous, worthy of the Academy Awards. The scale is so huge, that the movie needs to be viewed at least twice.
However, Suriyothai is flawed for many reasons. First, is that the original version was actually 4 HOURS LONG (!), and had to be scaled down to just 2 and 1/2, understandably to suite Western audiences. I've seen the original version in Thailand and must say though it did drag, it's MUCH better and has more depth that the version released in the West. However, this skeletal version has a consequence of having been scaled down, so in fact, HALF the movie is missing in other words. Pretty unfair, in my opinion.
Secondly, I would have expected more well-choreographed fight scenes. To say the least, the collosal battles are pretty clumsy and ill-directed. So, don't expect much of a Braveheart-style combat. A movie of such extravaganza deserves more than just uninspired battle scenes.
Basically, the initial flaw would come as a result of the movie having been scaled down. Characters appear and dissapear. Most of the main characters have paperthin development and we sometimes forget who is who at times. I had to watch the movie three times to understand the movie entirely. Nonetheless, if you have patience and an interest in seeing into history of a nation far away, this is the definate movie to check out. I would advise watching the movie first before you buy it, since Suriyothai is definately a "like-it" or "hate-it" camp. I personally love this movie, since I can see it's potential and having seen the original version. The story is epic in proportions and if understood correctly, I would even say it's one of the best. Better than Hollywood by far.
Movie Review: Fascinating
Summary: 5 Stars
There is no question this movie has flaws, but quite frankly I would prefer watching such flaws much more than suffering thru the miserable slop which is 98% of Hollywood films today...This is a fascinating look at another part of the globe which most of us have not experienced beyond eating Phad Thai at the local corner chifa. The colors, the costumes, the bloodthirsty ambition, and the elephants! What amazing images are these. I was particulary enthralled with the scenes of elephant warfare and the one with the elegent river canoes thrusting into battle. And the one-eyed warrior was over the top! Even Hollywood should recognize that guy's talent. How tough was he?
For me, the only reason to not buy this right away is the hope that the longer Thai theatrical version (+45 minutes) might be even better. But I doubt its coming out any time soon, and often editing is done for a good reason (see Das Boot or Blade Runner). If you liked Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, Braveheart, or Elizabeth, I think you will enjoy this film. So my advice is to buy this fascinating film right now!