Once Upon a Time...

Running time: N/A

The film that swept the Thai Academy Awards is a warm and insightful charmer that introduces us to a wonderful ensemble cast. This is the story of a young, modern family which is experiencing the pain of divorce and separation and its effects on the children. What is striking here are the many similarities to western life (working parents, child care problems, tensions between parents and children) along with problems such as homelessness, drugs, and crime. Ooh, the 12 year old daughter, is torn by the separation from her father and runs away with her younger brother and the baby to find him, embarking on an odyssey that takes her through the seamy underworld of Bangkok. She meets Noklea, a young homeless boy, engaged in petty crime and drugs in a milieu very reminiscent of the London of Charles Dickens, updated to the twentieth century. The search for the children by the parents and the very frank scenes of corruption and vice in present-day Thailand make for a tense story which simultaneously exposes the current conditions in many third-world countries which have eagerly adopted the less attractive aspects of western life without many of the mitigating factors. A Thai film is a rarity and therefore a good opportunity for film fans to get a glimpse of a society which is relatively unknown outside the country. --Ed Soohoo