Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Looking for redemption
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/05/2019
» Young Ahmed believes he's a true Muslim, one of the few in his Muslim neighbourhood in Belgium. He refuses to shake hands with women, quotes verses from the Koran, berates his mother when she drinks, and condemns Jews and pretty much everyone else as infidels. Fellow Belgian-Muslims who do not subscribe to his imam's rigid interpretation of Islam are branded heretics unworthy of uttering the prophet's name. Young Ahmed, 13, is packed tight on the assembly line of Islamic radicalisation, fired up by a sense of self-righteousness so extreme and narrow that we wonder if it leaves room for something else in him, like love, forgiveness or humanity.
Glowing in the moonlight
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 10/02/2017
» The best film among the Oscar's Best Picture nominees, Moonlight glows like an iridescent animal, tender in touch and sensitive to the complexity of life -- black life, or masculine life, or black masculine life, or maybe just life. It's also a film about sexuality and identity, the two forces intersecting at the burning crossroads of race.
Rousing history from its slumber
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/01/2017
» In the documentary Angkor Awakens, director Robert H. Lieberman condenses the past and present of Cambodia into 90 minutes. From the ruins of Angkor Wat to the Khmer Rouge horror and present-day testimonies, the film highlights the key episodes in the country's cultural and political development. And while the broad sweep may seem a little too broad at times, the film pulls a rabbit out of the hat with its extensive interview with strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose reflections on the state of his country as well as his memory of the Khmer Rouge era become a centrepiece of the story.
Trying too hard
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/02/2016
» A controlled plunging into the abyss, Son Of Saul is a Hungarian film set in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Or precisely, it is largely set in the horrific slaughterhouse of the gas chambers in which Jewish prisoners are horded by the trainload. What sets this film apart — what makes it one of the most acclaimed and yet divisive films of last year, as well as a front-runner at the Oscar on Sunday — is the visual strategy and conceptual representation of that European tragedy.
A view from the gas chamber
Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/01/2016
» A Holocaust movie surprisingly becomes a topical subject in Thailand, after the highly publicised, highly embarrassing incident of a Thai aristocrat's grand denial of that historical tragedy (and a subsequent rebuttal by an Israeli ambassador).
After the stardust has settled
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/01/2016
» Attending Cannes Film Festival is like watching Mad Max: relentless, breathless, and giddily exhilarating. The festival ended last Sunday, with the French film Dheepan by Jacques Audiard a dark-horse Palme d'Or winner, and it makes sense now to look back at the world's premier cinema showcase after a few days of recuperation from the madness, where things can be put into a better perspective.
Fasting our way to peace in the South
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 29/06/2013
» We have dubbed them the "Ramadan Demands", which quickly burst into "Ramadan Row". The Islamic fasting month is two weeks away, but the BRN's 7 + 4 demands have already stoked frustration and impatience from the Thai authorities - "I stand firm the conditions are unacceptable to us," said outgoing Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat - and the word "Ramadan" has in the past week become associated with a range of confused notions, from the continuation of strife to the elusive hope for peace.
Poles Apart
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 16/05/2013
» The spirit of rebirth is almost palpable as you walk the streets and hear the stories of Warsaw. Wiped off the map in the 19th century, reduced to ashes by German planes and panzers in 1939 and consigned to suspended animation during the four decades of repressive Stalinist rule that followed, this metropolis _ and the country of which it is capital _ has endured a succession of traumatic misfortunes that it has somehow survived, integrity intact, to reassert its proud identity in the 21st century.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/03/2013
» Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is a happy whip, drawing as much blood as laughter. It runs on Road Runner humour, fired by cruel comedy, cartoon revenge, cracking you up and making you wince, and that balancing act has always been one of the secrets of Tarantino's brilliance. Still, this is a serious film about history and how cinema appropriates history. In a year that most Oscar-contending titles lay pompous claims to accurate retelling of the past, from Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln, the blissful disregard of "history" somehow makes Django the most truthful film of the lot. Or at least it feels truthful in spirit, leaving the grandstanding of other filmmakers looking spurious, frivolous, or simply wrong.
As the storms rage, try anger management
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/09/2012
» The world was so full of rage in the past week that I felt exhausted and small. The Chinese were so mad at the Japanese. The 47% "victims" according to Mitt Romney's strange world view, were enraged by Mitt Romney. The red shirts were infuriated by the Truth Commission's report. The pro-army camp was infuriated by the Truth Commission's report. Motorists were furious at the cold-hearted downpours, and the sky was so furious at everybody that it kept spitting water. Isn't hell supposed to be some sort of fire and not liquid - hot and not chilly?