Metro Australia — January 2018

(WallPaper) #1
http://www.metromagazine.com.au | © ATOM | Metro Magazine 195• 67

represses the less palatable features of his childhood in order
to avoid destabilising his carefully curated identity. The erosion
RI KLV VHOIZRUWK LQ WKH ĺOPpV ĺUVW DFW LV RQO\ WKH EHJLQQLQJ RI D
path towards personal acceptance – a path that requires hon
est engagement with his past.
3HU WKH UHTXLUHPHQWV RI WKH URDGPRYLH JHQUH 7KDQD FDQpW
attain such acceptance himself, but must be led there through
KLV HQFRXQWHUV DORQJ WKH ZD\ +LV ĺUVW VXFK VLJQLĺFDQW HQFRXQ
WHU LV ZLWK D YDJUDQW QDPHG 'HH &KDLZDW .KXPGHH  IRXQG
VTXDWWLQJ E\ WKH VLGH RI WKH KLJKZD\ 'HH LV WKH SRODU RSSRVLWH
RI 7KDQD WUDQTXLO VNLHV YHUVXV DQ DQ[LRXV WKXQGHUVWRUP 'HHpV
peaceful disposition even extends to his own mortality, as he
tells his new companion, ‘I’m going to join my brother in heaven



f@ , UHDG LW LQ WKH VWDUVp 'HHpV P\VWLFLVP DQG DVFHWLFLVP VXJ
gest an antidote to Thana’s anxiety: to embrace internal peace,
rather than fretting over one’s purpose and legacy. But, just as
Tan’s direction refuses to simplify her titular animal into a signi
ĺHU KHUH VKH UHVLVWV WKH WHPSWDWLRQ WR ĻDWWHQ 7KDQDpV HQFRXQ
WHU ZLWK 'HH LQWR D GRW SRLQW RQ KLV VHOIDFWXDOLVDWLRQ WRGR OLVW
'HH LV SRUWUD\HG HPSDWKHWLFDOO\ DV ZLWK 3RSH\H WKH FDPHUD
refuses to simplify him into solely a symbol (though he is argu
DEO\ RQ WKH XQUHDOLVWLF VLGH RI EHDWLĺF 
The two men are separated shortly after meeting when
Popeye escapes outside a local supermarket and is detained
E\ SROLFH DV 7KDQD ODFNV DQ oHOHSKDQW OLFHQFHp KH LV DUUHVWHG
for ‘negligence and violating urban tidiness’. This subplot, in
which a pair of policemen escort Thana and Popeye down the
road at ‘elephant speed’, is a showcase for the screenplay’s
ZU\ FRPHG\ 'HHpV VWRU\OLQH KRZHYHU WDNHV D PRUH WUDJLF WXUQ
as he meets a fatal end in an accident while riding Thana’s mo
WRU VFRRWHU D JLIW RQ WKH ZD\WRIXOĺOKLVRQHGUHDPWRWDNHKLV
sweetheart out for a ride.
<HW LWpV QRW 'HHpV GHDWK WKDW FODULĺHV WKH ĺOPpV t WR ERUURZ
the director’s words – ‘existential themes’,but rather what
Thana discovers when he sets out to honour his erstwhile
IULHQGpV PHPRU\ 'HHpV WUXH V\PEROLF SXUSRVH LV FODULĺHG ZKHQ
7KDQD YLVLWV o'HHpV JLUOp RQO\ WR OHDUQ WKDW VKH KDV VHWWOHG
GRZQ ZLWK D IDPLO\ DQG KDVQpW VHHQ KHU H[ER\IULHQG LQ \HDUV
1DUUDWLYHO\ WKLV VHUYHV D QHFHVVDU\ SXUSRVH t 7KDQD LV DEOH
to borrow a truck from her, which allows him to complete his
YR\DJH WR /RHL t EXW PRUH VLJQLĺFDQWO\ LW UHĻHFWV RXU SURWDJR
nist’s own denial about his past: memories that he’s edited
DQG HUDVHG LQ DQ HIIRUWWRUHĺQHKLVVHOILPDJH



Hitting home


7KDQDpV HYHQWXDO DUULYDO LQ /RHL EULQJV ZLWK LW WKUHH UHYHODWLRQV
One: his childhood home has been remade by developers into
a generic apartment building. Two: Thana sold Popeye to a
circus prior to leaving for Bangkok, to fund his architectural
studies there. And three: the elephant Thana has travelled with
for over several hundred kilometres is not, in fact, Popeye, but
an unrelated elephant. Popeye, we’re reliably informed, was put
down years earlier after he was injured at the circus.
These last two developments clarify the thematic thrust of
WKH ĺOP )RU 7KDQD WKLV HOHSKDQW ZDV PRUH WKDQ MXVW DQ RSSRU
tunity to travel down memory lane during a dark time. ‘Popeye’
represented the possibility of redemption, the chance to salve a
guilt that had clearly lingered for decades. But Thana’s arrival in
/RHL TXDVKHV WKDW SRVVLELOLW\ ZLWK GHYDVWDWLQJ ĺQDOLW\ +H VROG RXW
the optimism of the youth – and the elephant, besides – for the
ashen failure of adulthood. His legacy is a crumbling marriage
and a building scheduled for destruction.


/NO XDdoesn’t cushion the force of this blow – but,
critically, we come to understand that Thana’s journey to
this point has prepared him to accept the bitterness of his
FLUFXPVWDQFHV 7KH ĺOP FRQFOXGHV ZLWK D WHQWDWLYH UHXQLRQ
EHWZHHQ 7KDQD DQG %R LQ WKH GHVHFUDWHG UHPDLQV RI *DUGHQLD
6TXDUH VXUURXQGHG E\ WKH YDFDQW VLPXODFUD RI GXVW\ PDQQH
quins.^4 6KH JHQWO\ VKDUHV D VWRU\ RI ZHDWKHULQJ DQ HDUWKTXDNH
LQ WKH EXLOGLQJ IHHOLQJ FRQĺGHQW LQ KHU VDIHW\ oEHFDXVH \RX
built this’. It’s a bittersweet conclusion. Thana has returned to
Bangkok, where his journey began, with no greater sense of
purpose, though now he’s blessed with the ability to accept
his circumstances in all their imperfections. It brings to mind
WKH RIWTXRWHG FKHVWQXW o'RQpW FU\ EHFDXVH LWpV RYHU VPLOH
because it happened,’ which surely isn’t accidental if this pas
sage from Tan’s director statement is anything to go by: ‘Time
is the witness to it all and when time shows its hand, do we
laugh or do we cry?’
,pYH SHUKDSV PLVUHSUHVHQWHG WKH ĺOP E\ IRFXVLQJ SXUHO\ RQ
Thana’s personal journey./NO XDis, more broadly, a story
about our inability to craft our personal histories – about how
our legacies are not our own, and how our pasts aren’t neat
narratives bent to our wills. In fact, it’s also a story about
7KDLODQG t DOEHLW PD\EH QRW RQH LPEXHG ZLWK D GHHS VSHFLĺF
LW\ 7DQ LV D 6LQJDSRUHDQERUQ 1HZ <RUNtEDVHG ĺOPPDNHU
whose experience of Thailand comes from two years of having
lived there. This experience – and, presumably, her work with
7KDL FUHDWLYHV OLNH /HH &KDWDPHWLNRRO/NO XD’s editor and a
UHJXODU FROODERUDWRU RI SURPLQHQW 7KDL ĺOPPDNHU $SLFKDWSRQJ
:HHUDVHWKDNXO t HQVXUHV WKDW WKH ĺOP DYRLGV URPDQWLFLVLQJ
RU GHQLJUDWLQJ LWV VHWWLQJ 7KH GHPROLWLRQ RI *DUGHQLD 6TXDUH
and the replacement of Thana’s rural home with an apartment
building both hint at the encroaching arm of development, while
WKH FKRLFH WR KDYH DQ HOHSKDQW t ZKLFK oV\PEROLVH>V@ KRSH
lessness’ in a country increasingly stripped of forest environ
ments^6 – as the titular character nods to the consequences
RI VXFK PRGHUQLVDWLRQ
6XFK IDFWRUV OHQG/NO XDthe same lingering melancholy
seen in the elephant’s big, sad eyes. This isn’t a grandstanding
work that overemphasises its political messages, and it resists
WKH IDPLOLDU URDGPRYLH IRUPXOD WKDW ĺQGV PHDQLQJ DW WKH HQG
RI WKH MRXUQH\ 7DQpV ĺOP VXJJHVWV \RX FDQpW FKDQJH \RXU IXWXUH
QRU \RXU SDVW E\ UXQQLQJ DZD\ %XW SHUKDSV\RXFDQĺQGVRPH
modicum of peace along the way.

#@UHC "QDVD HR @ RDBNMC@QX RBGNNK SD@BGDQ @MC EQDDK@MBD VQHSDQ
A@RDC HM !QHRA@MD 0TDDMRK@MC
'D HR SGD ENTMCDQ @MC DCHSNQ
NE SGD VDARHSDccpopculture, and has been published bySBS
Movies Screen Education,The GuardianandThe Big Issue. m

Endnotes

(^1) .LUVWHQ 7DQ o'LUHFWRUpV $UWLVWLF6WDWHPHQWpLQ&HUFDPRQPop Aye
SUHVV NLW  S 
(^2) )XUWKHU UHLQIRUFHGE\WKHWRSELOOLQJRI%RQJWKHHOHSKDQWSOD\LQJ
Popeye.
(^3) .LUVWHQ 7DQ TXRWHG LQ -HUHP\ (OSKLFN oPop Ayet DQ ,QWHUYLHZ
ZLWK .LUVWHQ 7DQp4:3  -XQH  KWWSVIRXUWKUHHŷOPFRP
SRSD\HDQLQWHUYLHZZLWKNLUVWHQWDQ>, accessed
 1RYHPEHU 
(^4) 3RVVLEO\ DQ REOLTXH UHIHUHQFH WR KRZ 7KDQD DQG WKH DXGLHQFH
LPSRVH PHDQLQJ RQ KLVUDQGRPHQFRXQWHUVRQWKHURDGSUREDEO\
MXVW PDQQHTXLQV
 7DQ o'LUHFWRUpV $UWLVWLF 6WDWHPHQWp RSFLW
(^6) Tan, quoted in Elphick, op. cit.

Free download pdf