Stranger than true: Laos up in arms over Thai soccer flick

[Rover_Wow]

While many of you are watching news about how church people are up in arms that the new Da Vinci Code flick is so inaccurate (well duh, it's supposed to be inaccurate, it's based on a novel!), Thailand and Laos are getting into arms over another movie.

I come from Thailand, and even I don't believe it. Granted, this film has the flimsiest of premises (Laos makes World Cup soccer? No frellin' way!), but that's no thing to get up in arms over... It would be like calling "Bend it to Beckham" insulting to immigrant girls who play soccer. This report from one of Thailand's most popular English papers.


THAI-LAOS RELATIONS
Film causes outrage

Football movie's Thai producer agrees to editing to avoid antagonising neighbour


A Thai film producer will today meet with officials from Laos to explore ways to end the uproar over the film "Mak Te" ("Football").


Vientiane says the Thai-made film is inappropriate as it makes fun of Laos and its football team.


The Lao Foreign Ministry summoned Udomsak Sritangos, No 2 at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane, on Friday to raise its concerns over the film. Lao authorities want the Thai producer - GMM Tai Hub Co - to halt Thursday's screening, a Lao official said yesterday.


GMM sent a copy of the film to the Vientiane government so it might identify those scenes it feels need modifying, a GMM official said yesterday. The company is willing to modify the film if the Lao authorities can prove it will cause offence and spark feelings of hate between the two countries, the official said.


"Mak Te" is a comedy about the Thai and Lao football teams, in which the Lao team makes it to the World Cup. Lao authorities say it mocks Laos and puts the team's success down to its Thai coach.


Several of the Lao players dye their hair to look like Western football stars and the team practises in a refrigerated container to get used to cold weather.


These scenes might cause unease among Laotians as they make fun of the national football team, a Lao official who saw a preview of the film last week, said.


Lao students who have seen advertisements for the film on Thai television have also filed complaints with the Lao Embassy in Bangkok to express their dissatisfaction with some scenes, he said.


The Lao Foreign Ministry has taken the matter seriously as cultural sensitivities between the two countries have been ruffled several times in the recent past, which has jeopardised diplomatic ties, he said.


Vientiane is worried the film could lead to the kind of anti-Thai sentiment seen in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh in January 2003, when the Thai Embassy was burned to the ground after a misunderstanding over a statement by a Thai TV star, the official said.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

(About that last paragraph: Here's a timeline (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/page.arcview.php?clid=2&id=73293) on how that happened.)

(Also, athletes sitting in fridge? Reminds me of Cool Runnings, except that was totally based on a true story, and not in the "Fargo" sense.)

Mak Tae's official site (http://www.maktae.com/). The main site requires Flash 8 (which I don't have), but you can watch the trailer. (The trailer is in Thai and Laotian, similar languages... the Laotian dialog is subtitled in Thai, but let's see if you can get the gist from the trailer without knowing a word of either language. ;) )

ETA: Latest news from the TV: The filmmakers have decided not to release it on May 18 (the scheduled release date). They'll re-consider if it should be shown at all (and they are considering not releasing it altogether).

ETA2: Stories about the postponement. MCOT (Thai News Agency):


Lao 'thumbs down' for Thai-produced football comedy
BANGKOK, May 15 (TNA) - A Thai-produced comedy film about an imaginary Lao football team has elicited no smiles from the Lao embassy in Thailand, and consequently, the Royal Thai Police Department and Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs..

After viewing the film "Mak Te" (football), Lao ambassador to Bangkok Hiem Phommachanh gave it a 'thumbs down' rating and said it will cause significant problems between the normally-friendly neighbouring countries if the movie is screened in cinemas.

The film debut is expected to be postponed. The embassy wants the film withdrawn until the script is changed and all references to Laos are deleted.

GMM Tai Hub Co. executive board chairman Visut Poonwaralak and film director Chira Malikul met Monday with Ambassador Hiem to ask his advice regarding reports that the film may cause dissatisfaction among Lao viewers.

The ambassador said that although he understood that the film was intended to be a comedy, nonetheless its content should not relate to Laos, at all. The film's producers should change it to remove any reference to Thailand's neighbour.

"Mak Te" was intended as a comedy about a Lao football team at the World Cup finals. Several Lao footballers reportedly dye their hair imitating European football players and do other actions which Lao viewers might find objectionable.

Caretaker Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Suranand Vejjajiva met with the Mak Te producers, with senior officials from the Royal Thai Police and with the Foreign Ministry today after the Lao government called for the Thai side to scrap the plan to launch the controversial movie on May 18 as it makes fun of Laos.

After the meeting, Mr. Suranand said that the film producers told him that they didn't mean to insult the Lao people but to entertain moviegoers.

However, they said if the film causes any offence, the producers are willing to clear up any misunderstanding with the Lao ambassador and modify the film as instructed by Vientiane.

Mr. Suranand said he would ask the Thai Embassy in Vientiane to monitor reaction from the Lao government. The Thai government, he said, is ready to right the wrong as it does not want bilateral relations to sour.

The Royal Thai Police said it can revoke the film's license if it affects relations between the two countries.

Bernama (Malaysia):

Thai Agrees To Make Cuts On Movie Seen As Offensive By Laos

BANGKOK, May 15 (Bernama) -- A Thai film producer has agreed to cut some scenes in the "Mak Te" (Football) movie that shows the Laos national team qualifying for the World Cup, something deemed as mocking Laos and threatening a diplomatic row between the two neighbours.

GMM Tai Hub Cosent, which produces the movie, has sent a copy of the film to the Vientiane government so that it could identify those scenes need to be taken out.

A company official told the Nation newspaper that it was willing to modify the film if the Laos authorities could prove it would cause offence and spark feelings of hate between the two countries.

GMM made the move after the Laos Foreign Ministry summoned Udomsak Sritangos, the number two official at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane, on Friday to raise its concerns over the film.

Vientiane says the Thai-made film was inappropriate as it makes fun of Laos and its football team.

The Laos Government is worried that the film could lead to anti-Thai sentiment, similar to the one seen in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh in January, 2003, when the Thai Embassy was burned to the ground and Thai businesses were attacked after a misunderstanding over a statement by a Thai TV star.

Laos is a minnow in the football scene in the region, compared to the Thais who are the SEA Games defending champion.

Mak Te" is a comedy about the Thai and Laos football teams, in which the Laos team coached by a Thai makes it to the World Cup.

In the movie, several of the Laos players dye their hair to look like Western football stars and the team practises in a refrigerated container to acclimatise with cold weather.

According to reports here, Laos students who have seen advertisements for the film on Thai television also filed complaints with the Laos Embassy in Bangkok to express their dissatisfaction with some scenes.

[Rover_Wow]

Well, it's official. Mak Tae has been suspended. The Nation gives another editorial on the issue.


BURNING ISSUE
Love-hate relationship between neighbours rises again

Film another example of long-running cultural clashes between Thailand and Laos

The reaction, or perhaps over-reaction, from Vientiane at the weekend towards the Thai comedy film "Mak Tae" (Lucky Loser) was, on one hand, a precautionary measure to avoid a clash of cultures between the two love-hate neighbours, Thailand and Laos.

One the other, it was an indicator of the problematic relations between the two and raised the questions of why and how two such similar cultures can so easily clash.

The Foreign Ministry of the Lao PDR on Friday summoned a Thai representative in Vientiane to express its concerns over the movie, which the authorities considered a humiliation to the Laotian people and the national football team. The ministry demanded the producer halt all screenings and remove all references to Laos from the movie.

"Mak Tae" is a comedy about the Thai and Laotian football teams, in which the Laotian team makes it to the World Cup. The authorities in Vientiane say it mocks Laos and attributes the team's success to its Thai coach.

Several of the Laotian players dye their hair - even their armpit hair - to make them look like Western football stars and the team practises in a refrigerated container to help it grow accustomed to cold weather.

Officials at the Laotian embassy in Bangkok who were invited to a preview of the film earlier this month reported back to Vientiane that some scenes were humiliating.

"Our team is less developed than the Thai team, but it is not fun to see it made into a joke in a Thai film," one official said.

Authorities in Vientiane raised their concerns with the Thai government on the grounds that making jokes on a neighbour might spark anti-Thai sentiment similar to that in Phnom Penh in January 2003 when rioters torched the Thai embassy.

Ordinary Laotian people have yet to see the movie and nobody has offered any judgement about whether it will make them angry. One Vientiane resident told the Thai media he saw nothing wrong with having fun at the expense of the national side.

However, officials at the Foreign Ministry in Vientiane have no need to ask the opinions of ordinary people. Their action aims to avoid conflicts, if any, spurred by the movie, an official said.

At the same time, their complaints have raised their ministry's profile at a time when there are movements in Vientiane to reshuffle the country's leadership and its cabinet members.

If the Foreign Ministry had not blown the whistle on "Mak Tae," any number of other agencies in Laos might have done so because politicians are notoriously keen to exploit nationalist issues for their own gain. Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad might have lost ground if someone else had raised official indignation.

It's happened several times before. The riot in Phnom Penh in 2003 was the result of conflicts between Cambodian politicians who used issues of nationalism to score points against each other. The producer of the horror film "Ghost Game", which features scenes with strong similarities to the notorious S-21 interrogation camp of the Khmer Rouge, was last week forced to apologise.

These situations will continue to crop up as regional politicians are well aware of the superior attitude adopted by Thais who love to make jokes about their "inferior" neighbours.

The producers of "Mak Tae" might not have set out to insult the Laotian people or their football team, but they cannot answer the big question of why they picked Laos as a subject for fun if they didn't see some cultural basis for laughing at Laotians. It's part of Thai culture to laugh at the weakness of inferiors and spring without question to obey superiors.

The producer of "Mak Tae" has agreed to postpone screenings indefinitely and might even consider re-editing the movie, but that will not solve the problem of the relationship between Thailand and its neighbours as long as the fundamental matter of cultural relations remains unchanged.

Thais need to stop making fun of people they see as inferior, and people in neighbouring states should be proud of, and confident in, their culture and identity and should not allow themselves to be exploited for political gain.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

When I first saw advertising for this movie, and saw the trailer, I had this feeling in the back of my head that it didn't seem like a good idea. I mean, Thailand has never been to the World Cup, and they have Laos qualify ahead of Thailand???

ETA: The other big English paper in Thailand sez...


Lao football film held back
Distributors agree to shelve planned release

ANUCHA CHAROENPO, ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

The producer of Mak Te Lok Talueng (Lucky Loser) _ a comedy movie that pokes fun at a fictitious Lao football team _ has cancelled the opening after complaints from the Vientiane.

"We will not release the film on May 18 as scheduled in order to show good faith," said Wisut Pulworaluck, chief executive officer of GMM Tai Hub. "We don't want to create any problems that may lead to conflicts between the two countries."

Mr Wisut made his announcement at a press briefing attended by the film's producer Jira Malikul and director Adisorn Treesirikasem, after a meeting yesterday with Lao ambassador Hiem Phommachanh.

Lao officials complained the movie's jokes belittled Lao people and the film, about a Thai coach taking the Lao football team to the World Cup, contained inappropriate scenes. The film shows Lao footballers dyeing their hair and underarms to get a Western look, while the team practised in refrigerated containers to get used to the cold weather.

Mr Wisut said the ambassador made several points that prompted the company to cancel the release.

There was no plan for film edits to make it more palatable.

He insisted the production was initially aimed at promoting the Thai-Lao relationship, denying the film maker intended to belittle Laos.

Mr Adisorn, in his first solo role as film director, said the movie had been produced in good faith.

"I don't feel any pressure," he said.

He dodged a question about why the production team chose to depict the Lao football team, immediately calling off the press conference.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon has advised Thai film producers to be more considerate and respectful of other nations.

He said Thai films have high potential in the international arena but the industry needs to be more sensitive about other peoples' feelings.

"Film makers and producers should know what is decent and what's not, and they should think twice and be more discreet," said Mr Kantathi in a telephone interview from Tokyo.

It is the second Thai film in less than a month to offend a neighbouring country. Horror flick La-Tha-Pii (Ghost Game) brought protests from Cambodia, which complained it exploited the tragic history of its Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s.

The minister said La-Tha-Pii was upsetting.

"It is lousy and inconsiderate," said Mr Kantathi.

And now, Mak Tae's official website has been taken down for "construction". (Luckily, I have a decent quality version of the trailer downloaded to my drive. Might put it up somewhere later.)

[Sharklady]

This makes me suspect the Lao Foreign Ministry has a serious self-esteem problem.