Environmental enthusiasts might be caught by surprise. By The River (Sai Nam Tid Chua) is a documentary film based on the toxic poisoning at Klity village in Kanchanaburi province, but it’s not a “green” film in the conventional sense. Your befuddlement is thus understandable. The film is a surprising departure from “save-the-world” films driven by serious content, grim footage, long interviews and heavy messages, if not cartoon animation that preaches urban kids to hug trees and denounce capitalists (remember The Lorax and Dr Seuss?).
By The River (Sai Nam Tid Chua)
At 4PM and 8PM at SF World Cinema, Central World, and SFX Maya, Chiang Mai. Directed by Nontawat Numbenchapol. In Thai and Karen with English subtitles.
By The River is the work of Nontawat Numbenchapol, an up-and-coming film director who sincerely admits that he had not known much about environmental issues. But being passionate and knowledgeable about environment does not always guarantee a successful take on an environmental film. It’s storytelling, compassion and good judgement that lifts Nontawat’s project. By The River won special mention at Switzerland-based Locarno International Film Festival 2013. The movie has also earned rave reviews from critics and praise from local environmental activists. Yes, those serious greenies have taken a liking to this poetic take on a heavy issue.
Instead of educating and preaching, the young auteur is decisive and bold by choosing to make an art film to address the life of Karen ethnic villagers and how they live (have to live) with the toxic pollution they did not create, nor benefit from. On the surface, the movie eulogises the charming simple life and nature. The Klity river is accurately presented as bucolic, serene and inviting to jump into. Villagers are photogenic and ever-smiling. But audiences might sense a lingering sadness and tragic submission underneath the charming facade.
After making audiences fall in love with the beautiful landscape and villagers, Nontawat subtly feeds in the harsh reality by dropping in some casual dialogue about toxic lead. For this reviewer, it is more sad and demoralising to hear villagers casually chatting about getting blood tests for toxic lead, seeing that their livers are affected by eating contaminated food, and the slow development of their children as the pollution is part of their daily life. The film becomes a full-scale documentary in the latter half when the director inserts footage from when the villagers and their lawyer went to hear the verdict in the administrative court.
Nontawat set his camera up to record, walked away and let the villagers chat and be themselves, so the footage is natural. It will be hard for audiences not to smile and feel sad with them. These are real people with real health issues — a local guy who had to drop out of school because of a brain-development problem, a blind mum whose eyesight was damaged by toxic lead, and a talented diver with a limp.
The film’s strength — its lyrical rhythm and focus on visuals — is, however, its own shortcoming. It lacks information about the problem and seems to circle around the subject. To fully appreciate the gravity of the case, audiences should do their homework on the pollution at Klity village. The film’s director has created a social media site (www.facebook.com/bytherivermovie) that tries to fill in the gaps with interviews of activists and affected villagers. Still, By The River represents a unique case of a filmmaker who has trained his eyes on a serious problem, a rare case in modern Thai cinema.
Art speaks volumes
The documentary film By The River (Sai Nam Tid Chua) opens this week exclusively at SF World Cinema at Central World, and SFX Maya in Chiang Mai. The film looks at and reflects on the disastrous lead contamination in Klity village, Kanchanaburi.
Director Nontawat Numbenchapol chats with Life about how art films can help advance environmental campaigns.
How did you come up with the idea for the movie?
I am always drawn to controversial issues. My previous film, Boundary, was about the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia regarding the Preah Vihear temple. I’d heard about the pollution at Klity river — the toxins in the river and villagers with lead in their blood. I went to do some research and the more I dug deeper, the more I became shocked. The saddest thing is that villagers in Klity are innocent victims. They have to drink toxic water and eat contaminated food even though the didn’t get any benefit from lead mines. It is us, the people in the cities, who enjoy the benefit of lead mining.
Local filmmakers hardly touch on environmental subjects. As a film director, can you comment on that?
Environmental issues are not appealing to the masses and those who’re knowledgeable [about the issues] do not care much about the importance of visual presentation. Those passionate activists or environmental journalists put the emphasis on substance, not the packaging. But with respect, there are a lot of people in this world who care deeply about packaging and visual presentation. For myself, I love beautiful photographs, I love art and I love to present Klity village in an aesthetic way.
The film is beautiful, but an environmental subject that is realistic, grim and tragic. What is the beauty of it and how you communicate that hidden beauty?
Before I visited the village, I imagined Klity to be a toxin-strewn and deserted territory. I thought about Minamata [a Japanese seaside village in Japan affected by mercury]. But I was caught by surprise when I visited Klity for the first time because the place is an example of bucolic charm. The river, even though highly polluted, is placid and inviting. Nature is pristine and the villagers are nonchalant and easy-going. But after staying there and having conversations with the villagers, I became more and more appalled that they knew they have toxic lead in their blood.
I love making documentary films, but I do not want to make another typical documentary with predictable narrative storytelling. I decided to tell the story of a beautiful village where people live a slow life. I think of Claude Monet’s impressionist paintings when I think of visual references for the landscape of Klity. By The River is something between a fictitious world and reality. The movie tells the story of the daily life of people in a remote village. But it is a village populated by people with toxic lead in their bodies.
What is your expectation from the audiences in Bangkok?
I want Bangkok denizens to watch this film and I want them to be entertained. I wish it to be a two-hour escape from chaotic urban life. Audiences can think of this movie as a trip to a beautiful forest to meet lovely villagers and learn about the environment along the way.
