Tongpan

The first serious movie from Thailand is a dramatised reconstruction of events in 1973-74, the one time when Thai peasants had been invited to participate in discussions about planning issues affecting them. It's a low-key, sombre film, spelling out the inadequacies of the consultation mechanisms as clearly as it reveals the staggering poverty of the peasants themselves. The film was completed outside Thailand after the military coup of 1976, and it stands as a chastening primer on the disgraceful state of Thai politics.