"NATIONAL ANTHEM" AND "TONGPAN" IS THE WINNER

My poll 33 ended with six votes. Thanks very much to everyone who participated in it. Here is the result:


THESE FILMS CONCERN GRASSROOTS, LABOURERS OR COMMON PEOPLE. WHICH ONES DO YOU LIKE?

1.NATIONAL ANTHEM (2008, Chai Chaiyachit, Thailand)
+TONGPAN (1977, Euthana Mukdasanit + Surachai Janthimathorn, Thailand)


Each of them got 3 votes, or 50 %.



3.BING GAI (2007, Feng Yan, China)
+I FILM MY VILLAGE (2006, Shao Yuzhen, China)
+LING GAI KAB PAE BAE BAE (ลิง ไก่ ขาบ แพะ แบะ แบะ) (2008, Ekawit Tomratree or Perjer Group, Thailand)

Each of them got 2 votes, or 33 %.



6.COUP POUR COUP (1972, Marin Karmitz, France)
+MAGIC (ไม้วิเศษ) (2007, Worrawut Lakchai, Thailand)
+MANORO (2006, Brillante Mendoza, Philippines)
+RICE PEOPLE (1994, Rithy Panh, Cambodia)
+WANG YUEN HAB (วังยื่นหาบ) (2008, Sompong Soda, Thailand)
+WITTSTOCK WITTSTOCK (1997, Volker Koepp, Germany)

Each of them got 1 vote, or 16 %.


12.DO-DEAW (ดูเดี่ยว) (2008, Danai Yoktuptim, Thailand)
+ERMO (1994, Zhou Xiaowen, China)
+FARMER FIELD SCHOOL (2007, Supong Jitmuang, Thailand)
+THE LAST RICE FARMER (2005, Yen Lan-chuan + Juang Yi-tseng, Taiwan)
+MARCH OF TIME (กาล) (2000, Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand)
+ORCHESTRA (2008, Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Thailand)
+THE PROFICIENT (เออ...เองเก่ง) (2008, Phumiphat Arayathanitkul, Thailand)
+SILENCE OF THE OTHER END (2007, Arunkumar HG, India, video installation)
+WILL IT SNOW FOR CHRISTMAS? (1996, Sandrine Veysset, France)


Each of them got 0 vote.


--I think China, as a leading Communist country, may be the country which produces the most films about grassroots nowadays.

--I just saw three documentaries or semi-documentaries which rely on the interviews of grassroots and labourers. They are MODERN LIFE (2008, Raymond Depardon, France), ORCHESTRA (2008, Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Thailand), and 24 CITY (2008, Jia Zhangke, China).

If I remember it correctly, the farmers in MODERN LIFE communicate in the slowest speed. The textile workers in ORCHESTRA communicate in medium speed. The interviewees in 24 CITY communicate in the fastest speed, which is too fast for me to follow sometimes.

I wonder what is the cause of the differences in communication speed here. These causes may be:

1.Accident. Different individuals speak in different speeds.

2.the intentions of the directors

3.the differences of occupations. Do farmers work slower than factory workers?

4.the differences of ethnic origins. Do Chinese people tend to speak faster?


--I don’t know the real causes, but the “saying less” in MODERN LIFE seems to draw me into the films. I am totally captivated by the awkwardness of communication in MODERN LIFE.