O Foguete

Trekking through the dangerous jungles of Laos, 10-year old Ahlo (Sitthiphon Disamoe) is determined to convince his superstitious family that he is not a lightning rod for bad luck.

Blessed with a nutty uncle obsessed with James Brown (Thep Phongam) and caught in the middle of a village relocation program over the building of a dam, Ahlo's eventful journey takes him through the scarred landscape of his home, littered with Vietnam-era bombs that are still waiting to go off.

Australian writer/director Kim Mordaunt was inspired to make this wistful, often lyrical film after his 2007 documentary Bomb Harvest, which told of the annual toll claimed by the unexploded bombs in Laos.

Thankfully he layers the unavoidable political notes with real warmth, humour and character, a quality that clearly benefited from using a mix of professional and non-professional actors. Mordaunt also knows how to use irony without pushing it; as Ahlo aims to prove his worth at a big rocket festival, we're reminded that The Rocket is not a political allegory, it's an offbeat, celebratory coming-of-age story about a kid.

A little boy has the misfortune of being the surviving twin in Laos, where tradition holds that he has 50/50 chance of bringing bad luck to all those around him. Ahlo lives in a village with his mother, father, and grandmother, when news of a new hydro electric dam disrupts their lives by uprooting them to another, supposedly better place. While dragging all of their possessions up a steep hill, tragedy strikes, and of course the young boy is blamed, especially by his superstitious grandma. They amble on to a town which holds a rocket festival every year with a cash prize. Ahlo decides to build a rocket to prove that he isn't always the messenger of doom. The actor playing Ahlo is tremendous, as is the little girl, Kia, his best friend in the film. Check IMDb credits for their long and difficult names. Rocket will have you jumping up and cheering for this underdog to finally be accepted. One of the ten best movies of the year, and severely overlooked.

"The Rocket" is a very strange film that was made in both Laos and Thailand by an Australian crew. It's an almost fairy tale-like story about a little boy, Ahlo, who is thought to be bad luck. His family is displaced from their village and then bad luck strikes several times. However, instead of feeling sorry for himself, this just makes him more determined throughout the film. Ultimately, there is a rocket contest in a village...and little Ahlo is determined to win even though he's just a kid and the rest of the entries are by adults.

This is a good film because it is so very different. Also, for a kid who looks like he's only about 8 or 9, Sitthiphon Disamoe was awfully good in the lead as Ahlo. Very interesting and a decent film for the family--even with its many references to urine, testicles and the like.

A moving well written tale, well told, with moving performances by all of the mainly amateur cast. An excellent insight to a wonderful country still suffering from the devastation brought about by its proximity to Vietnam. The movies does not descend into sentimentality or the tired over used clichés found in so many of the main stream releases. The child protagonists carry the film along at a pleasing pace and highlight the problems experienced in a battle scared country.The film deserves the accolades it has received to date and I am sure it is due for more critical acclaim. Well worth some of your precious time and the film is good entertainment for the entire family.

"Its not ones birth star decides whether he is lucky or unlucky, its his inspiring deed that decide whether he is lucky to others or not'' well, luck is just an unpredictable phenomena, its not something that to be imposed on the basis of time or situation.

2013's Australian's Lao movie ''The Rocket'' neatly narrates the story of a boy by the name Ahlo who was fist believed to be the curse to their family later turn out to be an actual lucky champ to the entire village, this movie is about the tribal family who migrate in search for the permanent settlement but faces various problems due to Ahlo's mischief, the entire thing turns around when Ahlo shows an interest to participate in a traditional rocket competition to score a prize money for his family settlement, but entire family disapprove his intention of participating in the competition because of his bad luck, in such situation Ahlo's only hope was his friend 'Purple' who helps him in building a rocket for the competition, villagers believed that the rocket which goes high in the air explodes the cloud and brings rain, Ahlo's strong dedication and hope makes him the winner of that competition and at last his rocket brings rain to the village, thus Ahlo turn to be the lucky one.

The way the movie had been taken is so fantastic, entire making is fine and neat, those little artists are just mind blowing, this film has come very well with great realistic performance by the entire cast, irony, emotion are properly mixed and presented together, it's an awesome work with some little mega-mini talents.