Bang Rajan

I lent this on VCD from a friend of mine and I was impressed. I watched a non-subtitled thai version and I don't understand a word thai.

this movie re-accounts the struggle of a small village against one of 2 burmese invasion armies and holds out for about 5 months -against all odds.

I was pleasantly surprized to find a thrilling action movie without too much sentiments, but just enough to not all hack & slash and not to much to become hollywoodish overly dramatic to the very annoying level of fase-turn-off-the-dvd-player (like Peal Harbour). The comparison with braveheart is easlily made -since this movie has one of the last mass-armies scenes that is not computer enhanced (like 10 soldiers digitally multiplied by 1000)Which is a very impressive scene

There are a few flaws. I thought the fight scenes a filmed a bit messy. It does creatw a feeling of the chaos that is melee, but unfortunately, if one can't tell one villager from another -the all look a-like, which makes the action scene little difficult to follow(compare Black Hawk Down where all were mostly caucasian and had short trimmed hair, underneath the identical helmet all wore in combination with the same desertpaterned uniforms). Concerning the main characters, this problem is solved by giving one a babyface, another a mowhawk hairsyle and british-like moustache and another a beard etc. The more you watch the the less this problem becomes The other flaw are the special effects, these are really bad. BUT I must say that didn't annoy me.

The story is easy to follow, even the flashbacks are easily spotted. The acting is good (for me I watched bodylanguage, facial expressions and intonation of voice, what else can you do when you don't understand the language) The actionscenes are very impreessive especially those with lots and lots of people fighting. The music is great as well, maybe no John Williams, but more than adequate enough to accompany any feeling a scene should return, whether it's a gentle look between 2lovers or an all out end battle

Great movie -I'm still impressed!

Exciting, full-blooded account of a small village in Siam that held off a far greater force of Burmese for 8 attacks. It may be formulaic at times, but the actors and film makers obviously believe in what they are doing, and the result is some of the most thrilling & simultaneously horrifying battle sequences in some time. The characters are broadly drawn (the stuff of legend). The actors and scenery are very photogenic. The score, filled with pounding drums, is incredible.

Despite I studied history many years, we had no time studying South Asia's own history, so I was pleased to learn a bit while being tetanized with the action ! Let me tell you, it's clear enough that Thai are very proud of Bang Rajan's Buddhist monk, strong men (and even women) amazing resistance against cruel Birman.

This Thai big movie is as far from, says, Chinese than from European or Hollywood super productions, which is something I find valuable.

As for the technical part, quantumcat has already written what could be said on it. That's : a bit of confusion and low level special effects, that may be because of *my* point of view or real. You'll see by yourself.

This movie was just released on video in Denmark, and I persuaded a friend to watch it with me. He thanked me afterwards! This is a great movie, and the battles are just INCREDIBLE. You can only compare it to Braveheart, but this movie avoids being as over-the-top romantic.

The only problem is that the people are a little hard to tell from each other (wow, do I sound like a racist!). We have a hero with a big moustache. A drunk with a beard. A guy who is younger than everybody else. And thats about it. The rest of the men look like each other with the same haircuts and facial hair. And the names being so different from western names makes it harder to follow. Luckily, it doesn't really matter who of the men did what. This is a film to watch for its fighting scenes.

If you liked the fighting in Braveheart, you just have to see this. I believe the budget was smaller for this one, but the battle scenes are very convincing. You have to see it for yourself. Actually I think this movie is better than Braveheart, even though I liked that a lot!

Thailand is not the place people would expect to see high quality movies made. Though over the last couple of years some very interesting films have surfaced. This is yet another.

This is a biographical tale of a village called Bang Rajan. During the Burmese invasion of Siam (Thailand) in the late 1700's this village played a pivotal part in the war against the invaders.

The movie starts out quite below par with a rather cheesy battle scene. Though stick with it, as the film becomes very engrossing shortly after. You get to meet the characters of the film and witness their struggle against the cruel Burmese. The film is about honor and bravery against even the worst of odds.

There may be qualms about the acting as most of the cast seem to be amateurs, though this does not detract from the film rather than actually heighten the reality. Some of the special effects are cheap, though the action is great to watch.

I give this 8 out of 10 and highly recommend it to lovers of pre-1900's war movies and Asian Cinema buffs!