The Rocket

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.

An Australian co-production that deserves to be seen by a lot more than would've currently experienced it, The Rocket is one of those feel good films that is impossible not to fall for despite it not quite going on with the early promise of the possibility of a new classic.

Director Kim Mordaunt clearly has a spot in his heart for the people of Laos (where this film is set), no doubt stemming from his time filming his scary and touching documentary on the amount of unexploded bombs left over in the country in the 2007 doco Bomb Harvest. Weaving his knowledge of this true life aspect of the country Mordaunt tailors a touching story around it that features some stand out child actors and a particularly groovy uncle in the form of the James Brown loving Uncle Purple played very well by Suthep Po-ngam, but in the end it is the aforementioned child actors that steal the film and make it what it is.

As determined and supposedly cursed young boy Ahlo young actor Sitthiphon Disamoe does a supreme job of portraying a boy that unfortunately bares the stigma of being born a twin into a village that believes twins carry a curse. Ahlo's journey that he takes with family is fraught with both sadness and joy and it's here that the film struggles to lay hold onto what it's setting out to achieve with moments of emotion not played out to full effect and comedic elements feeling misplaced amongst them. Mordaunt must of found it hard to place all these varying emotions into the right place and the films last 20 – 30 minutes really shows this. Mordaunt however excels at capturing the beautiful and at times scary images of the country and his direction of Disamoe and also young actress Loungnam Kaosainam as Ahlo's friend Kia is exemplary, a fine achievement for an Australian director in what is an area that often trips up other compatriots.

Submitted as Australia's entry into this year's Academy Awards foreign film category and playing well to festivals the world over its clear many feel an affection for this unique and often heart-warming tale. Australia should be proud of what Mordaunt has achieved here and even prouder of his efforts to highlight the horror of what Laos still has to deal with today thanks to a war that is now sadly largely forgotten.

3 and a half unwashed purple suits out of 5

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.

Wonderful documentary style story. Scenes still have great impact on me. The casual acting styles of the children were captivating & led to credence all the way through the film. Confronting issues & imagery were simply presented without sentimental or 'fluffy' enhancement. The stories of each character were presented so realistically by apparently unsophisticated actors, with the cinematography displaying facial & scenic imagery so beautifully & again simply, so as to encourage the feel of realism & the documentary style. Would expect more awards to be coming this films way. Started out as a 'bookclub' task & left me with a lifelong impact.