THEME OF BUDDHISM THAI MOVIES
Theme of Buddhism is present in Thai movies. It is also called "monk genre". Some movies deal about Buddhist monks as main character. Buddhist monks are often a main character in Thai horror movies. They often help in order to get rid of powerful ghosts and villagers seek them for help and guidance. Despite Thai Buddhism has experienced chaos and crisis since the 1980s, Thai Censorship Board still strictly applies the Buddhist precepts and, in year 2006, objected to depictions of a Buddhist monk playing guitar in movie "Syndromes and a Century" from Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
 |
|
It shows the importance of Buddhist abbots in Thai society. A young man, without parents and who has always lived in temples ("DEK WAT" - เด็กวัด), is in love with a young woman. Her parents don't want a poor groom. Hopefully the abbot is here...
 |
|
This second opus shows the importance of Buddhist abbots and village headmen ("KAMNAN" - กำนัน) in Thai society. A turbulent young man has been sent by his father in a temple to receive a good education. He still misbehaves and flees with a young lady. Hopefully the village headman and the abbot are here to ease tension and solve issues. It emphasizes the cooperation of all generations to solve village problems.
 |
|
Three comics are doing shows on the street and ask for tip money. They found a suitcase full of banknotes on the street. They give it back to the owner and refuse any reward. The owner, called Truat, is impressed by their kind heart, so recruits them. Truat is sick and doctor tells him he doesn't have a lot of time left to live. He asks them to get a specific medicine for him. If they don't help him, he will give all his heritage to social organizations. He has only half of the paper giving hints on this medecine. The other part is located in Pattaya with a psychic called "Chi Fat". Then they now need to find a beggar, later on a girl named Madonna. Then they faced two brigands groups (Red versus Yellow) wishing to get their money. Then they help a man following a weird operation in hospital. They find love during their quest of the medecine paper. This is a typical Thai weak comedy from the 1980s decade with a "katoey" (กะเทย) in the funny and silly role. Sometimes the VCD cover is wrong but this time the movie is wrong. The beginning of the movie is scrapped so only the actors names are displayed and not even the movie title. Luang Ta Noi is supposed to be part of the Luang Ta movie series (หลวงตา) done by famous director Permpol Choei-arun. The original หลวงตา 3 (Luang Ta 3) is subtitled สีกาข้างวัด (1991) ("Sika Khang Wat" or "the woman who lives next door to the temple") is based on true scandal in 1991.
 |
|
This 8-minute short film was done by Parkpoom Wongpoom, who also directed "Shutter", Thai box office hit horror movie in year 2004. A couple and their boy ask for permission to stay in a Buddhist temple as they are poor. The abbot, who is paraplegic, gives his authorization. During every morning alms, the father and his son accompany the abbot to receive people donations. Many people give money as they wish the abbot to recover. The father keeps part of the money and then the son brings an envelop with the remaining money to the abbot. The son is shocked as it is bad deed to rob money from monks. He decides to hide some money and put it back in the envelop for the abbot. One day he surprises the abbot walking by him-self to check the money amount. This short film highlights the modern corrupted society with a father showing bad pattern to his son and an abbot lying to his followers to get more donations. Real life is cruel...
 |
|
Tum is a Buddhist monk for 27 years. When his sister is killed in a terrorist explosion on a train in the south of Thailand, he decided to disrobe in order to look after his niece. Once in the city, Tum has to learn a new life. Living above his sister's hair salon, he is confronted with a new world he knows nothing about, i.e. cell phones, drinking, sex, love, trousers with zip, to ride a bicycle, to work. This movie also raises Buddhist versus Muslim themes.
 |
|
A bad-boy-turned monk is trying to bring back the Buddhist faith to villagers. He is facing opposition from a local mafia boss using his daughter as a fake spirit medium. This simple but entertaining comedy was the second-biggest-grossing movie of the year 2005 with a Bt141 million in ticket revenues.
 |
|
One novice, one young man and one lady are in a train heading to Chiang Rai. The novice is going to famous Buddhist temple "Wat Tham Pa Archa Thong" where monks ride horses. The lady, called Tengmo, is heartbroken and goes back to her parent's home. She is the daughter of a local district officer. The young man called Phon has been laid off and is going for a break. The novice is from Bangkok has difficulty to get used to the life inside the temple. The abbot is very demanding. He is working with the two young people to teach local mountain people to get rid of debts but the local district officer doesn't appreciate their action. This comedy illustrates the decline of the role of Buddhist monks as sacred and unchallengeable in Thai movies. The abbot is still a model but his monks sometimes forget the Buddhist rules through a comic way. The local district officer combines with a former soldier, who claims he has hidden gold ingots inside the ground where the temple is now built. Pressure is done on abbot to move his temple to another location but finally no gold can be found. The gold was found previously by a monk and used to build a big Buddha statue (same story as Wat Traimit).
 |
|
The Holy man 2 is a follow up to the hit 2005 comedy. Rapper Joey Boy has the lead role as a young monk bringing his wisdom to a remote village. Luang Phi Teng has gone to Tibet. Luang Phi Tet replaces him and has decided to go "thudong" as a forest monk but faces many misfortunes. He finally arrives to a temple close to a quarry. Every time there are explosions in the mountain, the temple is damaged with debris and monks have to wear helmets. It is based on a real 2006 news: "there is a temple in Pak Tho district, where the monks wear crash helmets during evening prayers to protect them from the daily rain of stones; the quarry had continued rock blasting even though the provincial governor imposed a temporary ban on its operations near the temple after a monk was injured". Luang Phi Tet updates the way to say sermon. The abbot is singing "Luuk Thung" (ลูกทุ่ง) but Luang Phi Tet uses Thai hip hop. Luang Phi Tet wants also to stop the quarry explosions but he faces the refusal from the abbot as the previous monk, who tried before, died. Luang Phi Tet succeeds to unify the local Christian, Muslim and Buddhist community to enforce and protect the village against quarry debris. His dedication as a "development monk" (พระนักพัฒนะ) causes the quarry owner's ire and this latter uses a hit man to kill Luang Phi Tet but he misses his target. Luang Phi Tet then gather all villagers to challenge the quarry owner and he succeeds to win. This story through comic episodes deliver messages related to Thai culture and society, tolerance (all religions can live together and support each other), fight against corrupted men (nobody is above the law).
 |
|
Seua is a sales manager, who acts badly in his life. He takes advantages of old people to sell them expensive goods and services. Following customers' complains, police tries to catch him. He flees to his home town, where his mother has found a wife for him but he has to become a Buddhist monk first. He has difficulty to get used to monk life (walk bare foot, eat whatever people offer you during morning alms, no comb...). At the same time, an egoist and rapacious old lady died in the village while trying to catch a jackfruit (ขนุน). Her ghost frightens all the villagers when they try to eat her jackfruit! Seua has to find solutions as the temple abbot is on trip. Seua starts to change his mind and behavior (promise to take care about his old mother, be nice to others, doesn't disrobe despite difficulties in order to help the villagers, understanding that ordination rite is an act towards the others - parents and community -). The ghost finally accepts its death. The police officer, understanding that Seua has changed his mindset, doesn't catch him. Seua finally marries a woman he truly loves.
 |
|
A turbulent boy, called Yung, becomes a Buddhist novice. It is a relief for the village as this boy spent his time annoying villagers. A ghost is seen inside the village Buddhist temple. Villagers use talismans (ของดี) to protect themselves against the ghost. The ghost, called Tik, is pacifist and even funny (ผีตลก). Tik is Yung's father. He requests his son to find his wife (Yung's mother) with whom he misbehaves before. They are going to Bangkok. The mother, called Tom, is working in a Karaoke. Tik cannot rebirth (เกิดใหม่) if Tom doesn't forgive him. Chao, Tom's father, tries to help. Tom is protected by a mafia boss. The mafia boss shots Tom. Both Tom and Tik can rebirth happily. This movie is another ghost comedy with Buddhist monks. This comedy includes visual gags, sonorous gags, witty riposte in dialogues. It is targeted for a rural audience public. This movie messages are related to gratitude (กตัญญ) over parents and to always try and never give up. It is a typical comedy movie of 2000s decade, i.e. quite pleasant to see (หายความเครียด) but immediately forgotten.
 |
|
7 millions of baht have been hidden following a robbery. One of the robber is called Sing. His girlfriend is a prostitute (). The police raids the illegal casino (บ่อน) she is staying in. They are looking for Sing but she doesn't know where he is hiding. The money has been hidden in a Buddhist temple. The three robbers come back to the temple but a chapel (โบสถ์) has been constructed on the top of the cache. They need to dig (ต้องขุด) but as it takes time, the only way is to become monk (ต้องบวช) in order to be able to stay in the temple. Sing points his gun to the abbot to force the ordination. Sing and Dang ordinate (เป็นพระ). Pong prefers to remain as a temple boy. Sing and Pong behave badly as monk, i.e. chase dog with feet, say bad words, don't follow closely the temple rules (ระเบียบของวัด), smoke, hit novice (เณร), don't pray before eating. Sing is atheist and calls the abbot as 'boss' instead of เจ้าอาวาส. At night time, they dig. The morning arrives earlier than expected. They need to hit the temple gong (ระฆัง), need to say blessings. The abbot has to justify their inexperience by mentioning they are new monks (พระบวชใหม่) from Thudong order (พระธุดงค์). Sing cannot support the food at lunch time made of alms donation (ฉันเพื่ออยู่ไม่ใช้อยู่เพื่อฉัน). The abbot is also doing tatoos. Pong asks for tatoos also (ศาสนาพุทธศักดิ์สิทธิ์เกิน ดีกว่าคุณทำร้ายได้). Sing is still complaining. His feet hurt as he is not used to walk bare foot. Life prison was easier. Food is not good. Earlier they promised to share 50% of the money with a fourth unknown man. The abbot has money on him and doesn't hesitate to touch a woman bitten by a snake. Dang and Sing hit badly robbers who were trying to steal Buddha statues in order to protect their secret digging activities inside the chapel. They lie to villagers (หลอกชาวบ้าน). They know they are wrong but still do wrong (รู้ว่าทำผิดแต่ยังทำผิด). Sing misses his girlfriend Nam Peung so he invites her to join him to Wat Pa Lom but she refuses believing it is another bad joke from Sing (ช่วยตัวเองก็แล้วกัน). Believing it can be good for her karma, she finally visits the temple and finds Sing as a monk (หลวงพี่). Sings removes his monk robe to make love to Nam Peung. Sing breaches all Buddhist precepts and brings trouble to the temple community. Pong is a good guy and explains to the abbot what happens before. They did a bank robbery (ปล้นเงิน) and hide the money inside the temple's chapel. Pong wanted to help his blind mother. He has lengthy discussion with the abbot about Buddhism (It is possible to teach some people to be good, it is more difficult with some others สอนให้เป็นคนดีบางคนสอนได้บางคนสอนยาก - Badness is easier to do than goodness / ความชั่วทำง่ายความดียทำยาก). Being discovered by other monks, Sing and Dang threathen to kill the monks if they don't help to dig. At morning time, they need to go for alms (เป็นเวลาบิณฑบาตร). If they don't go, they will have nothing to eat. Today is Makabucha day so local people are coming for offerings (บูชา) and listen to sermon (ฟังเทศน์). Dang decides to give them a poignant sermon regarding children working far away from parents to send them money and encourage parents to teach well their kids (สอนลูกดีดี - กตัญญู) to avoid becoming bad guy like him. While digging, they find a cache but no money. Sing starts to break the main Buddha statue. There is a small golden statue inside. A police inspector enters the chapel. Nam Peung was keeping the police inspector informed. He is a corrupted cop asking for his share. They shot at each other. The police inspector is hit. Dang is hit also. Nam Peung hits Sing, who was going to shoot the abbot. Nam Peung finds the money bag in the base of the Buddha statue but it is empty. She prefers to suicide herself instead of surrending to the police. The abbot takes the responsability on him (ผิดเอง). Pong is arrested. 4 years passed. Pong is doing ordination for his blind mother, who cries when holding the yellow robes (ผ้าเหลือง). The former abbot has defrocked. He has now a wife and a child. He is driving a Mercedes car. He comes back to get the golden Buddha statue. He was the one who kept the money. He is finally arrested and the statue is restituted to the temple. After 3 years waiting for the new film law to avoid a ban, this movie was finally released uncut with a Rate 18+. Making a story with bad monks is strong for the local Thai audience as faith and crime are always taboo in Thai films. There is a comparison between the four characters and the four types of lotus in Buddhism (บัวประเภทไหน).
 |
|
Nat has a blondish girlfriend Poon. She has often ghosts visions. They get an invitation to go to Chiang Mai. On the way, they stop to visit Nat's mother. Nat's mother has a bad dream. She frequently visits temples and would like her son to make merit (ทำบุญ) in nine temples (9 วัด). Nat needs to clean his karma by doing merit. There is a strong opposition between the old style mum (แม่โบราณ) and the young modern woman, Poon. Nat finally accepts his mother's request. He meets a monk, who was a childhood friend. The monk goes with them for the nine temples visit. Nat and Poon are young and modern youngsters, who don't know religion and how to show respect to monks (They always call him 'phra' - พระ - instead of 'Luang Phi' - หลวงพี่). Nat doesn't give respect to Buddha images (ไม่ไหว้พระใหญ่). They don't understand why the young man is going for the forest way of life (ธุดง) and how he can sleep in cemeteries (ป่าช้า). Nat is always hot tempered (ใจร้อน). Many warnings are given to them through visions and through the monk's remarks (ช่วยไม่ทันยิ่งทรมานเปล่าๆ). They face death, face accidents, see dead people and ghosts. Those are warnings to them. It is linked to their karma (กรรม) and they cannot escape it. Poon asks the monk's help but Nat refuses to believe up to the point they break up. They are followed up by terrible actions linked to her past. In previous life, they were linked to a young disfigured boy set prisoner in a remote forest hut by his mum as he killed her lover fearing to lose his mother. They finally get reunited and bring the monk to destination. Nat, Poon and Nat's mother share the same past and all come to the same house where the young boy was held prisoner. They need to do more merit (กุศล). The monk and Nat are born the same day. The mother tried to deceive the karma (หลอกกรรม) by interchanging the babies. Her real son is the monk. But the karma cannot be escaped. However it can be altered (กรรมเปลี่ยนไม่ได้แต่แก้ไขได้). Karma is following us (กรรมตาม). The monk is protected from karma by his yellow robe (ผ้าเหลือง) but not Nat. So he is the one to suffer. The monk pays for the past sins through redemption (ชดใช้) by giving his own life so the karma is over. Nat, Poon and the mother are being reunited as a family. The movie features a nice fresh soundtrack.
 |
|
Noi decides to enter the monkhood (บวช) and rejects his rock star attitude. He is looking for calm (เอาความสงบ) as he is a stressed man. The abbot reminds him the analogy between a hose splashing randomly due to water pressure and the spirit always wandering. Funny gags happen when monks are going out for alms (บิณฑบาตร) due to small size comic actor Koeti Aramboy (โก๊ะตี๋ อารามบอย) trying to offer food to a giant monk or when a man is still jealous that his wife has a sweet spot for the abbot since decades. As usual there are flatulence jokes when spicy and sour food is given to monks. Robbers steal the temple bell (ระฆัง). Later they come to steal the Buddha head (มาขโมยพระ). Monks are all drugged but hopefully the main Buddha statue (หลวงพ่อ) is not stolen as it is too heavy! The gang leader is a burlesque Chinese vendor. He uses false claims regarding the monks that they enter monkhood while leaving pregnant women behind them. Noi is smart enough to counter their lies. Actor Akom Preedakul is playing a funny Thai boxing trainer bringing coyote dancers to the temple! Similar to 1980s-1990s decade comedy ghost movies, there is an sequence about villagers fleeing ghosts. Unfortunately the Buddha statue head is cut and stolen by the Chinese gang. The giant monk disguises himself as soft real Bouddha statue (Luang Pho Nim - หลวงพ่อนิ่ม) as a trick to find their cache. Then Noi asks his former bikers friends for help. They are led by Ed carabao, real leader of famous Thai band Carabao. The robbers are captured and the Buddha head recovered.
 |
|
An expensive Mercedes car driven by a young couple hits a motorbike causing the driver death. A call of the father to the police inspector makes him to release the son. Police inspector seems disillusioned. A dead body is found in the temple with a carrot in the mouth. Police is called. The same police inspector is coming. The police inspector doesn't want to investigate on such case as it is only a poor temple boy (เด็กวัดยากจน) who died. A senior monk called Ananda (หลวงพ่อ), who is a former policeman, decides to investigate why this young man called Noi died. Some monks are smoking in the temple and look like ruffians with their numerous tattoos. Luang Pho Ananda gets Noi’s remaining belongings and finds a note with a name. Some monks believe Noi was involved in drugs (ติดยา) as he has an expensive brand new phone. Luang Pho Ananda finds Noi’s aunt and discovers Noi had a sad life with a mother who hang herself. The temple abbot is giving advice on lottery numbers. Luang Pho Ananda has to investigate while continuing performing his duties (prayers, morning alms round). Luang Pho Ananda finds that one of the monks has left suddenly the Buddhist temple. So this monk called Bandit Tho becomes a suspect. Luang Pho Ananda also meets a Bangkokpost journalist investigating on drug traffic in his temple. Inquiry is also going on foot prints found near the dead body and a hand writing style. Luang Pho Ananda questions many monks including a monk smoking, another monk from Chiang Rai who slept with naked Noi as he felt lonely. There is difficulty to investigate in the Buddhist temple as the secret tradition remains strong. Luang Pho Ananda has to chase from the temple compound some youngsters selling drugs. It is found that Bandit Tho was an uncovered policeman investigating on drugs traffic in the temple. The expensive Buddhist amulet found on Noi's body is coming from Chiang Rai. It is weird as Noi was coming from Isan area. The abbot was aware of drug selling but kept the secret to avoid bad publicity to his temple. Noi's body has cigarette butt scars so it looks like he has been tortured before being killed. During Noi’s body creation it is found that it is not Noi’s corpse but Bandit Tho’s body, i.e. the monk who disappeared! Noi’s body is found inside the crematorium. it looks like somebody wished to burn incognito the two bodies at same time. Luang Pho Ananda is always accompanied with a young disabled temple boy called Jek. Luang Pho Ananda discovers that Bandit Tho was not a real policeman so causing ire to the local police head who threatens the abbot to stop donations to the temple. A dangerous snake is put in Luang Pho Ananda’s room. Despite all these threats, Luang Pho Ananda identifies the killer. His life is saved thanks to the young temple boy’s dedication. It is a great thriller Buddhist movie very realistic regarding life in a temple by showing bad things but also good things. It is good that the movie was not censored despite showing bad monks behavior. It got a 15-plus rating. It is a sign that Thai movies censorship is evolving. In 2006, Thai movie “Syndromes and a Century” (แสงศตวรรษ) was censored for much less controversial parts!
Theme of Buddhism is present in Thai movies. Some movies describe the concepts of Buddhism from the jakata stories Many Thai films present also the idea of karma.
 |
|
It is about the love between the young people, Kamanit and Vasinee. It takes place in India 2000 years ago and features many songs. Coming back to his city, Kamanit is captured by outlaws. While pretending that Kamanit is dead, a fellow man convinces Vasinee's parents to give him her hand. Kamanit, who searched for the Buddha, hoping the Buddha would heal his broken heart. One night he met an old monk and sat talking to him all night because the monk seemed to be able to answer all of his questions. The next morning he bid farewell to the monk and continued in his search for the Buddha, without realizing that the monk he had been talking to all night was the Buddha himself. Even when he was gored to death by a bull, he still didn't realize who he had been speaking to.
 |
|
Angulimala was born into a Brahmin caste, the highest Indian caste. However he was predestined to become a cruel bandit. He was deceived by his jealous teacher who told him he must kill 1,000 people and cut their thumbs off to make a necklace if he wished to attain highest wisdom. When Angulimala met Buddha, he tried in vain to catch and kill him, then Buddha convinced him to become a monk. The director spent three years making the movie with 80 million baht and faced censorship.
 |
|
Kwan and Siep are girlfriend and boyfriend (แฟน). She is pure traditional Buddhist believer. She often goes to Buddhist temple (วัด). He is not a believer. When coming back from Khao Luang cave (ถ้ำเขาหลวง) in Phetchaburi, she is hurt by a car. Her body is not hurt but there are serious internal problems. She has only 20% chance to survive. Siep goes back to Khao Luang cave to ask for Buddha to protect Kwan as she has never done doing bad to others. The abbot explains to him that Kwan current situation is linked to her karma (กรรม) but Siep doesn't understand (กรรมเก่ามีจริง). Kwan was a robber in her previous life and killed 5 people. Siep needs to save lives of 5 people in exchange of redemption (ชดใช้) for his girlfriend. First he prevents a policeman to bet 300 000 baht on a horse that is favorite but shall finally lose. If he doesn't prevent the policeman to play, the policeman would have lost the money and gets suicide as it is not his own money. Siep also asks the policeman to give back the money he wrongly intended to use. Then Siep saves another life. A teen under the strong pressure of his parents to succeed his exams cannot bear it and wishes to kill himself. Another teen girl wishes also to throw herself under a train at the train station because her boyfriend wants to break up. He stops her just in time. He gives to her and the boyfriend the business card of the policeman so that he can help them to solve their problems. This movie is positive as it shows there are always solutions to problems. A robbery is going to happen in a Chinese jewelry with 5 people including bombs and shootings between robbers and police. His intervention allows to catch the robbers and avoid one policeman death. In another intervention aiming to save a running kid going to be crashed by a speeding car, Siep saves the wrong kid. So Kwan dies (เวรกรรม). Siep cannot find the abbot anymore. There is no monk since many years in Khao Luang cave... When going out of the cave, he gives some coins to an old beggar lady. So he gets another chance to save the kid (ทำดีได้ดี). This time he succeeds and Kwan wakes up. This movie got 5 Thai film awards in 1997. Director Oxide Pang is coming from Thai advertising industry so he uses different methods (fast shooting to indicate the speed and then slow movement for the last poignant seconds).
This Thai Buddhism movie page 1 contains 17 records.
ThaiWorldView movie database contains 698 records.
| Home > Culture > Thai Cinema > Theme of Buddhism Thai movies |
|
