The Rocket (2013)

"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.

Don't be misled by the trailers about a boy that brings bad luck, which is a cheap version of this deep, moving story, set in great native beauty, Laos. This film brings great dignity to the poor of the world. The story is carefully laid into the history of Laos: people who are picking up bombs dropped by Americans, the background of their governing communists, and as a country that sells electricity to their neighbors; but all of this is only in the background. The story is good, gripping, moving, with dramatic turns to move it from act to act. The native actors, and in particular the children, are all perfect. The children demonstrate joy in the midst of being dirty poor. This film truly soars.

There have been some outstanding child performances this year including that of Tye Sheridan, Liam James, Kacey Mottet Klein, and others, but none better than little Sitthiphon Disamoe's in Kim Mordaunt's The Rocket. A hit at the Berlinale, The Rocket also took top prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival including the Best Narrative Feature, Audience Award, and the Best Actor award for Disamoe. An Australian, Laotian, and Thai co-production, the film can be accused of being formulaic, but it is so full of spirit and genuine warmth that it more than earns its audience appeal.Shot in northern Laos, Mordaunt does not hesitate to remind of us of the legacy of American bombs dropped during the Vietnam War and still visible in the vegetation, nor does he flinch from depicting the reality of poverty and exploitation. In the film, Ahlo (Disamoe) is a ten-year-old full of high energy but burdened with having to prove that he is not the carrier of bad luck. Born in a small hut in a remote Laotian village, Ahlo is a twin whose sibling died during childbirth and whose grandmother Taitok (Bunsri Yindi) proclaimed that he was cursed from the outset. Sadly, distressing events in his young life seemed to give credence to the prophecy.As their village was being torn down to make room for a dam, Ahlo (now ten-years-old) and his family are relocated to a shantytown that is worse than their former home; the boy's mother Mali (Alice Kaohavong) is involved in a tragic accident, and Ahlo's relationship with his father Toma (Sumrit Warin) becomes distant and strained. Feeling alone, he develops a friendship with Kia (Loungnam Kaosainam) a young girl whose family died from malaria, and who lives with her quirky "Uncle Purple," (Thep Phongam), a heavy drinker and ex-soldier who models himself after American singer James Brown.After taking food from a holy place, Ahlo's attempt to return it causes serious problems for his family and they are forced to go on the road looking for a new home. When they stumble on an annual rocket festival where top prizes lure participants to build and launch the best rocket into the sky to beseech the sky gods to bring rain, Ahlo seizes the opportunity to bury his image as the carrier of bad luck. While The Rocket requires a suspension of disbelief, it is only a small possibility that you will leave the theater unmoved.

I saw The Rocket at a film festival just yesterday. I was impressed by the two young leads who convey as much from their faces as what is said. An early sequence where the boy - Ahlo swims underwater in a large dam past sunken statues conveys much about the trade off between the hydro schemes and the forced relocation of villagers in the way. These dams flood hundreds of square kilometres and provide the context for this story in which Ahlo's family is forced to relocate. These large dams including the Xayaburi Dam ( in progress) will affect the lives of more than 60m people in the region and looks to be an environmental disaster in the making. Wisely the story focuses on the 2 children but the politics in Laos deserve more scrutiny. The other key part of this story is that Laos was the most bombed country in the world with more than 75m unexploded bombs ( out of 260m dropped) still buried or half buried there as a result of the Vietnam war. These bombs are referred to as "sleeping tigers" in the film and are a very real constraint on the health and safety of the local people.A secondary theme in the film explores in part the Hmong minority. It is not clear in the film but it looks like Uncle Purple may have been part of that conflict. While we discover more about Uncle Purple in the film that story is only sketched out.What makes this film great is the 2 young leads , Ahlo and Kia who despite all of the disruption around them manage to have wonderful moments in the markets and at the Rocket Festival.I saw this at a film festival and the director said they had based the film in part upon a documentary called Bomb Harvest which he had made earlier. They also attended an actual rocket festival and recreated that for the film. They wanted to give insights from the Laotian point of view which they succeeded on despite this being an Australian film project. The Rocket mixes real life in Laos today with hope for the future. I would see it again for sure.