Syndromes and a Century
by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
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DVD details
Actor: Jaruchai Iamaram, Jenjira Pongpas, Nantarat Sawaddikul, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Sophon PukanokDirector: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Brand: REL
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-15
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Strand Releasing
DVD Reviews of Syndromes and a Century
DVD Review: Beautiful meditative film from Thailand... Fine DVD from Strand
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a pleasure to watch. Quite unlike anything I've seen before. It is an impressionistic film, filled with Buddhist ideas and dwelling on several metaphysical concepts; on the cyclical nature of life, of time, of history; on the duality of reality and of the male and female halves of creation. There is no actual story or plot. The film is split into two halves. Each half is a reflection of the other with slight alterations. Reality viewed through the Looking Glass. It isn't a film that tells you things. It seeks to provoke thought, reflection, meditation and perhaps in the end a better understanding of life.
Both halves centre around medical staff working in Thailand. The first half is set in the near past, roughly 20-30 years ago. In a rural district hospital. The second half takes place in present day Thailand in a spanking new multi-story hospital in Bangkok. The actors are the same in both halves and they play roughly the same characters with the same names but in different settings.
In the first half, the lady doctor, Dr. Toey, interviews a male intern Dr. Nohng coming over from the army to work in the civilian sector. She is also dogged by a shy soldier who is besotted with her. Even as she turns him down, she remembers an earlier relationship with a handsome young Orchid Farmer whom she herself was attracted to but who was similarly interested in someone else. Cycles of unrequited love, never-ending. Meanwhile, the hospital's resident dentist croons Thai country ballads to his patients in an airy treatment room surrounded by banana palms and sunlight. In his free time, he performs at the local open air concerts. It is a bucolic setting filled with nostalgia for the recent past. The entire first half is filled with the sound of birds, crickets, rustling leaves and gently flowing water.
The second half again begins with the lady doctor, also called Dr. Toey, interviewing Dr. Nohng the army doctor who is coming over to work in the hospital. Unlike in the first half where he confesses to a fear of blood, Dr. Nohng is now a haematologist (blood specialist). The second half focuses more on Nohng's love life. Here love is reciprocated. He has a much more intimate relationship with his executive girlfriend who also wants him to move out with her to a less bustling city, out in the country, near the beach. The dentist no longer sings country ballads. He works in a sterile white and cold facility somewhere in the bowels of the modern city hospital. He spends his free time as an aerobics instructor. The soundscape here is sterile, filled with the mechanical hum of electrical appliances and soulless machines. Gentle Thai country ballads have given way to loud thumping rock music.
All throughout though, we see the mainstays of Thai society. Saffron robed monks coming to hospital for treatment. Always smiling and trailing their aura of peace. Young conscript soldiers dressed in plain green fatigues in the first half are replaced by young conscripts in newer jungle camouflage in the second. Hard to tell apart. Things change and yet things stay the same. Statues of the Buddha are everywhere. As are statues of the beloved King - regarded by practically all Thais as the embodiment of the ideal Buddhist King. Holdovers from the ancient past still remain. Even in medical practice. Senior doctors practise "Chakra Healing" without batting an eyelid even as they interpret CT-scans amidst all the paraphernalia of modern medicine. By using the same actors, and characters with the same names, in both halves, Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul also highlights how no matter how times and situations may change the people will always remain the same.
In both halves we also hear discussions on reincarnation. The concept may be foreign to many westerners but the discussions raise universal themes - how to heal relationships sundered by death; how to make peace with the past; given a chance to be reborn, and a choice of incarnations, which would be preferable? In this world, would it be better to be born male or female, rich or poor, human or animal? It is a simple film and for many a film about nothing at all. Yet it is the richest film I have seen in ages.
The film is in Thai. My only gripe with this DVD is that the English subtitles are permanently burnt onto the print and cannot be turned off. They are distracting, especially on rewatching. Otherwise it's a fine transfer from Strand in 1.78:1 widescreen (enhanced for widescreen TV).
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Description of Syndromes and a Century
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: ""NR
Street Date: 01/15/08
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language""ENGLISH
Foreign Film: yes
Subtitlesyes
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: ""Sleeve""
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