BUOYANCY
****
Director: Rodd Rathjen
Screenwriter: Rodd Rathjen
Principal cast:
Sarm Heng
Thanawut Kasro
Sareoun Sopheara
Mony Ros
Saichia Wongwirot
Nhim Chhun
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 93 mins.
Australian release date: 26 September 2019
Previewed at: In season at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown, Sydney.
Shot in South-East Asia and spoken entirely in Khmer and Thai, Victorian filmmaker Rodd Rathjen’s debut feature, Buoyancy, is Australia’s entry in the 2019 Oscars, in the Best International Feature Film category (previously known as Best Foreign Language Film). As such, the movie joins the illustrious group of nominees that preceded it, films like Ten Canoes, Samson and Delilah, The Rocket, Tanna and Jirga. It’s a well-deserved accolade and one that should open doors for Rathjen as he makes his way in the future… and what an opening movie it is, as hard and clear as a diamond, with a lean script that shines a light on slavery in the Thai fishing industry. Incredibly, in a card at the film’s end, we learn that there are some 200,000 men and boys enslaved in the trade, that it has been using indentured or slave labour for years and is worth about six billion US dollars per annum. Little wonder, then, that no-one seems to be interested in policing it.
Chakra (a stunning performance from young Sarm Heng) is a 14-year-old Cambodian boy who works tirelessly in his father’s rice paddies for zero return, just his meals and a roof over his head. His father (Sareoun Sopheara) favours his oldest son Kravaan (Nhim Chhun), so Chakra can see no future for himself at home, realising that he will end up working for his brother one day. Listening to tales from villagers about the money to be made in Thailand, he arranges to meet a people-smuggler who will transport him across the border for no money down, just the promise of his first month’s wages. He is told that he will be sent to work in a pineapple processing factory but, once in Thailand, he quickly learns that he is to be shanghaied on to a fishing vessel instead, together with a fellow Khmer man (Mony Ros). The cruel skipper Rom Ran (an excellent portrayal by professional Thai actor Thanawut Kasro) takes a shine to the boy, perhaps recognising something of himself in the kid, but his attention certainly doesn’t make things any easier for Chakra. Life on board the vessel is cruel and harsh and Rom Ran has the power of life and death over all those who work for him, a power that he doesn’t hesitate to use.
This is a tough film that unflinchingly exposes the brutality of the fishing industry. Rathjen was attracted to the subject when he read a detailed report about it that included verbatim reports from survivors, prepared by the Environmental Justice Foundation. He told The Sydney Morning Herald that he “felt guilty because I didn’t know anything [about it].” Almost entirely shot on a trawler, Buoyancy has a beauty that belies the terrible world it exposes. Cinematographer Michael Latham, who filmed last year’s terrific, Strange Colours, makes a virtue of the confined spaces on board the boat, contrasting them with images of the wide-open sea and the empty horizon. Latham has a background in documentaries, and it shows in the way he has treated the material here. The almost industrial score of Lawrence English, augmented by Sam Petty’s clever sound design, add to the foreboding atmosphere surrounding young Chakra’s plight. They are key components of Rathjen’s film.
The director’s screenplay for Buoyancy is spare, with much of the action conveyed purely by the expressions on the faces of the protagonists, and Sarm Heng’s part is almost wordless. He’s a real find, successfully communicating the thoughts behind his stoic young hero’s eyes. Chakra’s life is miserable but the amateur actor imbues him with a strength that gives the viewer hope that this brave boy will summon the will to survive against the odds.
Screenwriter: Rodd Rathjen
Principal cast:
Sarm Heng
Thanawut Kasro
Sareoun Sopheara
Mony Ros
Saichia Wongwirot
Nhim Chhun
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 93 mins.
Australian release date: 26 September 2019
Previewed at: In season at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown, Sydney.
Shot in South-East Asia and spoken entirely in Khmer and Thai, Victorian filmmaker Rodd Rathjen’s debut feature, Buoyancy, is Australia’s entry in the 2019 Oscars, in the Best International Feature Film category (previously known as Best Foreign Language Film). As such, the movie joins the illustrious group of nominees that preceded it, films like Ten Canoes, Samson and Delilah, The Rocket, Tanna and Jirga. It’s a well-deserved accolade and one that should open doors for Rathjen as he makes his way in the future… and what an opening movie it is, as hard and clear as a diamond, with a lean script that shines a light on slavery in the Thai fishing industry. Incredibly, in a card at the film’s end, we learn that there are some 200,000 men and boys enslaved in the trade, that it has been using indentured or slave labour for years and is worth about six billion US dollars per annum. Little wonder, then, that no-one seems to be interested in policing it.
Chakra (a stunning performance from young Sarm Heng) is a 14-year-old Cambodian boy who works tirelessly in his father’s rice paddies for zero return, just his meals and a roof over his head. His father (Sareoun Sopheara) favours his oldest son Kravaan (Nhim Chhun), so Chakra can see no future for himself at home, realising that he will end up working for his brother one day. Listening to tales from villagers about the money to be made in Thailand, he arranges to meet a people-smuggler who will transport him across the border for no money down, just the promise of his first month’s wages. He is told that he will be sent to work in a pineapple processing factory but, once in Thailand, he quickly learns that he is to be shanghaied on to a fishing vessel instead, together with a fellow Khmer man (Mony Ros). The cruel skipper Rom Ran (an excellent portrayal by professional Thai actor Thanawut Kasro) takes a shine to the boy, perhaps recognising something of himself in the kid, but his attention certainly doesn’t make things any easier for Chakra. Life on board the vessel is cruel and harsh and Rom Ran has the power of life and death over all those who work for him, a power that he doesn’t hesitate to use.
This is a tough film that unflinchingly exposes the brutality of the fishing industry. Rathjen was attracted to the subject when he read a detailed report about it that included verbatim reports from survivors, prepared by the Environmental Justice Foundation. He told The Sydney Morning Herald that he “felt guilty because I didn’t know anything [about it].” Almost entirely shot on a trawler, Buoyancy has a beauty that belies the terrible world it exposes. Cinematographer Michael Latham, who filmed last year’s terrific, Strange Colours, makes a virtue of the confined spaces on board the boat, contrasting them with images of the wide-open sea and the empty horizon. Latham has a background in documentaries, and it shows in the way he has treated the material here. The almost industrial score of Lawrence English, augmented by Sam Petty’s clever sound design, add to the foreboding atmosphere surrounding young Chakra’s plight. They are key components of Rathjen’s film.
The director’s screenplay for Buoyancy is spare, with much of the action conveyed purely by the expressions on the faces of the protagonists, and Sarm Heng’s part is almost wordless. He’s a real find, successfully communicating the thoughts behind his stoic young hero’s eyes. Chakra’s life is miserable but the amateur actor imbues him with a strength that gives the viewer hope that this brave boy will summon the will to survive against the odds.