Khu Gam

I still say there are few better ways to tap into a culture than through its epics. Somebody at work mentioned a movie that sounded like it fit that description. Khu Gam (literally, “karma couple”) has been called Thailand’s Gone with the Wind.

The story line, based on a famous Thai novel, follows a classic mismatched lover formula. A Japanese navy officer, part of the force occupying Thailand during World War II, falls for a Thai woman who is not only already committed to someone else, but fiercely committed to the underground movement to free her country.

You can guess the rest. Its Thai-ness, I suppose, comes from the way the heroine and the other patriotic characters in the story try to neutralize their aggressors by blending with them rather than overpowering them. Some would say that martial-art-like approach explains why Thailand, unlike all of its neighbors, was never colonized.

Click here if you just have to know how it ends. I plan to check out one of the dozen-plus film versions, or perhaps the musical. Probably I’ll skip the 26-episode miniseries.