Movie Answer Man (01/16/2000)

Q. As a member of the Thai culture, I find your review of the movie "Anna And The King" objectionable. Certainly a critic may give a scathing review to a bad movie. However, in this case, you ventured into abuse and insult of another culture. The Thai King Mongkut is known for his initiative well over a century ago to prohibit men from selling their wives and parents from coercing children to marry, as well as for laying groundwork for the abolition of slavery to be accomplished in the subsequent reign of his son, but perhaps the dramatized version of this king was so far from actuality that you compared him to Hitler and Hannibal Lector! What's more, you reminded the readers of a more modern aspect of Thailand in your punch line about Bangkok being a "world center of sex tourism" (a tradition ostensibly established by the king, you said). Are we as readers supposed to find some parallel in an exotic, bad movie and an exotic, immoral country? You described the British attitude towards Siam and the Thai king during Anna's time as "racist and jingoistic." Can you claim your own attitude is much better? (Ekachai Sombunlcharoen, Bangkok)

A. Yes, I can. Surely one can be critical of a country without being considered racist if its inhabitants are not the same race as oneself? What I found amusing was the attempt by the end credits to paint the bright future Mongkut steered his country toward, a vision perhaps not yet perfectly realized, if indeed sex tourism and even child prostitution are facts of life, as is widely reported. I wrote of Mongkut, "Yes, he is charming; Hitler is said to have been charming, and so, of course, was Hannibal Lector." This was witty but uncalled-for, and indeed my whole review is a mite overwrought. I am tired of the endless versions of this schmaltzy love story, but should not have taken it out on an innocent bystander like Thailand. The film has been banned there, by the way, which ranks somewhere between outrageous censorship and good film criticism.

Q. What's up with all the bright yellow Kodak bags in "Galaxy Quest?" They are quite prominent in the convention scenes. I'm sure it was product placement but it looked so odd it was funny. Does anyone need that much film? (Corrina Frigon, Solvay NY)

A. Hint to product placers: Products look more convincing when they are being used, not being held up to the camera.

Q. I really have to take exception to your inclusion of "The Birth of a Nation," as a milestone in film-making. Just as you wouldn't consider reviewing a snuff film, regardless of the level of expertise utilizing in creating it, I can't understand why you would take the time to even consider this as anything other than early racist propaganda. The only thing that this film furthered was the stereotyping of African-Americans and racial hatred. (Paul C. Wright)

A. Influence and values are two different things. In my choice of the 10 "most influential films of the century," I described D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" as "a masterpiece, a breakthrough in art and craft, linked to a story so racist, it is almost unwatchable." All quite true. This was a list of influential films. No film was more influential in establishing the international language of cinema than "The Birth of a Nation." In making a list of Germany's most influential books, should we leave off Mein Kampf? Griffith wrote a heartfelt letter to Sight & Sound magazine in the 1950s defending himself against charges that he was a racist. Yet certainly he made a racist movie. Perhaps he was too naive or thoughtless to realize it. So different was the climate in those days that the President, the liberal Woodrow Wilson, praised "The Birth of a Nation" as "history written by lightning." Griffith also made "Intolerance," which is against racism, and "Broken Blossoms," which may have been the first Hollywood movie about an interracial love affair.