[Lee Jong-gil's Movie Reading] The Atmosphere Is Like Gokseong... But It's Not Scary, Just Bizarre

Thai Film 'Rangjong' Produced by Na Hong-jin
Fake Documentary Depicting the Catastrophe of a Thai Shaman Family... Portrays Poverty Areas, Karma, and Inheritance
Regrettable Listing of Sensational Scenes... Abrupt Ending Due to the Decline of Faith

Movie 'Rangjong' Still Cut

The Thai film Rang Zong is a fake documentary depicting the catastrophe experienced by a shaman family. The subject of the coverage is Nim (Sawani Utoomma), a shaman who worships the ancestral spirit Bayan. Upon hearing of her brother-in-law's death, she and the filming crew attend the funeral, where Nim senses a chilling aura from her niece Ming (Narita Gunmongkonket). "Ming, are you okay? I heard you were the first to see your father's body." "I'm fine." Ming soon becomes violent. Possessed by something, she continues to exhibit strange symptoms.

The entity tormenting Ming appears to be Bayan, whom Nim worships. Ming suffers from bleeding at a job placement agency. At a church busy with Christmas events, she scratches her teeth with her nails, drawing blood. This is a warning to abandon her job and religion and accept the shaman's natural order. Her mother Noi (Sirani Yankitikun) says, "I cannot let my daughter become a shaman." She herself once suffered a similar spiritual affliction. She visited the church and even changed her underwear to reject the spirit possession, which led to her younger sister Nim becoming the one to worship Bayan.

The concept of Thai folk beliefs is divided into phi and khwan. Rang Zong deals with the former. It is an object of fear and will. It encompasses not only natural spirits dwelling in rivers, seas, mountains, and trees but also the ghosts of the dead, ancestral spirits, land gods, and village guardian spirits. According to the Royal Institute Encyclopedia of Thailand, phi can be beneficial but also harmful. There are good phi and bad phi. Villages near rural or jungle areas still live with an awareness of phi today.

Movie 'Rangjong' Still Cut

Director Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing (2016) also features a presence similar to phi. It is Myeong (Cheon Woo-hee), a seemingly rural maiden. When Il-gwang (Hwang Jung-min) appears in front of Jong-gu’s (Kwak Do-won) house, she uses her spiritual power to drive him away. She even hangs a goldenrod, a ghost-catching trap, on the gate. However, the villagers waver between suspicion and belief, ultimately facing catastrophe. In Rang Zong, Noi plays such a role. Her desire to save her daughter only worsens the situation. The souls massacred by Ming’s paternal male relatives possess her.

Director Phisansadana Kun does not explain the reality of the massacre. It can be inferred to be in Isan, northeastern Thailand, where the film is set. It is the poorest region in Thailand. Residents lament the reality that politics, economy, and culture are centered around Bangkok and the central region. The starting point was education. Thailand established a policy to expand modern education in 1885 and implemented compulsory elementary education from 1921. The unified curriculum centered on Siamese (Bangkok and central region residents) language, history, and geography, forcing respect for the king and Buddhism.

Movie 'Rangjong' Still Cut

In response, local folk opera singer Noi launched an anti-government movement. He urged local residents not to pay taxes to the government or send their children to school. Even after his arrest, protests continued. Politicians from Isan demanded economic improvements and fair economic policies from the Bangkok government. The military coup-installed Pibun regime accused them of attempting northeastern separatism and independence and killed them. In the 1970s, they were branded communists and suppressed. Ming’s paternal family likely played a central role in this.

Industrial policies centered on Bangkok and the central region have further widened regional economic disparities. Isan migrants to Bangkok work as unskilled laborers, enduring low wages and physically demanding jobs. They are sometimes looked down upon for speaking a dialect close to Lao. The unpleasant feelings born from class consciousness and ethnic discrimination became a catalyst for Isan people to unite with a shared cultural identity. Rang Zong attempts a counterattack through the solidified shamanism.

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Director Phisansadana Kun presents a series of processes represented by karma and inheritance through found footage. It is a subgenre of fake documentary based on the premise that footage disappeared due to the cameraman’s disappearance and was later found and released. It became famous through films like The Blair Witch Project (1999), REC (2007), and Paranormal Activity (2007). In Rang Zong, the cameraman rarely intervenes in the events, only closely observing the bizarre scenes. This resembles the audience’s gaze, which has been indifferent despite knowing about the Isan issue. The cameraman only reveals their face when survival is threatened.

A matching gaze can be effective in conveying fear. However, Rang Zong lacks truly frightening elements. It fails to realize the essence of tension created by The Wailing and instead emphasizes sensational scenes. A representative example is the scene of boiling and eating a pet dog, unrelated to the film’s theme. Rang Zong also portrays women in an extremely voyeuristic manner. It follows Ming to the bathroom door while she is bleeding and films her. It even explicitly shows sex scenes recorded on CCTV. There is no interest in why Ming engages in such acts.

Movie 'Rangjong' Still Cut

Horror films that rush to list sensational scenes often lose character depth. Rang Zong is no exception. Characters disappear suddenly or become scapegoats. Therefore, it fails to penetrate the core issues at all. Nim, who hesitates to answer whether she has met Bayan, is such a character. She abruptly exits, concluding with the decline of faith. Director Na Hong-jin, who wrote the original work, is credited only as a producer and has stepped back. Perhaps he is dissatisfied with the result.