muay thai chaya

Muay Thai Chaiya is a Thai martial arts movie set in the lives of 3 brothers, Pow, Piek, and Samaw, as they move from their home in a boxing camp in a small village to the big city. We see them grow up and experience life together, move from village to the big city, where they vow to stick together but are pulled apart by the forces of their lives. This is a great fighting movie upon the large scale backdrop of the three brothers’ lives. There is blood, Muay Thai, fighting, living, drama, illegal fights, corruption of the big city, love, betrayal, murder, ugliness, sacrifice, loss, action, tradition and for each of them the pain and challenges they must overcome. In the end, its the fighting spirit of Muay Thai Chaiya that brings them through.

I found other reviews of this film elsewhere, on movieexclusive.com and twitchfilm.net but I dont think the reviewers really understood the film. Stefan Shih of movieexclusive.com called Muay Thai Chaya ‘…a mixed bag approach that couldnt decide what it wants to be…’ and said further, ‘The storyline too is pretty weak…”. Mack at twitchfilm.net said that the movie was “…ripped right out of pages of a Hong Kong filmmaking handbook”. I might not have seen the movie if I had to rely on those reviews. But I am glad I did see it. Sure to some degree these movies are going to be gone over with the same broad brush as an asian martial arts movie, for sure. But I am surprised that neither of those authors picked up on the deeper dramatic backdrop in the story. The story this movie leans upon is that great russian epic, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. In that work, there are brothers with different temperments who traverse lifes experience by different paths, and have everything tested along the way. Maybe to some its a stretch but I can see the connection. And the backdrop for this action movie rests on that premise. If other critics didnt like the balance struck in the movie between fighting and drama, perhaps they didnt consider that this is a Thai movie made for a Thai audience, and that balance of sentimentality works for that kind of audience. Ong Bak and The Protector also have their moments of pure sentimentality. Such moments are usually set ups for action, where we become sympathetic with the main character, and then we are committed to them through their combat. Muay Thai Chaya reaches deeper into the lives of three brothers to show the heart of the Thai fighting spirit.

Muay Thai Chaya (2007),  Cathay-Keris Films,  Starring: Kongkait Komesiri, Akara Amarttayakul, Sonthaya Chitmanee, Don Ferguson, Saengthong Gate-Uthong, Prawit Kittichantheera, (the lovely) Phreeta Kongpetch, Samart Payakarun, and Thawatchai Phanpakdee.