I know of no other work that so sharply places at the center of our social structures an aspect that is completely unknown and at the same time so important.
As soon as you open the door of Vinyan, it is as if you have been lost in another world.
In fact, it is like being immersed in a depiction of Thailand as both a bustling metropolis and an underworld : the crowded markets, the seedy clubs and bars bathed in garish red and green lights, where dialogue is drowned out by loud music, the maze of alleys and back streets.
And this is where a wealthy couple, Jeanne and Paul, who lost their son Joshua in the 2004 Christmas tsunami, live.
Six months later, also in Thailand, the couple happens to see a film of a fund-raising event for an orphanage in a restricted area (accessible only by boat) linked to a military organization that smuggles girls to be “placed” in neighboring Myanmar.
Jeanne notices a vague figure in the distance that she believes is her son Josh, and convinces Paul to contact the head of the military organization and rent one of his boats for an exorbitant “one-time” fee.
Vinyan (2008). The movie has an extremely mysterious ending…
First taken to an island populated exclusively by male orphans who release balloons at night to ward off Vinyan spirits, the French couple is then further tricked into going to an uninhabited island where, having exhausted their financial resources, they end up in another region of abandoned male orphans.
The movie has an extremely mysterious ending in which nothing is ever explained about their identity.
However, by the end of the movie, one basic concept is quickly understood.
A mother’s love for her son is always and unconditionally stronger than her love for her husband.
In fact, it does not matter to her whether the child “proposed” or “offered” is “hers” or not.
For the father, however, it is a decisive factor (“It’s not him, it’s not him“).
The man fails the test and dies.
For all the male children who killed him, on the other hand, the test to be passed will still be not to consider one’s own child as property, but to consider all children as one’s own.
This movie, despite the difficulty of grasping its final message, is a true masterpiece.
I know of no other work that deals so sharply with something completely unknown and at the same time so important at the core of our social structures.
