THE GOOD WOMAN OF BANGKOK
Australia, 1992, 82 minutes, Colour.
Yagwalak Chonchanakun, Dennis O' Rourke.
Directed by Dennis O' Rourke.
The Good Woman of Bangkok is a documentary fiction by documentary maker Dennis O' Rourke (Cannibal Tours, Half Life, Couldn't Be Fairer). The film has autobiographical elements in it. After the break-up of his marriage, O' Rourke went to Bangkok and encountered prostitutes there. He decided to portray the story and life of a Bangkok prostitute in the Pat Pong district. The woman chosen is not entirely persuaded that the film is a good thing. However, she speaks directly to the camera in very frank terms, is seen in the nightclubs, discussing her work with fellow prostitutes, going back to her village. O' Rourke also interviews her aunt in the village to fill in the background story and the motivations for Aoi going to Bangkok.
There are some lurid shots of the clubs in Pat Pong and even more lurid and crass comments from the European men who frequent the bars there and exploit the women. Some of them even give speeches saying that they are doing well by supporting the women with money and that when things are better socially, there will be no need for prostitution. Men appear badly in the film.
O' Rourke has put the film together particularly well, creating his own perspective with the title (borrowed from Berthold Brecht) and showing the ambiguities and amorality of the prostitute's life. In his editing, he makes quite an amount of social comment on Asia, its exploitation by First World countries, the danger of sexually transmitted diseases in such a culture.
Audiences will respond to the film from their particular moral perspectives, the men portrayed in the film probably ignoring it, audiences moved by compassion for the prostitutes being angry as well as compassionate. The film dramatises an enormous problem of Asia and its exploitation, especially the exploitation of women.
1. The title, Berthold Brecht and his comment on good women - and the possibility of being a good woman in the social situation of Thailand and Bangkok?
2. Dennis O' Rourke and his documentaries, the information about himself, his own marriage, the visit to Bangkok, the encounters with the prostitutes? The arrangement for the film? The aftermath with his buying the rice farm for Aoi, her return to prostitution? His experiences, the blending of fact and fiction? How much fact, how much fiction? His vocal presence in the film, his visual absence?
3. The documentary style, interviews? The building up of Aoi's life story, incidents? The significance of his editing, point of view and interpretation? Moral judgment on people, on the situation, First World exploitation of Asia?
4. The Thai settings, the poor countryside and the farms, the villages - the oxen in the rice fields, the children at the water pump? Bangkok as the crowded city, traffic? The hotels and their luxury? Pat Pong district and the clubs, their lurid presentation, the men in the clubs? The musical score ranging from songs to Mozart (and Janet Baker singing during the visualising of Aoi)?
5. The establishing of the film-making, Aoi's choice to make the film, her agreement, her suspicions? Various characters alluding to the European and his making of the film? His inclusion of these segments in the film? The promise of the rice farm and her own desires for a farm? The end and her return to prostitution, seeing it as fate - and the Buddhist tradition of Thailand?
6. Aoi's interviews, her replies to O'Rourke? The long speech which was cut throughout the film: her own story, growing up, her blindness, her marriage, the separation, the child? Her father and his gambling, the need for money? Her mother not knowing? Her motives, the theme of money and tips? Aoi and her behaviour, picking up the men? Her description of encounters with the men during the night, her own standards? The Japanese, the Thai men, Europeans? Her attitude towards men, the increased disgust? The abuses of the prostitutes?
7. Her aunt telling the story: the interview with the aunt, introducing the film, the discussions throughout the film - and the aunt discussing her work as a prostitute? Her parents, the marriage and its brevity, the child and the glimpse of him? The father's gambling, her arranging the funeral? Her mother's ignorance? Supporting the brothers and sisters? Her visits home, bringing money for the family?
8. The prostitutes in action, the dancing, the nude dancing, the numbers for the men to choose? The prostitutes in the streets, their glamour and style, in the hotels? In the dressing rooms and their weariness and disgust? Interactions with each other, talk and comparisons? O'Rourke interviewing various prostitutes - especially the one who was weary or on drugs but was most popular?
9. The picture of the men: the Thai men and their running of the clubs, the clubs exclusive to foreigners, the male tourists, the descriptions by the prostitutes, the visual impact, their behaviour, the dancing, speeches? The Dutchman and his exploitive holiday? The young Britons and their carefree attitude? Their attitude towards helping the girls with money? The chauvinist behaviour? The grossness and crassness?
10. The characters aware of the audience, playing to the audience? Talking about truth and telling lies? How much could be believed? How much manipulation by the film-maker, by the cast? The range of viewpoints?
11. Asia, Thailand, the use of the Thai women, their abuse?
12. The human dimension of the film, the prostitutes as persons, as women, their lives, their values, their hopes - and their fate as being prostitutes?
