Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Cinema has always had a strong link to fantasy and worlds other than our own; that much has been clear ever since Georges Méliès’ 1902 classic, Le Voyage dans la lune. Visionary Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul clearly appreciates the big screen’s magical capabilities and his catchily-titled and controversial Palme d’Or winner, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, is the perfect expression of this branch of his art.

The film tells the story of Boonmee, an elderly Thai man living on a farm in the jungle-bound North East of his homeland, gravely affected by liver disease. Visited by his sister-in-law, Jen, and young cousin, Thong, it soon becomes evident that the old man will not last much longer. One night, while dining with his family, the ghost of his ex-wife – some fourteen years dead – appears at the table, along with his long-lost son, who is now half man, half monkey. This bizarre sequence, related with none of Hollywood’s wide-eyed wonder, just phlegmatic acceptance, sets the tenor for the rest of the film.

Later Boonmee asks his wife about death and being a ghost, and tells her that he can remember all of his past lives. Through the film’s dream-like narrative, we see a number of odd scenes, such as a flashback involving an ugly ancient princess having sex with a catfish (a first for me too) and more blending of the quotidian and the fantastic. It would be pointless to sum up any more, other than to say that the film meanders towards its inevitable – and surprisingly moving – conclusion in a non-linear and beguiling way.

Speaking as its protagonist does of karma, an obvious theme of this mysterious movie is Bhuddism. For reincarnation and the titular past lives cast a long shadow over the action, where past, present and future lives merge seamlessly into one. Incidentally, the mixture of the everyday and the supernatural, while obviously related to Thai folklore, reminded me a lot of García Márquez and magic realism, and especially Juan Rulfo’s masterpiece, Pedro Páramo, where ghosts co-exist with the living and death is not regarded as the end. Though it must be said that this non-Western perspective is slightly different in Boonmee.

Concrete reality is alluded to on several occasions with the mention of the murder of communists and in a strange, nightmarish vision of the future that Boonmee has. But for the most part it is a surreal, slow-moving and enchanting fantasy about layers of reality and different ways of seeing things. It is surprising, confusing and probably not for everyone. So strange was the experience that I was not initially sure what to think. Yet I would certainly recommend it to anyone who yearns for something a bit different. Have a watch – I’ll certainly be seeing it again.