Upcoming historical action flick Preah Sdech Kan will be the most expensive Cambodian movie ever made. But who is its 16th-century hero, & why is Hun Sen so fixated on his life?
On a sandy wasteland on the Chroy Changvar peninsula, north of Phnom Penh, a shirtless hero wielding a thick wooden cudgel spars with acrobatic assailants armed with theatrical swords.
The 36-year-old is a champion bodybuilder và personal trainer by trade, and looks barely flustered by the afternoon’s exertion.
But for the next few months, he will assume another persona: the role of 16th-century ruler Sdech Kan (also known as Sdech Korn). With a budget of about $1 million, the film in which he is soon khổng lồ star will be the most expensive Cambodian film ever made.
Sophorn – who was once cast in the role of a king in a documentary about the Angkorian empire after sending a photo instead of attending a casting điện thoại tư vấn – is coolly excited to take on the lead role.
With biceps and pectoral muscles reminiscent of Bokor Mountain, a smile as sweet as romduol flowers and a jaw that looks like it was carved from the sturdy stone of Angkor, the relatively inexperienced actor fits the archetype of the historic hero to perfection.
The cast have already been rehearsing on and off for weeks. VICTORIA MØRCK MADSEN
He said he had never previously heard of Sdech Kan, but was nonetheless proud lớn take on the role.
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“It is difficult to describe what I lượt thích about this film, but I am very proud lớn be the main actor,” he said, speaking as the sunset brought the day’s rehearsals to lớn a picturesque close.
A battle for history Away from the rehearsal set, the portrayal of Sdech Kan as “hero” is a heated issue, half a millennium after his death. With scarce historical facts available, the tale of the “Peasant King” – a commoner who ascended khổng lồ the throne through force – changes with the telling.
For some, the king is a nhân vật and pioneer of equality – the persona Sophorn assumes in this million-dollar reimagining. For others, the hunky lead should by rights be playing a villain: a usurper who meets a fitting over when he is ultimately overthrown & beheaded.
As Sebastian Strangio writes in his recent book Hun Sen’s Cambodia, “Historically,
But recently the tale has been revived in a new light, thanks lớn one politician fascinated by the story of the 16th-century king: Hun Sen.
The Cambodian premier is something of a Sdech Kan scholar: he funded research into the location of the king’s ancient capital, và backed a flurry of tourism developments around the site. In 2006, he financed & wrote the foreword for a book on Sdech Kan by Professor Ros Chantrabot, deputy president of the Royal Academy of Cambodia.
Hun Sen has often drawn parallels between himself & Kan in his speeches, referring to the fact they were both born in the year of the dragon and their shared connection khổng lồ Kampong Cham.
It’s a fascination that attentive CPP oligarchs have not failed to chú ý – and exploit.
Numerous statues of Sdech Kan that bear more than a passing resemblance lớn the prime minister have been erected around Cambodia, commissioned by tycoons seeking to curry favour.
The National bank of Cambodia has issued commemorative coins modelled after the currency that Kan created, while Hun Sen’s bodyguards have even staged theatrical dramatisations of the story.
Strangio observes: “In recent years, the story has been revived by a new official cult extolling Kan’s achievements và linking them with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who, by subtle implication, is presented as the reincarnation of the lost king.”
According to Swedish academic Astrid Norén-Nilsson – tác giả of the forthcoming book Cambodia’s Second Kingdom: Nation, Imagination & Democracy – Hun Sen has been playing up the parallels since 2000.
No parallel intendedWriting in an email, she said that a “set of similarities” shared by the two rulers – the shared birth year and time spent in lowly roles in temples or pagodas before their rise to power – meant that “an interpretation of the historical context of Sdech Kan can readily be transposed onto present-day Cambodia”.
Speaking at the rehearsal, assistant director Hout Sithan denied that there was any intended parallel between Ros Sophorn’s muscled anh hùng and Hun Sen, và that the prime minister was not involved with directing or financing the film.
The prime minister did not actively support the film, Sithan said, because it was about a commoner dethroning a king, which could be seen khổng lồ be disrespecting Cambodia’s current monarchy.
“If
Instead, the film was the brainchild of a tycoon close to Hun Sen, who Sithan refused khổng lồ name.
But Sithan said that despite the presence of an illustrious backer, funding had made the project hard to get off the ground. “Before, we wanted to lớn film it with Hang Meas TV but there was not enough money,” he said.
“It will cost $1 million khổng lồ make this film with a cast of 300.
“If
Now, Sithan said, the funding shortfall had been met by tycoon and ruling các buổi tiệc nhỏ Senator Ly Yong Phat, the so-called “King of Koh Kong” who has been accused at various points of land grabbing and employing child labour on his plantations. The costumes và sets are being provided by the Ministry of Culture và Fine Arts.
Mao Ayuth, a secretary of state with the Ministry of Information who wrote the script và is now the driving force behind the film, will direct. Ayuth asked Post Weekend khổng lồ direct questions to lớn Sithan, while Ly Yong Phat could not be reached for comment.
Sithun said the film would be shot over five or six months in different provinces. “I think we will finish everything & screen at the beginning of 2017,” Sithan said.
For Sithan, whose previous work includes a Thai-produced documentary about the Angkorian empire, the appeal of Sdech Kan’s story was his status as a revolutionary fighter for equality.
He said the producers would try to lớn make the film as historically accurate as possible while still making it entertaining và taking into trương mục the lack of documentation of the period.
A contested legacyWhether or not Sithan’s film is part of Hun Sen’s sphere of influence, it seems clear that the premier would appreciate the producers" heroic, audience-friendly version of the king’s story.
As Norén-Nilsson explained via email, the prime minister was “fond” of the Sdech Kan story because it conveyed certain key messages: the potential for social mobility, and the triumph of men with moral virtue.
She said that Hun Sen himself had written of these notions in his foreword khổng lồ the book on the historical figure: “Hun Sen writes that Kan was the originator of two conceptual innovations: freedom rights (setthi seripheap) và class struggle (tâsou vannah).
These radical innovations were said khổng lồ have predated the emergence of similar notions in Europe, making Cambodia the birthplace of democracy in the world.
“Hun Sen notes these achievements of Sdech Kan as points for his own political vision, và thereby implies that these two concepts also provide a blueprint for contemporary politics.”
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, unsurprisingly views the Sdech Kan tale in a different light, calling him a usurper who assassinated a legitimate king.
The tale of Sdech Kan
In 1508, King Srey Sukonthor dreamed that a fire-breathing dragon drove him from his palace & wreaked havoc on the kingdom. Not long afterwards, he had a second dream in which two dragons circled the head of one of his military commanders, Kan. Kan was a thành viên of the temple-slave class & his sister was a part of Sukonthor’s harem. Hearing portents of doom from all corners of the kingdom & his fortune-tellers, who said he would be overthrown by a man born in the year of the dragon like Kan, Sukonthor ordered Kan killed. After overhearing the plan, his sister warned Kan, who fled east và raised an army. He marched back in 1512 & took nguồn for himself after Sukonthor was struck down by one of his aides, and took the royal name Srey Chetha. During his reign he introduced the first Cambodian currency, the sloeung, a gold coin inscribed with a scaled dragon, & ruled benevolently; however, after only four years, Sokunthor’s brother Chan Reachea returned from Ayutthaya with bầu troops & started a war that lasted nearly 10 years. In 1525, Kan was captured and beheaded by Reachea, who took the throne.
“Subsequently, the usurper did nothing good for Cambodia,” Rainsy said via email. “It was Preah Srei Sokunbot’s younger brother who, after a long struggle, finally defeated & killed Sdech Kan (Korn) và acceded to the throne under the name of Preah Chan Reachea.
“Preah Chan Reachea was a great King considered as a national anh hùng who confronted foreign invaders on several occasions and, towards the end of his reign, liberated several Cambodian provinces from the Siamese (Siam was the precursor of Thailand). Whoever wants to be compared to lớn Sdech Kan (Korn) must be a little bit insane.”
Rainsy said he welcomed any production that would “illustrate any part of Cambodia’s history for the education of our new generations”.
“But I have doubt on the relevancy of any piece that could entail a distortion of historical facts because the intention of its sponsors would be related to lớn the megalomania of a political leader inspired by political calculation and manipulation.”
As for Ros Sophorn, the machinations of Cambodian politicians weighing their legacies are a world away from the dusty area where he practises with the more experienced martial artists. The actor’s only worries, he says, are remembering his lines & perfecting martial arts moves.
He has no doubt that he is playing the role of an ancient hero, & that audiences will feel the same way when they see the film next year: “Everyone likes my character,” he says with a confident smile.
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"The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) is a novella by Rudyard Kipling. It is about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was inspired by the exploits of James Brooke, an Englishman who became the first white Rajah of Sarawak in Borneo; & by the travels of American adventurer Josiah Harlan, who was granted the title Prince of Ghor in perpetuity for himself & his descendants. It incorporates a number of other factual elements such as the European-like appearance of many Nuristani people, & an ending modelled on the return of the head of the explorer Adolf Schlagintweit to lớn colonial administrators.The story was first published in The Phantom Rickshaw & other Eerie Tales (Volume Five of the Indian Railway Library, published by A. H. Wheeler & Co of Allahabad in 1888). It also appeared in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories in 1895, and in numerous later editions of that collection.A radio adaption was broadcast on the show Escape on July 7, 1947 and again on August 1, 1948. In 1975, it was adapted by director John Huston into a feature film of the same name, starring Sean Connery & Michael Caine as the heroes and Christopher Plummer as Kipling.As early as 1954, Humphrey Bogart expressed the desire lớn star in "The Man Who Would Be King" and was in talks with director John Huston.