Bangkok Girl
"Farang"... meaning "stranger" or "Western tourist" is one of the first words that children in Bangkok learn. In this tourist heaven what makes the headlines is not the exquisite Thailand countryside... but the sex trade, and the "Farang" who come to exploit it. An estimated 800,000 girls and women work the night scene in Thailand. This is a story of one...
Bangkok is Thailand's modern bustling capital. Day and night, six million souls are on the move. The guidebooks call it "the land of 15 million smiles", something that attracts almost 12 million tourists every year. They say that if you can't find it in Bangkok then it doesn't exist. There almost everything is up for grabs and the reason is pretty simple - lack of jobs and poverty.
In Bangkok a typical day's pay is $8, and in the north $2. It's no wonder young girls from up country head for the bright lights and the opportunity to work. Sex sells, it always has. It blossomed during the Vietnam War and now it thrives. The first time when Jordan traveled through Thailand he was in awe of this paradise and its welcoming people, but somehow in that brief glimpse it never occurred to him to look beyond the smiles.
But when he came back wanting to film this unfamiliar world, he met Pla - a 19-year-old who worked in one of Bangkok's countless bars. Pla was willing to reach out and share her world with him and in the process changed him and touched his life in a way he never expected. This is that story.
Sex tourism prostitutes in Bangkok normally work in any of the pimp bars, but on the streets it's mostly underage girls and HIV positive women still applying their trade. As a westerner on the streets of Bangkok you get constant hustle. Not just hookers, shopkeepers and taxes, but everything.
Farang does not mean "Stranger ' or "Wsterner". Thailand was never colonized. The first foreigners the Siamese saw were from the French colonies of Vietnam,Laos and Cambodia. The word 'farang" actually means "French". The word for France isฝรั่งเศส
F̄arạ̀ngṣ̄es̄. Thats all it means.
umm, this guy is a special kind of sexual predator. he has all this compassion for this sex worker and acts all concerned, but i know his type.. he is banging her all night long for pennies a day, putting a cam in her face and calling a dramatic expose on the sex industry. pffft.
Thanks for making this doco. It turned from watching while multitasking to something very powerful. I cant believe some of the comments made about this movie, I didnt know retarded people watch documentaries ha ha
script editor credits... story consultant credits? and if there was additional camerawork by some other bloke did that thai cop confiscate that camera equipment as well?? this is no documentary.
if this was a doc why is there story credits at the end?
The complaints about this documentary run the entire gamut from being annoyed that it's too focused on one person to being annoyed that it's too focused on broad generalities to everything in between. People seem to be upset that the story is upsetting. Really? If you can do better, please, PLEASE do.
So many criticizers and haters of this documentary and they have a right to, but what are these people doing to open people's eyes to this issue? At least this filmmaker is sharing his perspective and shedding light on this prevalent issue and not sitting back trolling...-A Thai Lady
How about a comment from a Thai woman? ?? Albeit, I was born and raised in California. Rather than painting a broad paint brush and labeling with bold certainty that all sex workers who sell their bodies do so willingly out of their own free choice or, the opposite extreme, that each was coerced, frauded, forced, etc. why don't we realize that each person is an individual with their own motivating factors, whether or not their reasons are justifiable. It's something most of us middle to upper class people can't comprehend.
I'm making that assumption because you're reading this on an iPhone or desk/laptop that you most likely bought and paid for. My father is an architect and I was raised middle (maybe upper middle in some viewpoints) class and my female cousins are all professional people (who are Thai inside and out - not Americanized like me - who live there) from medical, nursing and design backgrounds. It boils down to opportunities (are they or their family able to afford a decent education for these girls? If so, they probably won't sell their body in the majority of cases).
Are the girls from a poor and/or dysfunctional family? Then they are more than likely to sell their bodies to survive and/or provide for their families or are unwilling victims. I was shocked (I shouldn't have been) when my friend said that we could stay with her sister who was 35 and her "farung" husband was 80 years old (they'd been together for 10 years). They both told me several times how happy she was and how he treats her well. I met them both and I believe it. She worked for him by keeping the house maintained and helped with his health issues and was his companion. My western mindset seemed to judge them both in the back of my mind.
In the end, I couldn't. What I did judge, however, was my Thai friend's farung ex-husband who was abusive to her and is like that teacher in the documentary except even worse: he is unstable, abusive, retired, and just spends his money on prostitues 1/3 of his age. 2 different scenarios but both originated from supply-demand. Are there people from lower class families that have decent jobs (non-sex-working)? Absolutely. Are there people from middle to upper classes that sell their bodies (for whatever reasons: extra cash from a farang or it happens anywhere, maybe they were sexually abused at home so this is normal to them, or maybe there is force, fraud or coercion by a trafficker).
If you're going to paint people, do it individually because everyone is an individual. I pray for these precious, lovely Thai women and all women around the world who are oppressed and/or think sex working is their only questionable means to an end. I thought it was a good documentary. Not all encompassing, but very eye-opening. I do agree with what Coast 2 Coast said. Just because there's supply and demand and some girls (Pla?) do it willingly it doesn't justify the insidious skin trade.
In regards to the people above commenting against the Doc,
The sex trade has always and will always exist everywhere. That being said, very few women (given the option) would be involved if it were possible to make a better living doing something else. Sure, some women enjoy the work however it can be very dangerous and yes, the fact that millions of westerners travel to Thailand every year with intentions of getting anything they want with their vast amounts of money is very textbook exploitation. They/we are taking advantage of the lack of regulations because they/we are greedy capitalists. Thailand is one of the largest contributors to the human trafficking market. People think the same things about the red light district in Amsterdam because the women there all seem happy and willing but the fact of the matter is that many of those women have been forced drugs and/or sold into the trade and have no other options because they will be killed. In Thailand a man can pay to have sex with a minor. Are you trying to tell me that its perfectly alright for a wealthy old gluttonous man to pay to have sex with a child? At what point do you draw the line and say that we are partially to blame for wanting to do these things. Just because they are offering does not make it right to take it. Hell, you could probably pay money to kill someone there if you met the price, would that be alright as well?
man this guy filming is so gullable. falls in love with this girl immediatly, and stupidly believes she has worked in a bar for 6 years but is totally innocent. she will play him for money like they do with any idiot as gullable as him. his stupidity is annoying
Man, that's the most heartbreaking thing I've seen in a long time.
after 2nd view of this film(and without reading other comments) i believe the more important information is being overlooked. I'm not sure of this filmakers intentions, fiction or non-fiction, but a work of art has been created that exposes the inner bullworks of life. I know a person who visits bankok 3 to 4 time a year. I must endure many photos and stories(he is my boss). There was even a point when he imagined sometype of relationship was formed between a thai girl and himself. Finding this film I thought it would be a great way to wake him up from this fantasy by showing it to him. I didn't have the heart to attack him with my true feelings(myself living in a fantasy that i could wake up others to their negative actions without gaining an nme)that everytime he had sex with these girls, he was hurting them mentally. He started to watch, laughing and pointing. Exclamations of memories or here and there, this and that, the possibility of recognized faces. As soon as this nostalgia settled and he focused as the dialoge scratched beneath the surface of novelty he lost intrest and excused himself from the room. My conclusion......we all live in a dream. Sometimes the dream we live in is our own, sometimes its someone elses. Be very carefull if you enter anothers dream. You will be exploited, reclassified, regulated and disposed of when neccessary. The art i see in this film come from the narration. He is honest about everything but he is not honest with her. He did not want her to see him as a 'farang' and yet he was nothing but that to her. an exploiter in a plastic bubble. and she only reveled enuff about herse lf to remain in her bubble. the no-journey-involved of this travel film. the expected end ending reflects life as it is. a world-wide fight to the death with oneself to prevent the wake-up call and face reality. My curiosity is focused on the mothers of these children(?) are they the only ones to discourage this(?) and to the filmaker, with the greatest lesson learned given to yourself(possibly) and success of this reel......go back to bangkok....not to exploit but to take direct action(not to direct a film or make an action film) direct action as in DIRECT ACTION. A healthy, positive, direct action to help someone distressed.
All power to all the People !! The Power of the People is stronger then the people in power !!
I went to Bankok with two other guys. The pretty bar maid did not enguge us in conversation. Two of us were trashed, the third was our appointed simi-sober person.
Some resonibly attractive "prostitute"(not the bar maid) came up and started talking to us (broken English). She said she could call two friends. My collegue spoke more Thai than I did, and was somewhat sober. He told her "You are very pretty, but we are sorry. We are all married. We only came here to drink, and eat.". She left. An hour, or two later, as we were leaving, the same woman met us again and asked if we needed a guide to help find gifts for our spouces.
Nobody else approached us over the two days we spent there.
i enjoyed the video, even though I felt so sad for pla! :)
when i observed the year this was made. It made more sense. It is more applicable to about 1995. this is still a very naive "documentary" and really should be removed due to its outdated and amateur questions.
Hilarious. why do people still assume Thailand is the benchmark for south east Asia. I mean you have to give credit where credit is due. Thailand spends big dollars on tourism. good for them. but let not the educated south east Asian traveler confuse Thailand with other SE Asian experiences. Every Thai "experienced" ex-pat is a dips*it. Clueless. Thailand is the LAST place you want to go to really experience all that SE Asia has to offer. I love it though because you see the same limp crap over and over. frequently regurgitated by moronic brits and really s*upid Americans. Sympathetic, heartfelt stories of abuse on both ends i.e. the foreigner that got his "heart broken" or the Thai girl that got her "heart broken." Is it all just marketing or are these stories really just examples of what a joke the white dudes are? From the nincompoops I have met. the later is the case.
I kept expecting Jordan to say "I arranged for Pla to go to school at...." Or "I got her a job training with..." He obviously cared about her. I found it strange that he could look that deeply into her life for his film and then jump on a plane. There seemed to be some things left out.
Please, don't try to read more into this than is intended. As it's titled, it's a view into a small part of what life in Thailand might be. Pla is a lovely girl. Yes, she's "earning" her "bar fee" but, she's also trying to share HER experience of Thai life & Jordan's filming it. Period. Many of the comments seem awfully angry and misguided. The drunk dude pawing the girls and saying the most ignorant things is the villain, not the doc maker. I will say a prayer for Pla. Her death is a different story that should be investigated and told.
well, now Pla will remain with me as well, she was so gentle and touching, I would do well if I d only find a girl like her, it s sad story, but, it helped to see things in her shoes.
I saw this doc. on television some years ago. I too was uncomfortable with his (what seemed to me) subtle exploitation of Pla. It was such a self conscious, preconceived piece of filming that I found myself cringing in places. I never knew quite what to make of Pla, as they both seemed to be attempting to get something from the other. He wanted a sad story, and she wanted to get something for hers.
I think you came to Thailand to do a documentary with a modicum of intelligence on the culture and the business. Look, I would guess 90% of the women or girls there would just love to meet a nice man who will take care of them and provide a nice life for them. Be it a Thai or farang. So that is why they go to the bars. Also you paid the bar fine. Is that prostitution? You meet a lady in a bar and you come to an agreement whereby you go out and have dinner and decide if you want to go further or not. Also the girlie bars were there before the vietnam war. The bars are a part of the culture for Male Thais. As you say what chance does she have of a future so she has choices which lead her to where she is. She most likely has family to support. She is trying to attract you because you are a nice man and would be a good candidate to take care of her forever. You do not know what poverty makes people do. You have no comprehension of that desparation. You do not know the right questions to ask to even gain a modicum of understanding. You played on the desparation of a young girl as she uses sublte desparation in hope that you will be attracted to her and take care of her and her family like she has seen many a good farang do for other Thai women. Not all the farangs are bar hoping short time guys.
i think it is equally important if not more to show the non-obvious the hidden and the underground world..this documentary ended with Pla being dead..her death was used for the interest of the documentary well it shouldnt stop there... light should be shed on the "unxpected dearth of the thai girls instead of using it to make a dramatic end the help the documentary...why was she dead?and how?
The mafia in thailand is very rich and makes millions out of the tourists. The poor thai girls come from agricultural areas like Isan, where they grow up in rice farming villages. The girls leave the rice farms as there is little money in that compared to big tourist areas. The western tourists bring a lot of cash, and are charged tourists high prices which to western standards are still cheap. The mafia controlls the brothels to massage parlours to the whole tourist routes in many key areas including the full moon party island. The mafia deliberately create extra hidden costs for tourists if tourists are travelling across thailand. The Govt could step in aggressively and address poverty such that the young girls have a future other than sex with customers at a bar.
Beautiful story of a woman who nobody took the time to listen to...until Jordan, of course. The images of those men holding hands with their Thai "girlfriends" disturbed me. I wonder if their wives knew where they were and how they were taking advantage of these women?
I thought this was great. A documentary doesn't have a story line its real life and i feel you captured a real view of who Pla was. In fact if it wasn't for you then what she said when she says no one cares about her would true. She would just be another girl dead, you are lucky to have captured her before she past.
It's interesting to see many of the callous remarks left by many on this commentary. The fact is. Poverty breeds exploitation and the people who exploit see justification in it. if a world were to be where exploitation and human rights are upheld. No person would subject themselves to being morally depraved by another. Yes we all know it is money driven. Yes we all know this has been going on all over the world since the beginning of time...still does not make it right. Only those who understand it will get it, certain reasoning will be lost on those ears that have a narrow understanding of the human condition.
I don't have the answers but I do know it starts with corruption at the top level of government and the abuse of power in the economy. which trickles down to the workers and the rest of society.
This was well done and very sad to watch. The obnoxious Bar patron Farang who the girls had to tolerate, clearly deserved a swift punch in the face. I just wanted him to shut up and go away he was disgusting.