A STUDY GUIDE by WArren Prior

http://www.metromagazine.com.au

ISBN: 978-1-74295-298-7 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au

© ATOM 2013

The RockeT

Background to The Rocket

This 96-minute feature film is written and directed by Australian filmmaker Kim Mordaunt, produced by Sylvia Wilczynski of Red Lamp Films and due for release in Australia in 2013. The film was shot in Laos and Thailand in January 2012. Kim Mordaunt is an experienced Australian actor, teacher and cinematographer who is best known for his large body of documentary work, and has lived and worked throughout South-East Asia. The Rocket was selected for the Berlin International Film Festival 2013, where it won Best First Feature, the Crystal Bear for Best Feature in the Generation KPlus youth category and the Amnesty International Award. It also won Best Feature, Best Actor (for ten-year-old Sitthiphon Disamoe) and the Audience Award at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Synopsis of the film

The film is set in the enigmatic and little known country of Laos. It is a heart-warming story of a ten-year old boy, Ahlo, who from his very birth is seen to bring bad luck to all who come in con-tact with him. Set in rural Laos, which is still suffering from the vestiges of both years of civil war and the Vietnam War of the 1960–70s, the young boy’s family and the local villagers have been told by government officials that their village has to be abandoned to make way for a new dam, a commercial Australian–Lao project. Forced to move to a location totally unsuitable for subsistence farm-ers, the young boy meets up with other ‘misfits’ – a spirited orphan, Kia, and her eccentric uncle ‘Purple’. As a group they are ostracised by the other relo-cated villagers, but Ahlo initiates a dan-gerous but lucrative plan to save them all and finally gain forgiveness. It is a

personal story set amid the backdrop of a country in transition, incorporating great humour and the examination of a number of human rights issues.

Curriculum Links

The Rocket sensitively captures a country in a post-war context. While the immediate setting is the war-ravaged South-East Asian country of Laos, there are many issues in the film that are of universal interest and concern. Some immediate curriculum connections that can be made to top-ics and issues examined by Australian students include the role of Australian soldiers in the Vietnam War, protection of the environment, economic sustain-ability and human rights.

The Rocket is suitable for a wide range of year levels, from upper primary right through to upper secondary. For younger students the film can be seen just as a personal story of a streetwise young boy who, after a series of misadventures and disas-ters, finally triumphs, thus saving his extended family. Investigations about taking responsibility for your actions and discussions about the common good would be appropriate. For senior students the film can also be seen in the context of a war-ravaged country where traditions, change, human rights and multinational business exploitation are all thrown up for discussion.

The film has subtitles in English.

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The curriculum areas that that the documentary could be related to include:

• SOSE/HSIE• English• Media Studies• Civics and Citizenship• Politics• Sociology• Environmental Studies• Geography• Business Studies

Australian National Curriculum

The new Australian National Curriculum (ANC) has so far released curriculum frameworks for English, History, Science and Mathematics. The ANC is itself framed by the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (December 2008), that states in its Preamble:

Global integration and international mobility have increased rapidly in the past decade. As a consequence, new and exciting opportunities for Australians are emerging. This height-ens the need to nurture an apprecia-tion of and respect for social, cultural and religious diversity, and a sense of global citizenship.– India, China and other Asian nations are grow-ing and their influence on the world

is increasing. Australians need to become ‘Asia literate’, engaging and building strong relationships with Asia.

Goal 2 of the ANC states that students:• are creative, innovative and

resourceful, and are able to solve problems in ways that draw upon a range of learning areas and disciplines;

• are able to plan activities indepen-dently, collaborate, work in teams and communicate ideas;

• are able to make sense of their world and think about how things have become the way they are;

• develop personal values and at-tributes such as honesty, resilience, empathy and respect for others;

• are able to relate to and communi-cate across cultures, especially the cultures and countries of Asia;

• work for the common good, in particular sustaining and improving natural and social environments;

• are responsible global and local citizens.

The Rocket is an excellent teaching and learning resource for developing students’ capacity to contribute to a socially just and sustainable world. The film explores several issues central to the human rights of all of us: personal safety, shelter, individual freedoms and the equitable distribu-tion of food and other resources. These are very pertinent to the goals of the above Australian National Curriculum, being linked to the devel-opment of problem-solving skills and the clarification of personal values for the common good. The setting of the film in Laos provides a close locational synergy to the many references to the Asian region throughout the new Australian National Curriculum and the opportunities to explore issues of social justice, human rights, cultural diversity and ecological sustainability can be pedagogically adjusted to suit a wide range of year levels.

Before even looking at the film and before investigating if your students can locate Laos on a world map, one strategy to begin exploring the issues raised in the film is to create a scenar-io in which students confront a ‘simi-lar’ values dilemma. This strategy is useful for developing communication skills, exploring values clarification and enhancing students’ understandings about strategising for social action.

The film has an M rating, but note that the film was screened in the Generation KPlus

section of the Berlin International Film Festival (which screens films about and

for children), which gave an age guide of 11 years and over.

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1 Whose Rights?

Scenario: You and your family have been happily living in a house in a small country town. You go to the local school and have many good friends in your class. Your Mum loves grow-ing vegetables in the backyard. Then, without any warning, your family and your neighbours receive a letter from the State Government saying that a new highway is being planned to be built through your town. Your house is directly in the path of the proposed highway. You notice that the new highway also goes right through your favourite bike track. You and all your neighbours will have to move as your houses will need to be demolished. The Highway Authority has prom-ised that you will receive suitable compensation.

• As a member of the family, list the feelings you experienced when you first heard about the proposed new highway.

• What are the facts about the situation?

• Are there any unknown facts or is-sues that need to be clarified?

• Why do you think the State Government might be building the new highway?

• Who might you and your fam-ily contact to seek further information?

• Do you think it would be useful to talk to your neighbours about the situation? Why? Or is it better to take action alone?

• If you and your family are unhappy about the proposed new highway running through your house, what actions might you take to oppose the plan? List your actions in terms of priorities and order of activity. Develop an action plan. Are some actions more likely to be effective than others?

• Are some actions easier to or-ganise than others? Might some

actions be illegal? Is that okay?• Because it is a government action,

do you think it is simply not worth the effort to take any opposing action? Is it okay for governments to take such action, even if a few people will be ‘inconvenienced’?

• John, a local hotel owner, strongly supports the new highway, as he believes it will be good for busi-ness. How might your action plan be affected if a few people support the proposed new highway?

• A local community meeting has been called to discuss the situa-tion. Discuss the many participants who might attend this meeting. Allocate roles to students who then prepare a brief speech for the meeting outlining their opin-ions about the proposed highway. Appoint a chairperson and run the class meeting.

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• Now, thinking back about this sce-nario, whose rights do you think need to be protected? Can you protect everyone’s rights?

Context of the Film

2 Where is Laos?

Although Australia has a sizeable Lao population, largely as a result of our participation in the Vietnam War in the 1960–70s, the country is little known here. Laos is in the Asian region, where the filmmakers have worked and lived over the past ten years.

• Using the Internet, atlases and other resources, locate Laos. In particular, note its location in rela-tion to Vietnam, China, Cambodia and Australia. Laos is sometimes described as being ‘landlocked’. What does this mean? What im-pact, if any might this have on the cultural and economic lives of the people?

• By undertaking some research develop a thumbnail picture / tourist brochure / poster of Laos, incorporating its current total population, capital city, religion(s), currency, flag, language(s), ethnic group(s), climate, type of

government, current major indus-tries, occupation(s) of the majority of Lao people. What impact might the country’s (potentially) multiple religions, languages, ethnic groups and occupations have on the lives of the people?

• The popular tourist guide Lonely Planet, describes Laos as being of increasing interest to traveling Australians, ‘having a cult status among travellers’. What do you think this means?

• Investigate if an Australian airline flies directly to Laos. How much is the airfare?

• Visit a local travel agent and get a travel brochure about Laos. Discuss in groups the images shown in the brochures.

3 Is this a ‘dark’ film?

• Most films begin with the title being shown. This film, however, begins with several scenes set in a village, location unknown, in darkness. Two babies are born in a small village house. What evidence is there in this very early part of the film of local cultural customs?

• The birth of twins is seen as bring-ing ‘bad luck’. Is this a superstition

or do you think there is some truth in this belief? Why do you think this superstition might have origi-nally developed?

• Why does the film begin in the dark? Does it suggest that bad luck is lurking all around?

• Then we get the title of the film and Ahlo is now a ten-year-old boy. Does he appear to know of the belief about twins?

• What sort of boy is Ahlo? What characteristics does he demon-strate early in the film? Find spe-cific examples from the film.

• Do you think Ahlo is cursed with bad luck, being a twin?

• Do we, in Australia, have any su-perstitions about birth and babies?

4 A Village in Transition

• What evidence is shown that Ahlo’s village is in a period of tran-sition from ‘old’ to ‘new’?

• Whenever a community is in such a transition period, what impact does this have on the local peo-ple? Can you think of examples in Australia where communities are/have been in transition? A few examples you might consider are urban suburbs that rapidly become

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‘gentrified’, suburbs that rapidly become the chosen locality of a particular ethnic group, or the displacement of Indigenous people from their traditional communities.

• Sometimes these transitional periods can lead to community tensions. Why? Can you find ex-amples of tension in Ahlo’s village?

• Think back to the first activity about a proposed highway to be built through a country town in Australia. What is the proposal be-ing made about Ahlo’s village?

• Who is going to build the Nam Dee 2 dam that will force people to move from their village?

• Is there any evidence that there has been community consulta-tion and discussion about the new dam? Should consultation always take place in these situations? Why?

• In small groups, construct a two-column table of reasons why the dam should be built and the vil-lagers moved to another area and reasons why the dam should not be built in the proposed location.

• In what ways is the relocation of people extremely complex?

• Share your findings across the whole class. Ask students to put themselves in the place of a villag-er and then vote on the outcome.

5 Resettlement

• The recent bushfire tragedies in Australia showed us that some-times people have very little time to prepare to leave their homes. Sometimes people have to leave with just the clothes they are wear-ing. Others have time to pack their car before leaving. List ten things you would want to take with you. How did you make this decision?

• Why did Ahlo want to take his boat? What did he finally have with him on arrival in his new settle-ment? Why did he choose to take them?

• When Ahlo swam in Nam Dee 1 he discovered an underwater ‘ghost town’. What do you think this dis-covery was meant to show about

what happens when people are forced to move from their tradi-tional homes?

• How does the film show that ar-rangements were not ready for the new settlers? Should a new village have been completed? Why? Who should have built it?

• Think again about our recent tragic bushfires where whole towns were destroyed, many people died and new towns had to be rebuilt. What is the role of governments in this rebuilding process? Should individual people have a right to decide about the nature of their new homes or where they can live?

• Sometimes we use the word ‘spin’ to describe how some people, of-ten governments or organisations, talk about promises that, in reality, have little hope of being achieved. They could be called false prom-ises. How is spin evident in the resettling of people in their new village? Why was the ‘spin’ spoken by a local Lao person and not the Australian male standing next to her? Did all people believe her promises?

• What evidence is there of dis-crimination between those people building the new dam and the settlers?

• What social, cultural and economic problems did the people face in their new settlements?

• Why do you think the villagers, at first in their own villages and later in the new settlement, op-pose the building of the new dam and show their opposition to the government?

• What is a ‘sleeping tiger’?• Look up the meaning of ‘refugee’

in a dictionary. Can these people be called refugees?

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6 Uncle Purple

• Describe how Uncle Purple is first introduced in the film.

• Uncle Purple is described by Ahlo and others as an ‘ex-soldier’. In whose army was he a member? Why was he in this army?

• Who is James Brown? Use the Internet and other resources to investigate the real James Brown. Why do you think Uncle Purple modelled himself on James Brown?

• Why is Uncle Purple described as an ‘outsider’ and ‘unconventional’? Do you think he is an outsider?

• When Uncle Purple remarks that all people want is ‘food, water and lots of land’, is this the opinion of an outsider?

• In what ways might Uncle Purple be a powerful metaphor (or sym-bol) for Laos’ history?

• Why did the two ‘families’ decide to escape the new settlement? How did their escape method show the impact of past wars in Laos?

7 War in Laos

• The makers of this film, The Rocket, had previously made a documentary called Bomb Harvest, about an Australian bomb-disposal expert in Laos and the children who collect bomb scrap metal to sell. Much of Laos was bombed during the Vietnam War. One third of Laos’ population were killed, injured or made homeless. Using the internet and other resources, investigate the extent of the bomb-ing of Laos by the USA (and sup-ported by Australia).

• The war in Laos also greatly increased the tensions between ethnic groups in Laos. Look for

tensions the film highlighted, in-cluding wealth, traditions, and land ownership.

• Do you think countries – includ-ing Australia, who fought with the USA in the Vietnam War – have a responsibility to ‘clean up the mess’ after the actual fighting is over? What might be a useful contribution?

8 The Rocket

The terrible impact of unexploded bombs is everywhere in Laos, as they are still in many other war-torn coun-tries. The film contains constant re-minders of this tragedy, and the village of ‘Paradise’ proves to be as unsafe as other abandoned and bombed-out

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villages in Laos.

• A building-a-rocket competi-tion with a prize is a traditional activity. What is the origin of this event? Why does the building of a rocket seem to be the way to save the group from its constant wanderings?

• Discuss what appears to be a contradiction between the building of new dams and the hope that the Rocket Festival will bring rain. Is it a contradiction?

• What prize did Ahlo and his fam-ily receive for winning the rocket competition?

9 Cultural Diversity

• The Rocket raises some global is-sues about so-called development of ‘Third-World’ countries. But it is also a personal story that touches daily human and personal issues. Shown mainly through the eyes and actions of ten-year-old Ahlo, at times it shows the Lao sense of humour. How would you describe this humour? Is it funny?

• What examples were there in the film of the diversity of the Lao peoples?

• Making a film in another cultural setting is often challenging. To what extent do you think the filmmakers demonstrated cultural empathy and a non-patronising at-titude? Use examples from the film to support your view.

• Australia too can be described as being culturally diverse. Thinking about the film, what examples, if any, are there of cultural, social and personal characteristics com-mon between Laos and Australia?

10 The Aftermath

It is about forty years since the actual fighting in Laos as part of the Vietnam War has finished. So although the film contains constant reminders of the war, there is now another type of ‘war’ taking place. Perhaps you might like to consider if ‘war’ is the appropri-ate word to describe the rapid and sometimes destructive exploitation of

the many natural resources in Laos by foreign multinational companies.

• Looking back over the film, what natural resources were shown to be in Laos?

• To what extent is it fair to call Laos an ‘underdeveloped’ country?

• In the film, the new dam was to be built by a joint Australian–Lao partnership. Did you notice any Australian actors?

• What role did the Australian busi-nessman play in the development of the dam?

• Australia is one of the main players in the development of natural resources in Laos, especially in mining and the building of hydro-electric projects. What respon-sibilities, if any, do Australian companies and/or the Australian Government, have in establishing business developments in Laos? (or in any other country)?

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This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2013) ISBN: 978-1-74295-298-7 editor@atom.org.au

For information on Screen education magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit <http://www.metromagazine.com.au>.

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