Filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul offers a poetic look at the past of his family as well as his nation and its culture in this short documentary. Weerasethakul is from the village of Nabua in Northern Thailand, and in his narration, he talks of his desire to make a film about the life of his uncle Boonmee, who was a high-ranking figure in the Thai military. As Weerasethakul's camera drifts through the village, capturing images of abandoned building, soldiers making their way through town, children at play, cattle grazing, and unspoiled meadows, the narration contrasts the beauty that can be found in Nabua with the terrible legacy that war and violence has inflicted upon Thailand. Produced as part of Weerasethakul's multipart "Primitive Project," A Letter to Uncle Boonmee received its North American premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was screened in tandem with Jean-Luc Godard's Une Catastrophe.
by Mark Deming
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