Chanasorn Chaikitiporn
Thailand | 2022 | 18 min
World premiere
Languages : English, Thai
Subtitles : English, French
Thailand’s strategic position and political orientation made it the ideal ally for the United States during the Vietnam war. Through an astonishing mix of contemporary and archival images, All the Things You Leave Behind deploys precise criticism to analyse a little-known page of modern history, emblematic of contemporary power games and warfare.
All the Things You Leave Behind is a film essay investigating the influence that North American liberal ideology had over Thailand. The only country in South East Asia that was never colonised by a European power, Thailand’s monarchy opened its arms to the presence of the U.S. army during the Vietnam war. The aim of this operation was clear: to stop the spread of vicious communists to neighbouring countries. The ideas promoted by the United States then became the basis for a propaganda that was widely used by the Thai government to eliminate internal protest movements. This page of 20th century history, which remains largely unknown yet is capital for understanding the geopolitical stakes behind the Vietnam conflict, is here narrated through archival material in a crescendo of intensity that leaves no doubt as to the violence of the repression suffered by the Thai population. From the hard power of weapons and military presence to the soft power exercised by consumerist goods, All the Things You Leave Behind is a straightforward reminder of the role of propaganda in generating conflict – a role that resonates painfully with our current international political scenario.
Rebecca De Pas