1. Movie Favorite
Alumno:
MIGUEL ANGEL GARCIA WHA
Grupo:
ITI 4-3
Especialidad:
TECNOLOGIAS DE LA INFORMACION
Clase:
INGLES 4
Maestro:
Jaime Jesús Delgado Meraz
2. The Protector
(2005)
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Writers: Napalee, Piyaros Thongdee,
and 3 more credits
Stars: Tony Jaa, Nathan Jones and
Petchtai Wongkamlao | See full cast
and crew
108 min - Action | Crime | Drama -
8 September 2006 (USA)
7.0 Your rating: -/10 Ratings: 7.0/10
from 19,673 users Metascore: 52/100
Reviews: 208 user | 100 critic | 22
from Metacritic.com
3. Mini Biography:
Panom Yeerum was born on February 5, 1976, in the northeastern province of Surin, Thailand.
His parents were elephant herders. Panom watched martial arts films as a young kid and
began to emulate some of his idols, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan to Jet Li. After seeing the
Thai action film Kerd ma lui (2004) ("Born to Fight"), Panom met and studied martial arts
and stunt work as a teen under the director of that film, Panna Rittikrai. Panom went to
university where he studied a variety of martial arts, from tae kwondo to judo. It was not
long before Panom would get work, doubling for Robin Shou and James Remar in Mortal
Kombat: Aniquilación (1997), and when his demo reel was seen by director Prachya Pinkaew,
the film Ong-Bak: El nuevo dragón (2003) was created for Panom, who is now going by the
name of Tony Jaa in hopes of bringing his style of action to international audiences.
4. About The Movie
"The Protector" is the highly anticipated full bodied action film starring
International Martial Arts superstar, Tony Jaa ("Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior"). His
world shaped by ancient traditions, a young Thai fighter (Jaa) is called to defend
his people and their honor after outsiders ruin all that is sacred. Fueled by desire
to protect a way of life and avenge the wrong done to his family, he will bring the
fight to their city.
ONG BAK made Tony Jaa a star, THE PROTECTOR will solidify his place among the
action-hero elite. THE PROTECTOR reunites Jaa for the third time with the
writer/director/producer of ONG BAK Prachya Pinkaew. In this relentless, fast
paced action film spiced with Muay Thai moves, Kham's (Jaa) life is turned upside
down when a notorious Asian gang steals his family's prized elephants, which were
to be offered as a token of devotion to His Majesty the King of Thailand, and
smuggles them to Australia. Kham must travel to a foreign land to unravel a
conspiracy that will reach into the highest levels of the Australian government.
With the help of a disgraced Thai-born police detective, he must reclaim his
beloved animals and stay true to his heritage against almost impossible odds.
5. THE IMPORTANCE OF
ELEPHANTS IN THAI CULTURE
Tony Jaa remembers, “Ever since I was a child I have lived my life in harmony with
elephants. They really are wonderful animals. Where I come from in Surin, I
actually have two elephants – named Leaf and Flower. Most people think that we
treat elephants like large pets, but truthfully, they are more than pets, they are
family. They are strong, friendly and caring. For me, the chance to show to the
world how precious these giant animals are is extremely rewarding. One of my
biggest ambitions is to eventually open a sanctuary for all elephants that are either
abandoned or their owners no longer have the money to take care of them.”
The film stresses the cultural relationship between man and elephant. The
elephant is a symbol of Thailand, just as Muay Thai is a Thai symbol.
Director Prachya Pinkaew explains that his film is a reminder. “It’s there to help
Thai people think of their homeland. When we produced ONG BAK, it was all
about Muay Thai and the things which Thai people respect or hold in high regard.
This time round it's all about culture. Of course, Muay Thai is a part of our culture
but this is about the elephants and how, long ago, both elephants and Muay Thai
were intermingled with each other and in turn were a part of our kingdom’s
heritage.”
6. THE MARTIAL ARTS IN THE
PROTECTOR
Martial Artist and Choreographer Panna Rittikrai says, “Basically, the underlying concept is similar
to ONG BAK in that there are ‘no wires, no CGI and no stunt doubles’ however there is one big
difference: the budget. This time we could let our imaginations fly, anything that we thought of or
dreamt up we could make happen. We realized that the audience would have high hopes for THE
PROTECTOR both in terms of the storyline and the action scenes and we were not going to
disappoint them.”
Rittikrai continues, “We did a lot of research into an ancient form of Muay Thai used by a very
special band of soldiers known as the ‘Jaturungkabart’. The Jaturungkabart were soldiers who
would stand at each leg of a royal elephant and whose task it was to protect the King, who would
be sitting upon the elephant, whilst in battle. These soldiers were extremely skilled in martial arts;
they were unsurpassed in their time. I found these ancient soldiers and their techniques to be
fascinating and decided that they should be brought back to life which is why many of their
techniques have been incorporated into THE PROTECTOR.”
In THE PROTECTOR Tony Jaa performs a lot of Muay Thai moves that he didn’t do in ONG BAK.
Pinkaew says “For his part, Tony Jaa will show a side of Muay Thai that was not seen. The audience
will have a chance to see combat between Muay Thai and ‘K1’ style fighting, but this time the
preparation has been much longer, harder and more intense than for the previous film, creating
new moves as well as reviving some moves that had been previously lost.”