There is nothing all that original about portraying, in a documentary, two parents who want the absolute best for their children. But when those parents live in impoverished rural Myanmar and try to support their household by drilling for oil by hand—yes, by hand—in their own backyard, the idea of sacrificing yourself for your loved ones takes on greater meaning.
That’s the main interest of British-Palestinian director Saeed Taji Farouky’s latest non-fiction feature, A Thousand Fires (Mille feux), which delves into the life of a struggling Burmese family and the high hopes they place in their teenage son, who has the potential to become a professional soccer player. After premiering in Locarno’s Critics’ Week in August, the film screens in competition at IDFA and should continue booking fest dates.
Skillfully shot and scattered with moments of visual poetry (oil swirling into surreal puddles, flaming wells lighting up the night), A Thousand Fires can also feel a bit obtuse: we never learn quite enough about the makeshift oil industry the family is steeped in (quite literally—they’re covered in oil and mud for most of the day), nor is any mention made of Myanmar’s dicey political situation, which you have to imagine plays a role everyone’s life, even those far removed from the country’s power centers.
What you can glean from Farouky’s intimate portrait of Thein Shwe, his wife Htwe Tin and their son Zin Ko Aung is how much their livelihood depends on a risky, seemingly illegal business that’s clearly a major health and environmental hazard. Again, the director doesn’t fully explain things, allowing the characters to speak for themselves (though they don’t speak often), but we understand at some point that these people were once farmers who were obliged, along with their community, to change professions. And what used to be some kind of pastoral haven now resembles a post-apocalyptic danger zone, with oil bubbling up from the ground and eating away at the land.
While the first half of A Thousand Fires is set in that remote and distraught area, the second part follows Zin Ko Aung as he enters the youth academy of Rakhine United F.C., one of Myanmar’s premier soccer squads. At this point the movie takes on another dimension, exploring the difficulty that the talented but timid boy faces as he adapts to big city life, as well as to the grueling regimen of a major sports club. His struggle may be more desirable than that of his parents, offering the hope of an exciting career, but the nonstop training and urban solitude seem to weigh on him heavily.
Much is left unsaid by Farouky, who prefers to show rather than tell—to the point that the lack of information can prove frustrating. In what part of the country does the family live? What city does the son move to? How much does a barrel of hand-drawn oil sell for? Why does the family rely so much on fortune tellers and supersition? Refusing to insert titles or a voiceover, the filmmaker wants us to simply observe, but the lack of context proves to be a hindrance at times. What we do take away from A Thousand Fires is the knowledge that, even in the harshest of places, parents will somehow find a way to give their kids the chances they never had.
Director: Saeed Taji Farouky
Producer: Estelle Robin You
Cinematography: Saeed Taji Farouky
Editing: Catherine Rascon
Music: Fatima Dunn
Sound: James Bulley, Maxence Ciekawy
Production companies: Point du Jour, Les Films du Balibari (France), STEPS (South Africa)
World sales: Square Eyes
Venue: IDFA (International Competition)
In Burmese
90 minutes
