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16 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Engaging doc from promising director, 17 November 2005
Author: JeramyEdison from Canada

This was a very powerful and engaging documentary which had me hooked from beginning to end. Thailand holds much beauty but also plenty of mystery and sadness and Clark delves into the latter and the role foreigners have played in heightening this sadness.

Pla, a young Thai girl, serves as his guide and as the film progresses Clark gradually peels away the various layers of her life and learn how she ended up with the life she has and why thousands more will likely end up in the same position.

I would definitely recommend checking out this great doc. Although it's tragic and heartbreaking it is also an amazing eye opener into a topic which has seldom been explored.

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9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Spot on Comments and some FACTS, 14 May 2007
Author: thaisanuk from Thailand

Comments of transient, mexim3, iptraders, chris-3462, neverlookback are spot on, so I don't need to repeat the outcome of their respective astute observations.

I do have this factual input:

1. Khun Pla is alive and well, living a very successful married life outside of Thailand, with the ability to come and go as she pleases. The content of Jordan Clark's trash may turn out to be very damaging to her and her loved ones. 2. No underage Thai ladies ever worked at the bar in question. 3. Most all of the former staff have gone to rich, full lives. In most cases including happy and fruitful marriages. 4. Many statements by the narrator are clearly false and the community of Sukhumvit and Bangkok are fully aware of the deceit and disrespect shown by the creation and distribution of this onslaught. The distributors, producers and broadcasters participating are in remiss of their duties and responsibilities.

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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Touching Moments, 28 December 2006
7/10
Author: Dino Couto from Macao

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Having just finished visiting Thailand myself, I too had seen a lot of falangs walking around, intimately, with these young girls and even boys. I had not realised that these Thai boys and girls were probably prostitutes as I just innocently thought they were probably couples. How wrong was I! While this documentary received a number of negative comments on how "shallow" it is, I seem to think that this documentary aims not to point out the problem, but as a reminder of how we, visitors and guests to the country are exploiting its resources negatively.

Thailand is a very beautiful country and I visit there quite often. I do things like shopping, eating and sightseeing. My last visit was filled with fun and joy with my friends, just doing shopping and indulging in the delicious food.

I don't agree with the British interviewee in the documentary that Thailand is a country for men. I enjoyed Thailand as much without any "use" of the sex trade.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
The profits should go to Pla or her family, 8 April 2008
2/10
Author: wrrichards from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Pla seems 100 percent real but the voice-over in the story seems 100 percent bull

The film Maker. He seems to have filmed it with a handicam I think the Katoeys and Pla had no idea they were taking part in a money making operation.

He even complains when he has to pay a small "fine" to the local police who could just as easily, put him in the local jail, confiscated his equipment permanently and eventually deported him for working without the correct permits.( i think they should have)but i doubt it happened.

Pla and the other players probably thought he was just a tourist with a camera who, eventually would actually, pay.

Wayne

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Novice and dangerous film-making, 27 January 2008
3/10
Author: eisner_paul from los angeles

This is irresponsible film-making. Get a highly sensational subject like sex or violence, travel to a third world or developing country, roll the camera like its a home video and tape then edit against the will and intentions of the participants.

Viewers be aware that Pla, the girl in the film, was KILLED after the film was made. It is believed she was murdered by mafia controlling prostitution (yes most likely Thai and not Farang). Someone lost face and she paid the price - something anyone familiar with Thai culture should know. Whatever good intentions were conceived with this film have quickly faded and her family is in more dire straits without her support.

A couple questions for the filmmaker. Did all subjects in this film knowingly participate? Are you investigating her death and pressuring for answers from the Thai embassy? Are you doing anything to support her family? How much of Canadian taxpayer dollars indirectly contributed to her death through CBC funding?

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8 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautiful - a person's right to speak (a response), 12 January 2007
Author: maxim3 from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I rated this film last year when I saw it on CBC in Canada. As I revisited this site I notice a couple very negative reviews. I have traveled to Thailand and have seen first hand what this film displays. While I didn't learn lots of new information (again, having been to Thailand several times) I believe that most viewers will find a very informative narrative in , Pla, the main character on what is must be like to live a life you would not choose. I think most of the people who are railing this film are visitors to Thailand and could also be ones who enjoys the night scene. I will agree that there are many women who choose to be there, but there are also many who choose not to. This film is one of those girls being brave and talking about that - how can you be ignorant enough to tell others not to hear what she has to say. You would have to be one cold hearted bastard to deny a person's right to speak.

There are moments when I wished the filmmaker handled situations differently, but this was his first effort. For the limited budget he must have been on, I feel he did a superb job in capturing the feel of Bangkok. Bangkok is 75% feel, smell and ambiance - so any film would be missing that. I have to say that the montages are very well crafted. The film does present a very black and white perspective,as anyone who has been there knows, it is very gray. There are also some moments where the camera work is a bit amateurish, but I saw it as adding to the voyeuristic feel of meeting Pla - most likely unintentional. I think with the 42 minutes the filmmaker had on CBC, he stayed focused on the girl and what she had to say.

***spoiler*** when Pla is ultimately found dead, it was a good punch in the face - how can you not like her? She may be lying, the filmmaker could be lying, (as with any film), but the story is still moving and again, it tells the story of one girl who hasn't chosen her life. I can't guess what happened to Pla, but I find the review 'worse than the Johns' offensive in its attempt to silence her.

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Another expert with no knowlage of Thailand, 6 May 2007
2/10
Author: iptraders from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Unfortunately for there is no shortage of these so-called film makers who travel to Thailand with preconceived notions and return with a poorly researched self-indulgent piece about (surprise) prostitutes. Leaving aside the overly melodramatic narration, the way that the narrator/director mispronounces many Thai words and shows an alarming lack of local knowledge, I saw no attempts to check the stories he was being fed, and no background information was looked into to validate the stories he reported. The narrator just accepted everything fed to him as fact.

Had he talked to people who know Thailand he may have discovered that the hard luck stories are par for the course, and as was shown, when the subject finds they aren't going to be making any money off it, they tend to stop answering the door.

Nice try, but this is just another inexperienced director who did nothing to back up the veracity of anything presented, though stories about prostitutes always sell don't they?

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Im afraid that doing this film actually killed that girl., 3 September 2008
1/10
Author: zerofuzz from Sweden

The problem with white boys in the red-light district in any city is that it is dangerous to these girls in more than one way. The really sad thing about this film (although all intentions was good but so naive) was that the girl of course was perceived as "hanging" out with a rich white guy who paid for her services, as girls do in the red light zone. This behavior spells MONEY in that neighborhood. And this guy Jordan Clark is so naive that he doesn't recognize the violence that is there. I get a feeling that he is somewhat superstitious in his way of looking at the world and this environment in particular. Probably religious in some way, because this is so typical with these people trying to impose there moral standards and be morally upset as they've done in Africa and elsewhere. (Spells disaster, just as much prostitution as anywhere else) So what happens after this well meaning young man has left? Well, the pimps controlling her and her neighborhood gets right to it. They "know" of course that a girl like that doing a film and all certainly got more money stashed away for herself from this deal with the tourist guy. So they get right to it, to get their share and that killed her of course. She's just another expendable commodity in that environment and nobody will ever ask for her. Make no mistake, those guys don't care one bit…. And there are 1000's more where she came from. So all in all; this film actually tells you more about the western world and its way of dealing with things than exposes the red-light district called Bangkok. I think this guy should just stay at home in his own environment where he probably is less harmful. The real criminals in this episode are of course the Police in Thailand who protects these Pimps and make a good living out of it through corruption/protection and of course in the end the Politicians and the KING who is generally seen as some sort of God.

WAKE UP TO REALITY !

/Z

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrible., 24 April 2008
1/10
Author: ilovepuroland from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is a terribly unprofessional documentary that looks more like a home movie. I can forgive that, though. What I can't forgive is the narrator's VOICE! I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned his tone of voice as a detraction. Throughout the entire film he sounds like a robot, quite obviously reading from a paper. It really sucks any life this film might have possibly had out. The film itself is monumentally bad as well. You don't get any feel for Pla as a person, and it follows no coherent storyline. I've never been to Thailand (I'm planning on studying there in the near future as an exchange student, and was searching for information on the web when this film came to my attention), but I honestly feel like I know more about the country than the filmmaker does. And I know nothing about the country that hasn't been gleaned from Google searches, so that should give you a clue about how much he apparently knows. Sorry, Mr. Clark, but it just didn't work for you. Better luck next time! By the way, if you're looking for a good documentary that's interesting and follows a plot, check out The Great Happiness Space--Tale of an Osaka Love Thief by Jake Clennell.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Sad indeed - with your eyes open you see more, 3 February 2008
1/10
Author: from Thailand

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

If u need some back for the claims I will make below, Ill tell u I have lived and studied in Thailand for 4 years, I have a Thai wife and I have known many bar-girls, some of whom do the job for a lack of a better choice BUT STILL OUT OF FREE CHOICE and some who don't even want to consider different choices because they are contempt with what they do. In Thai society prostitution is "illegal" but it has long roots and a strong frame in the history and culture, the job of a prostitute is considered a low one but they are still a completely accepted part of the society. The life some women, like the character "pla" in this document live is NORMAL for these people. Yes, it is not just good or bad but NORMAL here, no matter what we think of it in the west.

I know the girls working in the bars as this one in the document are free to leave any time they want for another job. But they often don't want, because in this job they make 10 times the same money with less efforts. Any other job would decrease their living standards too much so they go for the money.

I have lived and stayed with poor Thai people, who are not and don't want to be prostitutes. Thay are students or factory workers and I have stayed in their in lousy shacks and 8 square rooms eating the street food, and though I am not used to it and cant say I enjoy it, for them it is NORMAL and I know they have been contempt with what they have. The bar-girls are not contempt with that or they want to send more money home for the parents, or save up money so they go and sell themselves or just entertain some foreigners to get more money.

So even if the choice is not good, there IS A CHOICE for everyone of them (in bars like the one featured in this film). Thats just a choice between a hard life with your pride or getting more money with less pride. Now to the point:

This film is very sad indeed.

Not because the "story" is sad but because sadly there is no story. Not because the filmatography or any other artistic feature is so convincing but because of the lack of anything convincing. Like others have pointed out here the director obviously had nothing together before shooting this poor film except average camera and editing skills and his prejudice and stereotypical view of the issue and what he would get together.

And thats exactly what he tries to carry on to the viewer as well: he is asking the girl direct personal questions to get the answers he wants. What is supposed to look like "caring about her problem" or "listening to her" falls apart with his condescending attitude towards the culture and the girls profession and life. With the attitude, style and language the girl is interviewed with, she is not given an option or possibility to explain anything about her real thoughts.

What has happened here is that the girl got annoyed with the film maker (I would have) and the film maker frustrated because the girl didn't answer what he expected. After his few weeks holiday in Thailand money ran out, the director packed his bags and went home with nothing. Thats the obvious reason for the fraud ending and the claimed "murder" of the girl, to get some drama, twist and an end to his story.

If this serves as something, that is as an example of what document is not supposed to be. I can not believe this has actually been aired in full length on some self respecting network or station. A document is supposed to look at the real nature of things and openly present them to the viewer instead of reproducing old ideas and clichés, lying and controlling the subject to impose a wanted effect on them. That is called propaganda, in this case ethnocentric, bandwagon propaganda.

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