A boy who is believed to bring bad luck to everyone around him leads his family and two new friends through Laos to find a new home. After a calamity-filled journey through a land scarred ... See full summary »

Director:

Writer:

28 wins & 30 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Ilo Ilo (2013)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

In 90s Singapore, the friendship between Filipino nursemaid Teresa and her young charge Jiale makes waves in a family, while the Asian recession hits the region.

Director: Anthony Chen
Stars: Yann Yann Yeo, Tian Wen Chen, Angeli Bayani
Documentary
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

Rithy Panh uses clay figures, archival footage, and his narration to recreate the atrocities Cambodia's Khmer Rouge committed between 1975 and 1979.

Director: Rithy Panh
Stars: Randal Douc, Jean-Baptiste Phou
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

Set in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in 1992. Friends Eka and Natia look to leave childhood behind as they ignore societal customs and work to escape their turbulent family lives.

Directors: Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
Stars: Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria, Zurab Gogaladze
Metro Manila (2013)
Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Seeking a brighter future in megacity Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family flee their impoverished life in the rice fields of the northern Philippines. But the sweltering capital's bustling... See full summary »

Director: Sean Ellis
Stars: Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla, Althea Vega
Omar (2013)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A young Palestinian freedom fighter agrees to work as an informant after he's tricked into an admission of guilt by association in the wake of an Israeli soldier's killing.

Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Stars: Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany, Eyad Hourani
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.

Director: Zhangke Jia
Stars: Wu Jiang, Baoqiang Wang, Tao Zhao
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth, he must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Stars: Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Yôko Maki
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Two scrappy 13-year-old working-class friends in Bradford seek fortune by getting involved with a local scrap dealer and criminal.

Director: Clio Barnard
Stars: Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder
Biography | Drama | Sport
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A story about Quebec's most famous hockey player, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, focusing on the struggles of a French Canadian in the National Hockey League dominated by Anglophones.

Director: Charles Binamé
Stars: Roy Dupuis, Stephen McHattie, Julie LeBreton
The Lunchbox (2013)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.

Director: Ritesh Batra
Stars: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course: The father of the latest victim now out for revenge, a vigilante police detective operating outside the ... See full summary »

Directors: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado
Stars: Lior Ashkenazi, Rotem Keinan, Tzahi Grad
Mutter & Sohn (2013)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Seeing a way to reassert control over her adult son's life when he faces manslaughter charges, an affluent Romanian woman sets out on a campaign of emotional and social manipulation to keep... See full summary »

Director: Calin Peter Netzer
Stars: Luminita Gheorghiu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Natasa Raab
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Taitok (as Bunsri Yindi)
...
Mali
Karen ...
Baby Ahlo
Sitthiphon Disamoe ...
Chanthachone Latvongxay ...
Market Fish Seller
Sumrit Warin ...
Toma
Samnuan Sankote ...
Male Relocation Village Official
Jarunun Phantachat ...
Female Relocation Village Official
Walter Van Veenendaal ...
Angeo Dam Official
Yuttana Muenwaja ...
Angry Mob Leader
Chaleam Ratchaborntong ...
Thin Man
Wattana Klumkrong ...
Elderly Woman
Suthep Po-ngam ...
Purple (as Thep Phongam)
...
Kia
Sopheng Thammavong ...
Market Flower Seller
Edit

Storyline

A boy who is believed to bring bad luck to everyone around him leads his family and two new friends through Laos to find a new home. After a calamity-filled journey through a land scarred by the legacy of war, to prove he's not bad luck he builds a giant rocket to enter the most exciting and dangerous competition of the year: the Rocket Festival. Written by Red Lamp Films

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

two word title | See All (1) »

Genres:

Drama

Certificate:

See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

|

Country:

| |

Language:

Release Date:

29 August 2013 (Australia)  »

Also Known As:

Die Rakete  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

AUD 2,000,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Official submission of Australia to the Oscars 2014 best foreign language film category. See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

 
The Rocket is effective, simple storytelling with many layers and a film that tells more stories than its narrative suggests.
16 December 2013 | by (Hard Pond Street) – See all my reviews

Trekking through the dangerous jungles of Laos, 10-year old Ahlo (Sitthiphon Disamoe) is determined to convince his superstitious family that he is not a lightning rod for bad luck.

Blessed with a nutty uncle obsessed with James Brown (Thep Phongam) and caught in the middle of a village relocation program over the building of a dam, Ahlo's eventful journey takes him through the scarred landscape of his home, littered with Vietnam-era bombs that are still waiting to go off.

Australian writer/director Kim Mordaunt was inspired to make this wistful, often lyrical film after his 2007 documentary Bomb Harvest, which told of the annual toll claimed by the unexploded bombs in Laos.

Thankfully he layers the unavoidable political notes with real warmth, humour and character, a quality that clearly benefited from using a mix of professional and non-professional actors. Mordaunt also knows how to use irony without pushing it; as Ahlo aims to prove his worth at a big rocket festival, we're reminded that The Rocket is not a political allegory, it's an offbeat, celebratory coming-of-age story about a kid.


24 of 27 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
10 Million Lao Kip - what does that buy? keith-lofstrom
Such a beautiful film - catch it if you can!! spiral_static
Very kool pheen1
Name of Lao song matsflaaten
Discuss The Rocket (2013) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?