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''Tears of the Black Tiger'' ((タイ語:ฟ้าทะลายโจร), or ''Fa Thalai Chon'', literally, "the heavens strike the thief") is a 2000 Thai western film written and directed by Wisit Sasanatieng. The story of a tragic romance between Dum, a fatalistic, working-class hero, who has become an outlaw, and Rumpoey, the upper-class daughter of a provincial governor, it is equal parts homage to and parody of Thai action films and romantic melodramas of the 1950s and 1960s. The film was the first from Thailand to be selected for competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival,〔 〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work = Search result, Thailand ) 〕 where it was critically hailed. It was screened at several other film festivals in 2001 and 2002, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, where it won the Dragons and Tigers Award for Best New Director. It also won many awards in Thailand for production and costume design, special effects and soundtrack. Critics have noted the film's stylized use of color and conspicuous violence, and have compared it to the revisionist westerns of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah.〔 It has also been compared to the works of such directors as Douglas Sirk, John Woo, Jean-Luc Godard, Sam Raimi and Quentin Tarantino.〔 Miramax Films purchased the film for distribution in the United States, but changed the ending and then shelved it indefinitely. In 2006, the distribution rights were obtained by Magnolia Pictures, which screened the original version of the film in a limited release from January to April 2007 in several US cities.〔 〕 == Plot == An elegant young woman carries a suitcase through the rain to wait in an ornate gazebo on a lotus swamp. She gazes at a photo of the man for whom she waits. The young man, whose name is Dum, is with another gunman named Mahesuan, who defies Yoi, an enemy of their boss Fai, to come out of a house. Dressed all in black and wearing a cowboy hat, Dum charges through a hail of bullets into the house and out-shoots eight of Yoi's men. Dum fires his revolver, and the bullet ricochets around the room before drilling into a man's forehead. A red title card then flashes up and says: "Did you catch that? If not, we'll play it again!" And the shot is replayed in slow motion, showing the bullet bouncing off items in a Rube Goldberg fashion. Dum and Mahesuan finish off Yoi, and then Dum rushes away on his own, galloping his white horse across open country. However, by the time Dum reaches the gazebo, the woman, Rumpoey Rajasena, has returned home. The next day she is formally engaged to the ambitious young Police Captain Kumjorn as arranged by her father, the governor of Suphanburi Province. Mahesuan is bitter about his status as second fiddle to Dum. Until Dum came along, Mahesuan was the top gunman in the outlaw gang headed by the ruthless Fai. Mahesuan goes looking for Dum and finds him playing a harmonica. Mahesuan mocks the Black Tiger's sentimentality and challenges him to a gunfight. The quick-drawing Dum fires first, yet Mahesuan is uninjured. A decapitated snake drops from an overhanging tree branch onto Mahesuan's cowboy hat. Dum targeted the venomous snake, saving Mahesuan's life. Retrieving his harmonica, Dum thinks back to his childhood 10 years earlier during the Second World War, when Rumpoey and her father left the city to stay on Dum's father's farm in rural Thailand. Rumpoey smashes a bamboo flute that Dum is playing and demands that he take her on a boat ride in the lotus swamp. The rich city girl says that she will take Dum to visit Bang Pu beach, if he will do all she commands. They visit the gazebo, or ''sala'' in Thai language, called "Sala Awaiting the Maiden." Dum says a woodcutter built it to await a wealthy family's daughter with whom he had fallen in love. However, the maiden was prevented from meeting the woodcutter, so she hanged herself. Rumpoey weeps over this tragedy. On the way home, they bump a boat carrying Koh and two other boys, who taunt Rumpoey. Dum defends Rumpoey, and Koh cuts Dum's forehead with a paddle, and his toadies overturn Dum's boat. Dum rescues Rumpoey but is late in bringing her home. So his father, commanding, "Never again!" severely beats the boy's back with a rattan cane. Rumpoey, feeling sorry for getting Dum into trouble, gives him a harmonica to replace the flute she smashed. Closer to "present" time, Captain Kumjorn tells the governor of his plan to attack the bandit Fai and bring law and order to the wild west of Suphanburi Province. Taking leave of his rather cold fiancée, Captain Kumjorn takes a small, framed portrait of Rumpoey, warmly promising to guard her photo with his life. At an ancient Buddhist temple, Mahesuan and Dum swear a blood oath in front of the Buddha statue. Mahesuan swears loyalty to Dum, "If I break this oath, may his gun take my life." A betrayer guides Kumjorn's police forces to Fai's hide-out, and the outlaws run out of ammunition. The police are charging in to mop up, when Dum and Mahesuan arrive on a cliff overlooking the battle. The pair break out rocket-propelled grenades and wipe out the police. Fai imprisons Kumjorn in a cabin and orders Dum to execute him. Kumjorn pleads with Dum to tell his fiancée of his fate and hands Dum the framed photo of his beloved. Dum is stunned to see the portrait of Rumpoey. Mahesuan enters to find Kumjorn gone and Dum with a knife in his chest. As Dum's wound is being treated, he thinks back to one year earlier, when he was a university student in Bangkok, where he became re-acquainted with Rumpoey. Dum pleads with her to leave him alone, reasoning that she is too beautiful and high born for a serious relationship with him. Later, Rumpoey is attacked by Koh and two toadies. Dum appears on the path and routs Rumpoey's attackers, for which he is expelled. Rumpoey finds Dum walking and insists on giving him a ride in her car. She orders her driver to take them to Bang Pu beach. Dum and Rumpoey confide their love for each other and are engaged, agreeing to meet a year later at Sala Awaiting the Maiden. Arriving home in Suphanburi, however, Dum finds his family murdered. With his dying breath, Dum's father blames Kong, and Dum swears vengeance. Dum shoots Kong and several of his clan with his father's lever-action carbine, but is chased into the forest. With one cartridge left, Dum turns the gun on himself, but is stopped by Fai, who has ridden up with his horsemen. Fai recognizes the rifle, saying he had given it to Dum's father years before. Fai hands Dum a loaded revolver and tells him to execute the men who murdered his father. Dum is now an outlaw. Shifting to the night before Rumpoey's wedding to Kumjorn, the frustrated woman tries to hang herself but is stopped by her nanny. Fai, meanwhile, plans to attack the governor's mansion on the wedding night. Dum warns of the multitude of police who will be attending the Captain's nuptials, but Fai declares a love of danger. On their way to attack the governor's mansion, Mahesuan tricks and disarms Dum, whom he accuses of intentionally freeing Kumjorn. A co-conspirator congratulates Mahesuan on robbing the Tiger of his teeth. Dum, dressed in a white suit, appears at the wedding, wishes groom and bride a happy life, and warns Kumjorn of Fai's plan to attack. Kumjorn, however, tries to shoot the man he knows as the "Black Tiger", who is his rival for Rumpoey's affection. Just ahead of the outlaw gang's assault, Mahesuan sneaks into the mansion, where he finds Rumpoey and knocks her unconscious. Fai's attack kills many police officers. Fai enters the mansion, but the governor drives a bayonet through his chest and then shoots him dead. Mahesuan is carrying Rumpoey across the lawn, when he meets Dum, who demands a rematch gunfight. The men fire simultaneously. Mahesuan's bullet is deflected harmlessly, but Dum's fated bullet rips through Mahesuan's teeth. Dum drops his weapon and tends to Rumpoey. Kumjorn confronts Dum at gunpoint. Dum reaches into his breast pocket, and Kumjorn shoots Dum—right through the framed portrait of Rumpoey for which he had been reaching. As Dum lies dying in the rain with Rumpoey sobbing over him, some of Dum's words from earlier are narrated again – that life is suffering and a chasing after brief moments of hope. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tears of the Black Tiger」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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