Producer seeks to overturn ban on Macbeth film

Asia One
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20120408-338284.html

A co-producer of the banned Thai film "Shakespeare Must Die", which has been construed as a criticism of Thaksin Shinawatra and the red shirts (above), said he will launch a petition campaign to overturn the Film Board's April 3 decision to outlaw screenings of the work.

By Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation/Asia News Network
Sunday, Apr 08, 2012

THAILAND - A co-producer of the banned Thai film "Shakespeare Must Die", which has been construed as a criticism of Thaksin Shinawatra and the red shirts, said he will launch a petition campaign to overturn the Film Board's April 3 decision to outlaw screenings of the work.

"Most people cry for [freedom of expression] when they have no power. Once they have power they don't want give the freedom to others. Every government and every political group is like that," Manit Sriwanithpoom told The Nation by phone yesterday, adding that if the red shirts can't handle criticism, they should stop calling their movement democratic.

The film is set in a fictitious kingdom in which a power-mad politician eventually commits regicide. Supporters of this autocratic leader then lynch the director of an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth", who tries to expose the fraudulent leader.

The Film Board simply informed 50-year-old Manit that the film was banned from being screened, sold or distributed in the Kingdom because it would "cause disunity among people in the country", with no further explanation offered to the producer.

"There was no justification," said Manit, who added that the board told him to alter the film - without saying which parts should be changed - if he wanted the film to be cleared for screening. "They said they're worried about it because the country is in a reconciliatory mode."

Manit believes the film was banned because it can be interpreted as being critical of Thaksin and the red shirts.

In the film, which contains no direct references to Thailand, Siam or the like, the power-hungry politician eventually usurps power from the king, while supporters of "Excellency the Leader" want him to rule the country in a dictatorial fashion.

"Red shirts may think I'm defaming Thaksin and the reds but I am not. Is the lese majeste law now expanded to protect Thaksin and the red shirts? They must listen [to criticism] and have no right to ban things.