The Monk on Horseback

Country: Thailand
Runtime: 52 Mins
Language: Thai with English subtitles
Year of Production: 2008

Phra Khru Ba is known as the ‘Tiger Monk’. He travels the border region between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar notoriously known as the Golden Triangle. A former Muay Thai Boxer, the monk now saves children from falling prey to drug activities and violence.

Drug traffickers from ethnic and government groups move vast amounts of opium and heroin, and more recently, methamphetamine, into Thailand for local and world distribution. For generations they have torn through villages, murdering adults and forcibly recruiting children into their militias. Drug use in the area further damages and destabilizes families and lives through drug illnesses, kidnapping, prostitution, and land control.

Kru Ba orphaned hill tribe boys and ordained the boys as men (novice monks). Many of them had seen their families murdered by drug guerillas. Kru Ba teaches these boys spiritual discipline and Muay Thai martial arts. His monastery acts as an orphanage and a ranch, and he teaches these novices Muay Thai so they can protect themselves in this hostile region. His own life has been threatened many times, from the drug lords he opposes.

This is a beautiful story that uncovers tales of destruction and loss in an area that paints a picture of calm and tranquility.

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