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Purple, who said that can make it work better). In the contest, Toma launches his rocket, named Lucky, but lets go of it too soon and launches it poorly. A champion rocket named The
Million is launched afterwards which successfully reaches the clouds. Ahlo brings his rocket in, which he calls The Bat, but the announcer tells him that kids aren't allowed to launch. Ahlo asks Toma to launch it, but Taitko doesn't allow him to, believing that The Bat will blow everyone up because of Ahlo's bad luck. Nobody else volunteers to do so and Ahlo then runs off. Toma decides to launch it anyway. Kia catches up to Ahlo and tells him what his father is doing, and so he runs back to the contest, thinking the rocket will kill Toma, and shouts his apology over the loud roaring of the rocket. The Bat is launched properly this time and it reaches the clouds. The Bat then surprisingly explodes inside the cloud, causing it to rain. Ahlo wins 10 million kip and is now no longer considered cursed.
258:. Kia shows Ahlo soft land for him to grow mangoes on, which he wishes to do in honour of his mother, but Toma forbids Ahlo from associating with them, making Ahlo destroy Toma's model house out of anger. He then visits Kia and Purple again and learns that all the electricity that was promised to the people are being used by the "hydro bosses". The following night, Ahlo sneaks out and attempts to get electricity for the people by hooking up some cables to the main power source, but owing to his bad luck, he ends up causing a blackout for everyone else except for Kia and Purple, who have electricity for their television set. The next day, Ahlo tells Kia about his tribe's tradition about being a cursed twin. When he accidentally desecrates a sacred shrine, Ahlo, Toma and Taitko have their house and belongings burnt in retaliation. Along with Kia and Purple, they all sneak out of the village in a cart filled with undetonated bombs from the war or
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the land being surrounded by these dangerous bombs (which explains why there are no other inhabitants). While journeying for yet another home, Ahlo and company cross paths with a parade of travelers, where he hears an announcer mention a rocket competition that gives out cash prizes. While settling down, they are met by the village chief who tells them that the purpose of the contest is to launch them into the clouds in which they'll explode and produce rain. Believing this could break his curse, Ahlo announces his intentions to build a rocket and enter the contest to earn the money for them to buy a new home, but Toma and Taitko won't allow him, due to his presumed bad luck. Ahlo nevertheless still decides to build his own rocket and runs off.
246:) learns that a second dam is being built, so Toma takes Ahlo to see the dam, where a video is shown, revealing that the people of Ahlo's village will have to be relocated since the valley that they live in will be flooded between the two dams. So Ahlo and his family move through the woods, taking his boat with them, after much dispute. With the help of a ploughing buffalo, they manage to get the boat half way up the hill, only for the ropes to snap, sending the boat crashing into Mali, killing her. Furious, Taitok reveals to Toma that Ahlo is a twin and that "he should have died".
239:) gives birth to twins, of which one survives. Her husband's mother, Taitok (Bunsri Yindi) says that the living child must also die, because legend has it that when twins are birthed, one twin is blessed while the other is cursed. Believing her sole living son to be blessed, Mali refuses to kill him and so, she and Taitok keep it a secret from her husband, Toma (Sumrit Warin).
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After burying Mali, Ahlo and his family ride a bus to their new village, which Taitok doesn't much like due to the running water and electricity that replaces their "traditions". Here, Ahlo meets a girl named Kia (Loungnam
Kaosainam), who has lost her entire family (due to malaria) and now lives with
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The rocket festival begins the next day. While some people are launching their rockets, Ahlo is still in the woods trying to put his together. He grinds the bat droppings into powder, but tests it out on a few mini rockets, to no avail, so Ahlo tries urinating on the bat dropping powder (advised by
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former soldier) to help him build the rocket. Purple takes Ahlo to a bat cave to collect bat droppings that, according to Purple, can be used for blasting up the rocket. Inside the cave, Ahlo comes across a woman who considers him to be an evil spirit, causing him to run out of the cave screaming.
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They journey for days and eventually arrive at Purple's village, which they call
Paradise, which seems to have no other inhabitants. Ahlo and Kia run off into the bushes to play, but Ahlo almost sets off a bomb in the event of smashing fruit that Kia threw to him. Toma proposes moving again due to
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While walking through the woods in search of things to build his rocket with, Ahlo comes across another unexploded bomb, but its hard casing proves to be usable for a rocket, but blows up seconds after Ahlo hits it with a rock; he survives. Later, Ahlo manages to get Purple (who turns out to be a
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gave a positive review, commenting "Mordaunt doesn't always succeed at balancing the sentimental, the political and the ethnographic, but at its strongest the story is a seamless melding of history's dark undertow and a child's indefatigable optimism."
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called the film "uplifting, engrossing and thrilling while remaining accessible to both art-house and mainstream audiences. It's destined to become a sleeper hit." Noah
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called the characters "cliches" but the performances "utterly fresh". Avi Offer of
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1047:"The Rocket"
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1025:The Dissolve
1024:
1021:"The Rocket"
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912:"The Rocket"
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784:Bomb Harvest
782:
720:Caitlin Yeo
698:Nick Meyers
668:Best Script
633:Nick Meyers
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565:Pete Baxter
544:Sam Hayward
492:Nick Meyers
488:Best Editing
412:Kim Mordaunt
381:AACTA Awards
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147:Running time
54:Kim Mordaunt
45:Kim Mordaunt
18:
1203:La Spagnola
1056:16 February
1030:16 February
1004:16 February
978:16 February
952:16 February
921:15 December
896:15 December
717:Best Music
642:FCCA Awards
536:Nick Emond
506:Caitlin Yeo
256:James Brown
101:Caitlin Yeo
92:Nick Meyers
59:Produced by
41:Directed by
35:Film poster
1338:2013 films
1332:Categories
1243:The Rocket
1211:Ten Canoes
1134:The Rocket
1123:The Rocket
1112:The Rocket
871:16 January
866:oscars.org
798:References
791:Blood Road
712:Nominated
701:Nominated
690:Nominated
671:Nominated
663:Nominated
646:Best Film
589:Nominated
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539:Nominated
531:Nominated
523:Nominated
520:Sam Petty
516:Best Sound
510:Nominated
495:Nominated
482:Nominated
469:Nominated
454:Nominated
439:Nominated
432:Best Actor
416:Nominated
401:Nominated
358:The Rocket
314:The Rocket
217:The Rocket
193:drama film
177:The Rocket
151:96 minutes
134:2013-06-08
119:2013-02-10
51:Written by
24:The Rocket
626:ASE Award
394:Best Film
369:Category
292:as Purple
159:Australia
89:Edited by
16:2013 film
1291:Buoyancy
1177:for the
1139:Facebook
1092:26 April
1087:BBC News
757:See also
372:Subject
225:AFI Fest
164:Language
97:Music by
67:Starring
375:Result
304:as Mali
211:at the
189:bangfai
156:Country
132: (
117: (
1318:(2023)
1315:Shayda
1310:(2022)
1302:(2021)
1294:(2019)
1286:(2018)
1278:(2017)
1270:(2016)
1262:(2015)
1254:(2014)
1246:(2013)
1238:(2012)
1230:(2009)
1222:(2007)
1214:(2006)
1206:(2001)
1198:(1996)
366:Award
186:ບັ້ງໄຟ
125:Berlin
123: (
1283:Jirga
1267:Tanna
1235:Lore
1181:for
1117:IMDb
1094:2013
1058:2015
1032:2015
1006:2015
980:2015
954:2015
923:2013
898:2013
873:2014
848:2013
823:2013
750:Won
739:Won
723:Won
682:Won
652:Won
636:Won
620:Won
609:Won
426:Won
278:Cast
231:Plot
201:Laos
1137:on
1126:at
1115:at
916:AFI
387:3rd
334:of
260:UXO
182:Lao
168:Lao
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