Anna and the King Reviews

Much more than THE KING AND I without the music, this is a smart and splendidly decorated rethinking of Anna Leonowens's famous chronicle of her years as tutor to the royal family of Siam. Ostensibly hired by King Mongkut (Chow Yun-Fat) to teach his eldest son English and Western science, the prim Anna (Jodie Foster) arrives in sweltering 1862 Bangkok with her parasol held high and her convictions firmly in place. "The way of England is the way of the world," she assures her young son Louis (Tom Felton). But once ensconced behind the walls of the king's gilded palace, Anna learns the meaning of "culture shock." Confronted with the King's 26 wives, numerous concubines, brood of 53 little princes and princesses (with ten more on the way) and, worst of all, slaves, Anna realizes that the ways of Siam have little to do with the Empire, and, moreover, the King intends to keep it that way. Marauding death squads from neighboring Burma -- an English protectorate -- have been slaughtering his people, and he fears it may be the handiwork of encroaching British colonials. The sight of murdered bodies dangling from leafy palms is a far cry from "Getting To Know You," and parents should be advised that this is definitely not a sugary children's tale. Director Andy Tennant (EVER AFTER) transforms Anna's oft-told tale into a much more explicit critique of imperialism; here, the final tragedy of the concubine Tuptim (played with surprising power by Chinese actress Bai Ling) is the result of Anna's uncomprehending English meddling, rather than Siamese brutality. Freed from the generic confines of action movies, Chow cuts a dashing, romantic figure; Foster turns her biggest liability -- her hard, humorless demeanor -- into an asset, bringing an unexpected element of longing to her portrayal of the repressed widow.