I finally watched the Bhutanese film Thank You, Sir! after years of meaning to. Written, directed, and acted by Tshering Gyeltshen, the film runs for over two and a half hours, but it took me three days to finish watching the film.
The story follows Jigmed, a teacher who seems almost too perfect. He’s wise, calm, and faultless, like a Bodhisattva. The problem is, he doesn’t change. While the film shows him dealing with a student going through emotional issues due to his parents’ divorce, or resisting pressure from his sister to get into an arranged marriage, Jigmed remains exactly the same.
The female characters, including his love interest Mendrel (played by Tshering Zam), also fall flat. The female characters, except for Jigmed’s arranged-marriage wife, show utmost loyalty and dedication to him. As if Jigmed has the superpower of attraction.
Most of the characters don’t grow or change, and even when they do, the process of change isn’t discussed.
Themes in Thank You, Sir!
That said, the film does try to touch on important issues in Bhutanese society: mental health, arranged marriage, and misuse of power by officials, topics that were starting to gain momentum in 2012, the year the film was released and four years after Bhutan’s first democratic elections.
One standout scene was when Jigmed comes home so drunk that it causes his sister to faint. It reminded me of a time when a family member came home drunk, causing shame, the kind that they never talk about again.
English As An Underlying Theme
The film also touches on English as a language. Different types of English accents are presented. An Economics teacher, a bullish person and Jigmed’s rival in the school speaks in a “broken” accent, while an affluent character speaks in a more western accent. Both of these presentations were caricature-like.
What I personally liked were the beautiful shots of Chorten Kora at night. The quiet glow of the stupa in Trashiyangtse was magical alongside the song Kinthrilma by Bhutanese singer Kinley Marinsa. It stayed with me longer than any of the characters did.
Thank You, Sir! is ambitious, and it is this very ambitiousness that ends up dragging the film.
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