"Mr Archin Panjabhan"
"Examinations Failed."
"Expelled."
This is my university certificate,
presented to me in 1949, the year they tossed me out.
Penniless, unemployed, discouraged, frustrated...
... and nearly broken-hearted.
"...I'll send you to work at Krason Tin Dredging...
Hope you work hard - your Father."
What I had no way of knowing then was that
this piece of paper would be the most valuable thing I had owned
even though it said I only made it through
my second year of engineering school.
I was the only who knew I'd left all hope
behind me when I left school that day.
The Tin Mine was to be my last chance...
... to nourish new hopes, and start to believe in my future again.
The Tin Mine
When I was a little kid,
the Takua Tung district in Southern Thailand
was just a tiny dot on the map
that sometimes the map-makers left it off altogether.
And the sub-district called Krasom?
Not even worth a dot.
What the hell is that?!
Help!
But that day...
it's where my father sent me
to make amends for the errors of my ways.
It's definitely not the kind of place you'd go on holiday,
or in search of new adventures.
And it's the last place anyone would go to find themselves.
"Krasom"
- Can you tell me where the office is?
- Over there.
Another order?
Are you using or re-selling them? Too many orders you've placed.
Looking for someone?
Is the manager here?
Not here.
What's up?
I've come to see about a job.
Nope, no jobs here.
Hey, I said no jobs!
Any kind of job, really...
- I said, no jobs!
- Stop!
Hey Kid, don't hang around here.
There aren't any openings for new workers.
Take a look.
A university student like you could handle working as a laborer?
Could you handle manual labor?
Can you?
Yes, Sir.
For a miner's standard monthly wage?
Yes, Sir.
Will you do it?
Okay then.
I like people who like work.
If you like work,
I like you.
You mean... I'm hired?
As a laborer, ok?
Office Boy!
Yes, Sir.
The place you're staying is next to the cemetery.
If you're not afraid of ghosts,
you'll see it could nicely fit for a boss.
But if you can't handle it,
you can always move in with me.
We're both Bangkok boys, after all.
Hey, I like it already.
Yeah, well... good luck.
Oh, by the way...
the lights shut off at 11.
Soon enough, a month started to seem like a year.
FRESHMAN
A part of me was determined to make a go of it there
to work hard and learn to be a man.
But another part of me couldn't wait to get back to Bangkok.
Hey, look at Bangkok boy.
Oh! Sorry! Sorry!
That rice stank of gasoline.
I found the dog chewing on this. Thought it might be yours.
That was hot.
This Southern-style soup is so flavorless.
Oh, I stretched it with more water.
Hey...
What are you doing out here in these woods anyway?
You'd get better food in prison.
There aren't any movie houses
and no girls for miles around.
I came to save up some money.
Save money for what?
I'm getting married when I go back.
Getting married, huh?
That's good, then. Keep you from getting in debt later on.
What's that?
Oh, your sweetheart.
Yep, she's a looker. You hang on to that.
You know, there's an old saying.
"If a man goes away to China...
... or to sea...
... or to Java...
... or to Phang-nga,
his girl will wait 3 years for him.
But after 3 years...
if she takes a lover,
she's not the one to blame."
Hey you.
Seen one yet,
at your house?
The ghost?
No, not yet.
Where you off to this morning?
The Singaporean Clerk's sending me to get the mail.
Take this one. And this one, too.
Has the Office Boy come back?
Is the Office Boy back yet?
Where'd he head off to anyway?
Gone to town.
Waiting for a letter from your girl, huh?
It's 50 km there and back!
Why didn't he go by car?
Who's got a free car?
The mail's no big deal!
50 km by bicycle, at his age?
About your letter...
... there... wasn't one.
"There... wasn't one." Hah!
No mail!
It's a pity.
At that house...
every evening
there will be a girl coming out for a stroll,
completely naked,
with her long tongue flapping
and her hair black and shoulder-length.
People say...
she's the ghost of old Choom's wife, died while still with child.
One night Aom went out for some coffee
and left his wife alone.
He saw her with his own eyes.
Jong and Jon saw her too...
... scared'em half to death.
Actually...
I'm not afraid of ghosts.
It's the sound of her walking that gets me.
Care to make a bet?
10 bottles of hooch to 1. I'll give you the odds...
She's coming tonight for sure!
Hair down to her shoulders... no clothes...
... with a belly ready to burst!
That's Mrs. Choom!
She's the old boss's wife.
She... died while she was pregnant.
I showed her my respects and told her...
I'd come from far away...
looking for a job and a place to stay.
What'd she say?
She just nodded her head.
It's very scary.
Unbelievable, they believed me!
I got my first big assignment...
... the day they gave me an oil drum.
They told me to turn it into a trashcan.
I gave it my best shot.
Ouch!
Shit!
What happened?
Let me see it.
Hold still!
It's okay, let me see.
It hurts!
I can see it hurts. You think it'll stop hurting on its own?
Daydreaming about your girl, were you?
For me, the Tin Mine seemed like an entirely new world.
It wasn't just the difference between city and country.
With hundreds km from any highway,
I felt I'd crossed a border into the unknown.
Who's that?
How the hell should I know?
My first real test came when the dredging engineer was on holiday.
The boss wanted me to write out the supply order, in English.
They'll soon be promoting you to engineer for sure.
Construction equipment, accounting, English...
I'd studied all of that back at school.
The thing was just I never made it to graduation day.
Hey! Hey you!
That order come yet?
The Boss is ready to check it over.
So?
Where's my order?
Don't tell me you've just been wandered around all day.
Sorry, but the man at the warehouse said to tell you...
a "bolt" is male and a "nut" is female.
You can't just order nuts.
You've got to order "nuts and bolts".
Well, what about the 30 nails I ordered?
Don't tell me I've got to order hammers to get nails.
He said, nails have to be ordered by the pound...
not by the piece.
Boy, were you just born wrong or what?
Sorry, sir. I'll make out a new order right away.
Sir, the light in the steam room is out.
We just need one frosted light bulb.
Don't order it by the kilo, ok?
Yes.
Pearl light bulb.
"P... e... a..."...is that right?
I'd really begun to respect my Australian boss.
He'd opened the Tin Mine's gates for me.
And I wanted to show him that he could always count on me.
Why don't we take the belt off
when the stream pressure is at its maximum?
Because... well...
So cute.
Here little one, buy yourself a new shirt, ok?
My boss's name is Mr. Sam.
He's 56 years old.
He set a lifestyle that I wanted to always follow.
He loves to have fun.
7 for 20 baht. / That's enough.
85 for 20 baht.
He's open-minded and kind.
He'll always tell his driver to stop and
offer a lift to anyone he sees on foot.
Stop! Stop!
Chai, stop!
How dare you treat human remains this way?
Don't just sit there getting drunk. Show some respect!
He's the kind of foreigner Thai people are proud to know.
Whenever he drinks too much,
he likes to show us the souvenir he got from the world war.
I am Corporal Sam...
... and this is the anklet I got, building the bridge on the River Kwai
.
That's no anklet, boss.
What?
That's a ball and chain!
Look, the baby's got one too!
The Boss's younger brother, Mr. Tom, works here too.
He handles the open-air works,
and he's the dredger's chief engineer.
C'mon, push harder!
There's one thing the brothers can never agree on.
The older brother will hire anyone
even though they're as drunk as he is.
But the younger brother will never
hesitate to fire every last drunk he sees.
Mr. Sam is a workingman's hero.
He taught me the meaning of the motto, "duty unto death".
Like the day the dredger's engine-roller fell into the water
and shut the Tin Mine down,
we all had to work three double shifts.
But Mr. Sam worked for 72 hours straight,
and never took a break.
We got the dredger up and running again
thanks to this Australian
and this one man who we respected even more,
Mr. John, the foreman of our dredger crew.
The Chief is here!
It's your day to get that fucking bike! Wait till my turn!
Just the way Mr. John stood there was a show of power
and a demonstration of strict control.
With every breath he took, he let you know he was in charge.
Boy! Black coffee, double bitter!
Yes, Mr. John.
Clear water like this, we should dig a lot of tin today, man!
(Dialect) Tomorrow, Mr. Henry, the big boss from Penang
is coming to check the dredger.
Whoever comes to work without a shirt
will not get his time card signed that day!
(Different dialect)
(Thai Southern dialect) No shirt, no time card signed!
Mr. John spoke so fast and fluently in so many languages that
you'd think a fan's blowing words out of his mouth.
He may be a foreigner
but that doesn't mean he can insult us!
We are not jungle savages!
We're here to work!
Attention!
Mr. John drinks even more than we do.
Smokes more, too.
He packs away much more food.
It takes him twice as long to take a dump.
Wow! What a shit I just took!
Must have been a foot long
and all in one piece!
There's just no stopping his craziness
especially when he's got his team with him.
Kong, the mechanic,
and Weng, the tinsmith.
I was hoping he'd make me his team's youngest member.
Hey, how's it going, Mard? / Just fine, sir.
You want to go blind? Put your mask on!
You've got to write "Cotton Waste", not "Waste Cotton."
Heaven may have sent John to our Tin Mine...
but they'd sent Ying to give John a taste of Hell too.
Ying, how many pounds exactly is this?
Getting senile are you, old timer?
I've never claimed to be expert on the steaming machine.
What kind of Mechanic Foreman are you?
The Foreman's got to be an expert on everything.
I do know everything...
I know about Thai boxing too! / Don't push me, Ying.
I'll push you more than that, John.
I may not be the gangster I once was,
but I can still teach you a thing or two!
Want to fight me?!
Hey! It's a fight!
Come watch the fight!
Shit! Everybody back to work!
"To Archin, thinking of you always."
Hey Jieng?
I'm gonna gaze at the clouds.
Might see a lucky number up there.
At the Tin Mine, our home is any dry place
to sleep when it rains.
I got the runs!
Our toilet is the nearest bush.
Our kitchen is the Boiled Rice-Noodle stand.
Our lounge and living room is the local canteen.
I'll put this bottle on my tab.
Sure, up to you.
It's also our clubhouse.
Have a drink with us?
Nah, me and alcohol don't get along well.
I thought it was you and your wife that didn't get along!
The canteen-owner can be tight-fisted,
but he's the president of the club.
The canteen's also our recreation center.
And our office of public affairs.
This newspaper says that...
the Korean war is the fiercest war yet.
If they fought it here,
near our home, and our mine...
we'd all be filthy rich by now! / And why is that?
Because they're shooting up everything in sight
and they're using lead bullets to do it.
Our mine is a lead mine, right?
So if we wouldn't get rich, who would?
Sometimes, the canteen is our courthouse as well.
This sure as hell is a dinky little mine.
Mine might be small...
but the people here aren't!
What's that?
This mine ain't so big.
But the miners here are plenty big enough.
What's so big about digging a little hole in the ground?
You might use a 10-Baht shovel to dig your holes...
but we use a 10-Million-Baht dredger to dig ours.
Yeah, that's right!
But the canteen's most important function...
is to serve as our casino.
And the canteen-boss is its owner,
doorman,
and dealer of the cards.
The hottest games here are
"guessing the number of seeds inside the durian" game,
Ok, pay up, pay up.
The "smashing the sardine can" game,
Will he break it or not?
Break it! Break it!
Pay the dealer! Pay the dealer!
The "guessing the number of lines on
the mangosteen" game,
Pay the dealer!
500 grams for 2 Baht.
Place a bet.
700 grams.
700 grams? Ok.
The "guessing the weight of the milk can" game,
500 Grams! 500 Grams!
And the "guessing the height of the candle" game.
It's 7.9 cm!
No, it's 8!
You looked at it sideways that's why!
Brother, one shot of whisky.
Pien's wife's giving birth...
but the baby's still not out. Stillborn, you think?
Okay, let's bet on it.
Is the baby dead or alive?
Place your bets!
Alive! / Dead for sure!
Hey! Take this.
The canteen was also like a sanitarium...
when I needed a cure for my homesickness.
What?
Catch the thieves
tonight at 3 a.m.
Catch the thieves.
Me?
Hurry!
Make it snappy! Hurry it up!
Kong?! Are you the one stealing our tin?
Well, I wouldn't put it that way... Hold on.
Hey, what are you waiting for? Get a move on!
What are you afraid of?
Move it!
Stop right there. That stuff's not going anywhere!
On behalf of the Boss, I order everything's back to the dredger!
Hey, you'd better keep in mind who's in charge here!
Oh, you're the senior man here alright...
But this is an order direct from the Boss.
Yeah? And what country is he from?
And which country is yours?
This is Thai tin.
And the land you're standing on is Thailand.
The tin beneath Thailand belongs to Thai people!
What about the dredger, the other machines?
They belong to the Boss, don't they?
And the wages you get paid, who pays them?
Who hired you to work here?
What kind of asshole steals from the man
who puts a roof over their head?!
If you love that foreigner so much,
try and stop me if you can.
Go suck your bottle and power your ass.
Loving that foreigner has made you a baby.
Stop!!
Don't get in my way if you're not ready for trouble!
He made you foreman and you repay him like this?!
Yeah, he hired me! And that's between me and him!
Maybe we should all talk this over together.
Mister John?
Look, we're not taking all the tin for just us three.
We'll split it up between all of us.
There's plenty to go around.
Joi, Jerm, Hab, Hued, Kong...
... a little bit for each of us.
How are they supposed to feed their children?
You think ten baht a day is enough?
We're only taking a few baht in tin.
What's the big deal?
When the mine shuts down, who'll care about us?
But the Boss also pays the taxes for us for mining this land.
How could you steal them from him?
And why couldn't we?
Because it's illegal!
Illegal?
You're mixing up our laws with that foreigner's.
Working men go by the laws of life!
Move it!
Boss...
I'm here to tell you I'm quitting.
I'm going back to Bangkok to drive a taxi.
Really?
Working honestly for you
is making me worry that I'm betraying my country.
Tell you what, I'm going to give you a raise.
I'm sorry...
that I'm using this way
to consider giving you a raise.
Archin.
Your school must have taught you pretty well.
Most of the guys...
only care about the size of their cut.
Here.
Hungry? Don't be afraid to eat.
Fear? Don't be afraid, not even death.
Poor? Don't be afraid to borrow.
Once you're dead, you'll be debt-free!
Universities teach you about a love for country...
but the Tin Mine teaches you about a love for life.
From that day on, I was proud to be part of the Tin Mine.
We'd all come from different regions and schools.
I do every single damn thing!
We'd all heard different stories as kids.
The things that lead each of us to this Tin Mine were all different
too.
If I were a soldier, I'd wear a lieutenant's cap...
And we live here together more like a family,
than a bunch of workers.
Smelly ass, drink yourself silly.
We might disguise how closely related we are some times...
but when we really need it,
one of us is always there to lend a hand.
SOPHOMORE
I progressed so quickly during my first year at the Tin Mine
that some of them envied my rapid promotion.
But they didn't know that
the quiet times there had quickly hollowed my hopeless heart.
Young guys like you shouldn't work in a place like this.
Nowhere to go for the New Year's holiday?
The sun is too bright today.
When the sun's this bright,
there's sure to be a storm by noon.
Want to bet on it?
Sure.
I'll bet you two bottles of whiskey.
No, there wasn't any cheering to celebrate the New Year here...
and I wouldn't be lying on the ground star-gazing
like I'd done in years past.
Well, looks like you lose.
Look at it coming down.
Hey, you...
Is New Year's day fun in Bangkok?
Regardless of what day it was at the Tin Mine,
we were more concerned with ourselves than nature.
We didn't have time to watch the sun rises or sets.
We only worried about getting to work each day.
Look's like you've had enough
if you're still planning on going to work tomorrow.
Happy New Year!
For us, the moon itself was meaningless.
It was only the waning moon
at the end of each calendar month that we cared about.
We didn't waste time looking at the moon in the night sky.
We looked for it in the bottom of a glass.
Days, months, years... the life of the Tin Mine
became more a part of my body each day.
No mail for you today.
The love letters from Bangkok grew fewer and fewer.
Uncle Dang, why this soup is so cold?
Just eat it! Your stomach will warm it up.
Cold and flavorless...
I sleep in a lonely hut at night
with the sound of the dredger as my only lullaby.
I work on ground that's sprinkled with dust from
the tin we've mined from below.
And the rain that falls down on my head
is mixed with the ashes of that tin as well.
At last, I felt ready to face any challenge
the mine could hand me.
And that day the rain had dropped a new friend down on my head as we
II.
This is Kai.
A teenager with nothing but his brawn to call his own.
A guy who doesn't even know the meaning of sadness.
Hey, that umbrella's for the camera not for you!
Hey! I just set the mark with that!
He's got a smile as big as a pond.
Hey, Kai!
Your Dad teaches you that?
As a surveyor, every square meter of this forest was my concern.
We're here to map the terrain, not for a weekend camping trip.
Kai!
Ok, you go back down there and find the boundary mark.
Again?
Please.
I'm tired.
This is the last one.
I'm tired.
Please!
So we couldn't pick any scenic spots in the woods.
I'm tried.
Haven't taken a break.
Only just one meal.
The train horn is blown, I'm going home.
Hey, finish gathering up the gear before you go!
Everyday, the locals can see how democratically we work together.
Kai carries the gear into the woods...
... and I carry it back out.
Kai!
Give me hand here.
Quitting time, boss.
Kai, do you know what time it is?
I ran my fastest.
Working with Kai has its challenges,
but it's got its delights as well.
Here, try some of this grain with coconut.
Go on, it'll spoil soon.
Come on, try it
Good, huh?
Kai?!
Archin! Look out below!
Kai, you trying to kill me?!
Kai was my assistant by day
and my massage therapist at night.
I always thought of him as a bit like my son...
... even if he seemed like my father sometimes.
More than anything, we were like brothers together in the mine.
Kai.
Yes?
Pull the marker up!
Based on yesterday's measurements,
old Kleum's moved his marker 20 feet further in.
Really? He's trying to cheat us.
Hey you!
Get away from there!
Don't mess with my border markers.
Boss! / Get lost!
Get over here.
Want a taste of my stick?
You're the one who's moved the markers into our company's area.
I don't care about your company.
Fine, I'll move yours back then.
Old guy like you will be dead soon, better save your breath.
Don't you curse at me, sonny!
Didn't curse at you, put a curse on you!
I'll slice you in two pieces!
Catch me if you can!
I'll show you what a curse is!
Catch me!
Kai!
Pull it up!
You pull that up and I'll crack your skull!
You hit him and I'll shoot you!
Boss, I'm scared.
Ok, I'll do it myself.
You're dead!
My sacred Buddha amulet has protected me!
Not even bullets can harm me now!
His holy power is watching over me.
He's protected my life.
He's protected my life. Blessed guardian.
Let me see that. / Bullets cannot harm me.
I've never seen an amulet that can stop bullets.
This is an old and sacred relic.
Now the amulet is with me. Kai, go move that marker!
You tricksters, give me my amulet back.
I'll give it back once that marker's moved.
I'll kill you first.
You still bold enough, even without your protective charm?
Ok then, give it a try!
I'll cut his head clean off!
Those who wear sacred images should know
that cheating is a sin.
Sacred amulets won't protect sinful people.
If I'm so sinful, why isn't there a bullet inside me right now?
Because I haven't loaded the gun!
Alright, move the marker and give me my amulet back.
Boss...
as a reward for my bravery,
how about letting me ride into town in the big Boss's car?
It's not up to me who rides in the Boss's car.
So why do you get to go?
Not a chance!
Archin and I sit in the front.
The big Boss and his Madam sit in the back.
How can you go?
But please, sir!
No! Not a chance.
I'll sit between the big Boss and Madam.
You're not their son.
Sitting in the middle doesn't mean that I'm their son.
What about those two hookers I saw you sitting between?
Are you their son?
You want a ride? Ride in the trunk!
Shoot! We're doomed!
Kai, how did you get here?
Come lend a hand with these durians.
I took the bus here.
I... I rode here in the trunk.
You said you came by bus.
You been lying to me?
I was afraid you'd be angry with me.
Well, why telling me the truth now?
You not afraid anymore?
I'm more afraid of walking back.
Came here in the trunk, go back in the trunk.
You lied to me, so you rides in the trunk
along with the durian. Good idea?
Good idea, sir.
No, I'm just kidding.
You can ride up front.
That's ok, I like it back there.
Hey Kai!
Ouch!
I can treat these bruises at my clinic.
Gone in two days, guaranteed.
You go first. Look like you're about to die.
Hey, where's your bike?
The tire's blown out... the Clerk told me to walk...
- Son of a...
- Here's your mail.
One, two, three...
Get home and take a bath!
Archin, come up and dance with us!
"Wedding Invitation"
Burn it.
No! I'll keep it...
... just like I've kept those locks of her hair.
Forget about her.
Never.
I want to remember.
This will be my memento of a woman's wicked ways.
Wicked ways need no mementos.
You think I've kept mementos
of your wicked ways?
What have I done that's so wicked?
You've complained about my soup
and dumped it out 'cause you think it's bad.
Keeping that letter
will only make you miserable day after day.
That night, the reason I'd had no mail
from Bangkok for months finally became clear.
That was also the night I stopped thinking
that love was the only thing I had to look forward to.
I felt as if my future had just been smashed to bits.
"The past is a dream...
... the present is starvation...
... the future is death."
That boy's gone nuts.
"The past is a dream...
... the present is starvation...
... endure it."
Together, and without either of us realizing it,
the relationship between that old man from the countryside
and this poor little university boy
fused and became an unbreakable bond
in that hut deep in the woods.
Days, months, years...
There was only one way miners watched time go by.
It's scooped in at the front of the dredger
and dumped out through the back.
JUNIOR
Why aren't you going out with your buddies?
No money to go.
No matter how much earth we scooped that day,
I was thinking only about that letter,
not the work report.
What's up? You look like you just lost your wife.
Hey boy! Black coffee, double bitter!
The unpredictable ups and downs of working at the mine
taught me to be strong and work hard.
I began to realize that I could do anything if I applied myself
and that maybe I wasn't such a lazy guy after all.
And there were good times to help me forget the bad...
Too lonely to stay at home.
... and always plenty of liquor when my throat got dry.
My glass is empty already.
And your tab is full again.
How 'bout free drinks again?
The debts I took on from all that drinking
soon began to feel like a cage
keeping me there even when if I'd wanted to go.
You fuckers!
Whenever you want a free drink, your eyes look so pitiful.
When it's time to pay, they look like the eyes of a thief.
When I drank,
it was like a magic spell had come over me,
making elephants look as tiny as pigs.
What's the point of being born if can't have a drink when you want?
What you oughta say is...
if you can't get a free drink, why be born at all?
To learn respect for an old man,
imagine marrying his old wife!
Booze is rural folk's main form of entertainment,
a vitamin for tired bodies,
a kind of angel's light
that brightens their lonely hearts.
"Someone's calling me...
... when the wind is blowing...
... like a fresh breeze."
"Could that be your sweet voice...
... showering my heart...
... with poetry?"
Hey, hey. The Boss is here.
What's it?
My wife's not around.
Don't worry.
Keep it...
... for when you're cold.
I mean, for when you're lonely.
I mean, "cold"?
No! "Lonely"!
Let's drink!
Cheese? Only pigs eat cheese!
Which one is the most expensive?
This one, solid gold from Switzerland.
Real ox-leather wristband. 4500 baht. Interested?
Beautiful isn't it, Archin?
Uh, yeah, beautiful.
I'll take it. 4500 baht it is.
And I'm buying it for you.
The best watch
for the best watch seller!
Hey! Stop.
Archin, give this little boy 100 baht.
For what?
He's got no shirt. Give him the 100 baht.
Keep it.
I'll keep it for him then.
Go buy yourself a new shirt.
Tell me how southerner say "I love you."
I love you.
No, I love you.
No, I love you!
The slobs in the front office aren't worth a miner's spit.
While they're out buying lottery tickets in Phuket,
we're working our asses off digging for tin.
"The office is the heart of company!"
Yes, yes.
Without the office, the money would stop coming.
At least the front office people are graduates from Penang.
John, which school did you graduate from?
Archin, you finished school...
... or did school finish with you?
No arguments! Remember who's the boss here.
Working hours are over!
Yes, working hours are over. But this is my land...
... my house...
... and your clothes were bought with the money I paid you.
And why not take off your pants?
I paid for them too.
I'm here to resign.
Last night, I was very rude to you.
If you quit, then I'd better quit too.
I'm supposed to set a good example here,
not get you boys drunk.
Hey! Wait.
I gotta get going.
To where?
I want to get my hair cut in town.
No need!
Let's drink first.
No, it'll be dark soon. What if I see a ghost?
No need to go.
I'll cut your hair for you.
They used to call me "Barber number one"!
Drink!
Another!
Oh, shit! Your wife is back!
Bloody hell! Madam's here!
Hurry, get out, get out!
Oh shit!
The Boss sent this firewood for the temple.
Hey, Kai.
Where are you?
Come on, give me a hand with these woods!
A bottle of whiskey, please.
Kai, who's this guy?
From the local hill tribe.
Come on in and sit!
Got any tincture of iodine? Someone in the village got stabbed.
What's your name?
Don't know, and you?
I'm Kai.
This is my boss, Archin.
This old drunkard is Tamah.
How old are you?
Don't know!
Your folks never told you?
I got none. / Got none?
How were you born then?
What about you?
Moron! What you need is a kick in the ass!
Hey...
Toss them out.
Those went bad ages ago.
Toss them out, are you nuts?
What are you, anyway? The public health officer?
A stab wound would develop tetanus.
Hey!
This guy comes in here for help. He asked for this tincture.
These hill people are too scared to go to a hospital.
I'd be crazy not to sell it to him.
You eaten?
I only see you drinking, what food you talking about?
I'll bring you back some corn in trade.
Just bring the sweet ones!
So rich yet so stingy.
You're surely going to Hell.
In business, there's no Heaven or Hell.
There's only profit
and loss.
Hurry up, hurry up. Bring it in.
You carried them all this way? Wow!
Sure is some good-looking corn.
Where did that guy get stabbed?
In his arm, but it's stopped bleeding now.
The tincture worked so well!
After he cleaned his wound with the first one, he drank all the rest
!
He drank the tincture?!
You are definitely going to Hell now.
You should be praying to God, not the rain.
Hoping it'll wash away your sins?
You know what I'm praying for?
That they don't send you to prison?
I'm praying that tincture
was harmless as rainwater.
And that was the moral of the greedy merchant's story.
The richest canteen owner in the forest,
in one desperate moment of remorse,
suddenly felt all his greediness fall away.
Could you write a letter for me?
Sure.
Who's it to? The Boss?
No.
To a woman.
I want it written in a sophisticated city style.
This Southern tongue hasn't got enough syllables to charm a girl.
Who is she? Does she know you're married?
Mind your own business, back to work!
Of course not.
But she's very pretty. Name's Laied.
She just moved in near here with her brother.
Mister.
Who's out there?
It's me.
I got this letter last night.
It's from Mister John.
Could you read it for me?
I can't read.
Did you know my brother is from Baytong?
He's actually my cousin.
Guess what? I'll be 20 years old this year.
Hey, we've got the same kinds of scars.
Kai!
You stay here and watch these things.
I'll meet you back here later!
One, two, three!
One, two, three!
Shit! The wood is swollen.
The Boss loves this so much.
Bloody expensive, too.
When's he getting back from Phuket?
Better get back to work before he sees all of us here.
That was quite a storm last night.
Yes.
I'm glad you made it across the river in one piece.
With half of my bachelor's degree completed,
I'd learned about work from the workers
and about empathy from the Boss.
And where I'd once been a just careless kid,
I was now a very detail-oriented man,
studying every inch of the maps.
I'd work till I dropped
just to prove to myself
that I was giving the mine its money's worth.
SENIOR
By the time that year arrived,
I'd become a total stranger to my friends and family in Bangkok.
Any mails for me?
Nope.
My face and my life had become so
familiar in that small town
as if I'd been its native son.
Looks like rain for the New Year.
If you stop the next rain from falling,
don't be sad when you realise the last rain's fallen already.
"Happy New Year!"
Those four years had no bus-rides to work.
We walked under burning sun and pouring rain
to the dredger, which inched forward every hour
and then back to the crumbling hut.
Sometimes, the rain would come down for ten days straight.
Everyone was reaching their breaking point.
The mountains got so soaked they crumbled
and the leaves wouldn't lift their heads.
Stop now!
Stop! Stop! Stop!
I'm in no hurry to die!
Those Southern rains came down so hard that
I realized that if we were mining rainwater,
we'd all be rich by now.
Finally, we surrendered to the forces of nature.
We were people of the forest,
the children of the cold,
and friends to the constant rain.
Down in this valley, with a wall of mountains around us,
shutting out the light from the sky,
our destinies became fused together
like separate paths that had merged as one.
The lifeline of the Tin Mine had been stretched to its limit...
and it seemed as if it soon might snap.
The dredger got stuck for a month, then two months...
... then three.
We lost all hope of finding tin.
All we were mining was mud.
When the money in the office ran out,
we were forced to dig through our waste dump,
searching for tin scraps to sell as salvage.
Mr. Sam became best friends with liquor and loneliness.
And his brother grew quieter and quieter,
and eventually resigned.
I later found out it was the map-maker's
negligence that had done us in.
When what he should have noted
in Western measurements
as "0.01 per cubic foot",
he'd copied as "6.01".
And when we finally did free the dredger from the fork,
the home office decided it was time
we had a new engineer.
Attention!
His name was Mr. Norman.
This is the new engineer they've sent us?
The insurance company in Penang
decided they'd only cover us if we had
two non-Thai bosses on the books.
Well, you'll have your work cut out for you training this guy.
Maybe I ought to look for another job.
If I don't quit now, people down here will spit in my face,
thinking "John's sold himself out, taking orders...
... from a clown like this."
Don't worry, I'll survive out there!
I'm Lert.
The foreign boss sent me over.
I'm your new Chief of staff.
I'm the Chief of the staff here.
But I'm tendering my resignation today.
Name's John.
John... yeah, I've heard about you.
But what are you quitting for?
Guy like me can find work anywhere.
That's the way I feel myself.
I can fit in anywhere at all.
Where you planning to stay?
Might was well use my place.
I won't be using it anymore.
If I'm not working here, I won't be sleeping here either.
As for me,
If I haven't worked here,
I won't sleep here either.
As for you giving me your place,
let the insects take it over instead then.
We haven't got in the boxing ring yet,
too bad, you are saved by the bell.
Black coffee,
double bitter?
This asshole Lert needs a kick in the teeth.
But you know,
if I were a stranger in a new place,
I'd have done the same thing.
Anyways, no matter what happens,
be sure to take care of Laied for me.
There were days when it seemed like sun
didn't come out at all.
And my senior year courses proved to be
my most difficult yet.
After John showed us
his taste for new adventures and quit,
Huan got caught in the jaws of the dredger
and unintentionally donated one of his legs to the mine.
And Jieng, that cloud-watching pal of mine,
dreamed himself right into the middle of a flash-flood.
But it was Lert who came to seem the biggest problem I had to solve.
You guys need to re-measure out here everyday?
So it seems.
Be careful, the strap on that compass is wearing thin.
Everything here is old.
The dredger's starting to sink as well.
Then we need to start fixing things.
Whenever you say.
I'd decided to deal with my wish that John
would return by surveying the area in complete detail.
I was searching for anything that might prove
that John was a better foreman than Lert.
Archin, didn't we just measure this section yesterday?
Yeah, but I've got to prove Lert's the wrong man for this job.
If he's finding less tin each week than John did,
I'll make sure everyone else knows it too.
I want this area completely clean, got it?
Clean it all. Take last night's diggings to the dredger first
then come to pick me up.
16 barrels, sir.
Is that all?
Oh shit!
What the hell are you doing?!
My compass fell in the water. I'm going in to get it!
Get up out of there!
You want to get yourself killed?
The engine is running and the drill pipe is right down there.
An elephant could get sucked down that hole!
Guys, stop the engine!
Can't seem to find it.
I remember that moment vividly
when Lert dove down to find the weapon
I'd planned to finish him with.
Those were the days when everything seemed baffling to me.
Though we were digging smaller amounts of tin each day,
Lert somehow managed to win over everyone's hearts.
You'd better wear this helmet instead.
It'll protect your thick skull more than that stocking cap.
Okay, let's exchange it.
Even the tough-hearted Kong began
to call our new foreman "Master Lert".
How many?
50. /50?
Double yesterday's haul!
I can't remember the last time my blood pressure was this low!
Hey, the ladder! The dredging ladder's snapped!
Stop the engine, stop the engine!
This is bad.
It was an accident none of us saw coming.
And as we waited for the reaction from the Penang office,
you could hear hopes beating heavy in every miner's heart.
I've received the reply from Penang.
"Close down the mine.
We're out of business."
Our Tin Mine was broken down and sold off for scrap.
The dredger-house became as empty as a giant metal coffin.
The office opened just a window or two each day
and eventually only the night watchman remained.
We'd all worked together for so many years,
only to have to go our separate ways again.
We were all wanderers once more.
We'll head for another mine in Surat
and wait for you there.
Ok, but I'm waiting for a certificate from the Boss.
Might take a few days.
Archin, even if you killed me,
I'd love you just the same.
Your work certificate must be better than the others.
I woke up that last morning at the Tin Mine...
... knowing I'd never see it again.
Can I have double-bitter coffee?
I've already packed up the coffee pot.
Chew on the coffee grounds then?
As a last token of his appreciation, Mr. Sam
bought me a plane ticket back to Bangkok.
Hey kid, guess I'll head off first.
Wearing only that?
I came here wearing only this.
Might as well go the way I came.
Besides, I'm proud of my uniform.
I wear it with honor.
So long.
Archin.
What?
Old Dang's right, you know.
We should always leave the way we came.
Maybe you should do like him.
When you showed up here you didn't owe me money.
How about clearing the tab before you go?
Here, take it all.
Thanks, kid.
I left the Tin Mine with the same thing in my pocket as I'd come with,
not a single baht.
Good luck!
The Tin Mine had become a memory of my precious past.
It would remain forever as a part of my inner life.
Hey, take a look.
Stop here for a minute.
I guess this is a good-bye.
Archin,
how much does it cost to get to Bangkok?
You've got plenty of time to think about that.
Bangkok's so far away. I'm not sure we'll ever make it all that way.
No longer would there be a "me" here.
Even my shadow followed me home to Bangkok.
My unfinished future seemed to have collapsed once again
just as I'd seen it do a time or two in the past.
In the four years I'd spent in the Tin Mine,
freshmen at regular universities would have graduated by now.
But I had no diploma to carry home from the Tin Mine.
Instead, my hand held something that could
never be taken away from me
from a school that few would ever know.
In 1953, Archin finally went home to Bangkok after 3 years and 11 months in the dredger.
In 1954, Archin's first "Tin Mine" short story
became a favorite with Thai readers.
In 1984, Archin's book of "Tin Mine" stories
totaled some 142 chapters.
In 1991, Archin was named a National Artist
by the Ministry of Culture of Thailand.
In 2005, "Tin Mine" was adapted into a film and caused
Archin and Kai to get to see each other again.
Where did you work after I left? / I worked for a company...
(Archin 77 years old / Kai 73 years old)
Tawee Brothers, right?
I know it. It's a big company in Phuket. / Right.
Give me a hand, I've gotten old.
You still have to take care of me at this age.
Let me take care of you.
I'm 77 now.
I'm seventy... /75, two years younger than me.
I'm 73!
Well, we've met again because of that book I wrote. / That's right.
Remember when you used to help me with the surveying gear? / Yes.