Nkauj Hmoob Noj Neeg

Nkauj Hmoob Noj Neeg Summary

**Spoiler Alert**

Koob (Koob Xyooj) is a student at Siam University. Since Thailand will become a member of the ASEAN Integration, Koob and his classmates are instructed to research the diversity of cultures and religions in Thailand—including ethnic minorities. Koob is stressed out about not being able to locate any information on the Hmong. His Thai friend, Da, suggests he focuses his topic on a Hmong religion so he can gather data by interviewing Hmong elders. Koob and his friend locate an elderly Hmong man, who then shares a story about a group of Hmong who practiced cannibalism.

Tub Feej (Koob Xyooj) and his friend are on a business trip. They get lost and end up at a strange Hmong village. Trying to sell his “ntiv qeej,” Tub Feej borrows a qeej (reed pipe) from the village head and begins to play it. The moving and beautiful sound of the qeej draws a crowd of admirers, including a beautiful, mute girl named Nag Yuam (Dej Ntxhee Muas). She falls instantly in love with Tub Feej.

Tub Feej is intrigued by the beauty in craftsmanship of the qeej he played, and learns from the village head that the qeej was constructed by Tub Feej’s late grandfather. Eager to bring the relic home, Tub Feej promises to teach the village head’s two sons how to play the instrument in exchange for his grandfather’s hand-made qeej.

While he teaches the sons, he gets to enjoy a chicken and sticky rice meal every day. Tub Feej believes it’s an offering from the village head’s family. He is unaware that the meal was prepared by Nag Yuam every day.

In the meantime, Tub Feej begins to have strange dreams of saving a beautiful, mute girl. He ponders over his dreams, but cannot seem to make sense out of it.

After the sons learned to play the qeej, Tub Feej and his friend return home. Nag Yuam cannot bear to live without Tub Feej’s presence, so she sets out to find him. Upon hearing the tune of a qeej that sounds very similar to the one she’d heard Tub Feej played, Nag Yuam follows it. When she sees the qeej player, she is disappointed to see that he was not Tub Feej. Overwhelmed with exhaustion, Nag Yuam faints in front of Tub Feej’s home (the qeej player was Tub Feej’s father).

While Nag Yuam remains unconscious at Tub Feej’s home, the lad is out chatting with his girlfriend, Paj Huab. The two engages in a conversation where she doubts his sincerity by insisting that he has cheated behind her back during his stay in the village of the Hmoob Ntsuab (Green Hmong). He confesses his sin, but ensures Paj Huab that the cheating happened in his dreams only. Paj Huab is perplexed. Before the two could complete their dialogue, someone interrupts and rushes Tub Feej home.

Back at his house, Tub Feej’s parents update him on the unconscious girl. Tub Feej stares at her, feeling a sense of familiarity. She seems like the girl from his dreams, but he is unsure.  

When Nag Yuam wakes up, she sees Tub Feej’s qeej hanging on the wall and smiles. She is delighted to learn that the qeej belongs to the couple’s son. She skips outside, only to find Tub Feej associating with another young lady. Nag Yuam turns her back to the couple and eavesdrops into their sweet words for one another. She is upset to know that Tub Feej already has a love interest.

Feeling angry, Nag Yuam rushes back home. She grabs her belongings and rushes out. After she disappears, her parents show up to look for her. With her parents’ plea, Tub Feej and his girlfriend search for Nag Yuam. Tub Feej finds an unconscious Nag Yuam and brings her back to his home.

Nag Yuam’s mother reveals to Tub Feej that the reason why her daughter is in such a condition is due to her love for Tub Feej. Although the mother understands it’s not Tub Feej’s fault, she pities her mute daughter very much. She has never seen the girl smile before, and only saw such an expression after the girl met Tub Feej. The mother willingly offers her daughter to be Tub Feej’s bride, if he accepts it.

Tub Feej is hesitant. However, he pleads Nag Yuam’s parents to allow the girl to rest until she recovers. After she regains her health, Tub Feej could not make a decision. If he chooses Nag Yuam, this outcome means that he would have to turn his back on his faithful girlfriend. Tub Feej could not do that. Frustrated by Tub Feej’s indecisiveness, Nag Yuam’s mother forces her home.

Feeling betrayed and that she has lost Tub Feej’s love, Paj Huab decides to give Tub Feej up. Paj Huab’s initiation of the break-up frees Tub Feej of his obligations to her, and he returns to Nag Yuam’s village to wed her.

A year passes, and Nag Yuam and Tub Feej have a son. Tub Feej urges a reluctant Nag Yuam to pack their clothes for a trip to visit her parents. Once the two arrives, Tub Feej’s father-in-law tells them that the family is going to perform a ritual. Unaware of the situation, Tub Feej does not suspect anything. One of his brothers-in-law invites him to go on a hunting trip, and he accepts the invitation. Again, Nag Yuam is unwilling to let her husband leave, but Tub Feej reassures her not to worry.

Tub Feej departs with a gang of brothers-in-law. On the way, the group encounters an old woman being dragged into the forest. He overhears the woman pleading the men to not kill her. Tub Feej turns around and asks a young brother-in-law about the situation. The boy tells Tub Feej that in their village, before the old dies of a disease, they will be killed first so that their flesh will not be spoiled.

Tub Feej laughs, taking the boy’s response as a joke. He then asks the boy if human meat is delicious.

The boy answers that the meat of human babies tastes better. Tub Feej will know. When they return home, his baby will be sacrificed for the ancestors and cooked deliciously. He can judge whether baby human meat is tasty or not.

The boy’s obnoxious answer brings Tub Feej to reality. He tries to run, but is stopped by the group of brothers-in-law. They then reveal to him that whenever one of their sisters marry and gives birth, if it is a daughter then the child is freed. However, it the baby is a son then by the custom of their ancestors, the sister must bring the child back to her parents to be sacrificed to the ancestors and have its flesh eaten.

Tub Feej calls the practice a demon way of life, and fights his way through the barricade. He rushes home in time to grab his son before the child is placed inside a steamer. He slaps Nag Yuam a couple of times for deceiving him and runs out with the child. When Nag Yuam tries to stop him, he pulls on one of her waist sashes, cuts it and tells her that he is cutting their ties as husband and wife.

But, the village elder would not let Tub Feej leave with the child, insisting that the child belongs to the village. If he leaves with the child, they will kill his wife and eat her meat instead. Tub Feej shows no remorse, stating that he has already disowned his wife. The villagers are unrestricted to do whatever they would like to his wife.

Seeing no way out, Nag Yuam’s mother sacrifices herself to save her daughter’s life. Her father soon follows the mother in committing suicide. Tub Feej and Nag Yuam are freed.

Sitting inside a farm shack, Tub Feej reflects on the events that occurred and remembers that Nag Yuam never wanted to take their child to visit her parents. It was Tub Feej, who all along, kept pushing Nag Yuam into going. At her parents’ home, she too begged him not to go hunting but he wouldn’t listen.

Nag Yuam burns her parents’ clothing and in a voice-over, expresses regrets for being born into a family that practices cannibalism. She wishes that those in her family would not be re-born into such a way of life again. She then takes out a knife and was about to take her own life when someone halts the knife, and blood beings to drip to the ground. Nag Yuam looks up, and is surprised to see Tub Feej. The two shares a heartfelt hug.

My Thoughts

After viewing the trailer for this movie, it looked promising. At the same time, I was hesitant to watch it because I have seen many past movies directed by this director, Jimmy Vanglee. In his past films, although the trailers were good, the actual movie is long and draggy, filled with many unnecessary scenes and a plot that is dramatically chaotic and does not make sense (i.e. Hlub Tshaj Txoj Sia).

However, after watching this movie, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jimmy Vanglee has improved in his directorship ability. I still found a couple of things that I thought were unnecessary. For instance, the movie started in the modern time but ended at the end of the story told to the characters of the modern time. I feel that if the director starts with a modern beginning, it only makes sense for him to end the story with a modern ending so that the closure is well performed. However, by ending the film the way he did, I felt that the modern beginning was unnecessary. The movie could have just begun with the friends on their business trip.

Also, I didn't like the fact that the director keeps showing scenes about Tub Feej and Nag Yuam being together, even before they officially met. Although Tub Feej stated  later on that he was dreaming about Nag Yuam, it would have been nice to have scenes showing Tub Feej waking up from a dream after those scenes are shown. By not doing so, the director keeps the audience wondering if Tub Feej had met Nag Yuam in another lifetime or when have they meet without the audience knowing?

I also liked the natural looking appearance of Koob Xyooj's face in his modern character, rather than his Tub Feej character's face, which appeared like it was overwhelmed with compact makeup and gave him a ghostly appearance at times.

Besides the above, I have nothing else to complain about. I could tolerate the fact that this story line is a fable, and not necessary true (although the trailer said that it's based-on a true story, which I disagreed.) I also liked the pairing of Koob Xyooj and Dej Ntxhee Moua. I believed that they are both good-looking enough to play opposite one another. I also enjoyed the fact that the costumes worn in the movie seemed to be custom-made for this story, which shows investment and caring on the part of the director.