BANANA PANCAKES AND THE CHILDREN OF STICKY RICE (2015) - ♦♦♦♦ 

Directed by - Daan Veldhuizen

"The title BANANA PANCAKES AND THE CHILDREN OF STICKY RICE introduces a type of tongue in cheek approach that DAAN VALDHUIZEN uses in examining the polarizing subject of tourism in Laos. 

This subject is portrayed perfectly by the leading figures in the documentary. One is a man that has established a business for himself based on tourism, and the other is a man that lives a more rural lifestyle that traditionally adapts to his country and its setting. 

There is a particularly satirical approach in the portrayal of the general expectation of the average Western tourist, entering the country expecting great adventures only to find it near impossible to even get a tour of the wilderness, or even by being patronizing. This is balanced by the poignance of the beautiful and characteristic landscape of the country being inevitably altered by the money brought in by tourism, as roads are being built and new businesses established. 

The cinematography itself pays great tribute to this landscape with excellent shots - visual poetry enhanced by poetic prose spoken by the leading figure still living a rural type of life. 

Despite the polarizing nature of his subject, VALDHUIZEN decides to take a widely non-judgemental approach to his film, and reveal the good sides and bad sides of this type of evolution and advancement of Laos. This does not create distance between the documentary and the viewer, because of the filmmaker's faithfulness to a human genuineness and sensibility."

Documentary, Netherlands/Laos